In the middle of our year I found us needing to pause on our regular language arts curriculum, back-up, and review. In this process, I have discovered a language arts combination I love in order to teach my child to read.
Previously, we had used Logic of English to teach reading. It’s a great program, but we hit a wall. We made it all the way through Foundations A and almost finished Foundations B. But getting through the last lessons was starting to become a struggle.
I was really tempted to throw in the towel with LOE and completely switch to another reading program. However, to be more budget-friendly, I decided to do a little research and put together a collection of low-cost resources that I love.
We’ve been doing this for two months now. Not only do we have a great routine in place, but I have seen tremendous progress in my daughter’s reading AND writing progress. This combination has been a game-changer.
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Why Multiple Books?
The truth is, at this point in our homeschool, reading lessons were a struggle for my sweet girl. I needed something that was simple, fun, and short. I couldn’t just blow off extra practice. She really needed repetition. By combining a selection of books, I’m able to spread out the practice and use each one daily for a handful of minutes per day.
A really long and tough language arts lesson became little bursts of practice, and that has been so helpful for us. Reading lessons are more fun and consistent AND they’re working!
I’ll be honest, for some kiddos that catch on to reading quickly, this combination may be a little over-kill. Don’t think that this is the best combo for every child. I know for a fact that in my own house this wouldn’t work so well for one of my other daughters. Each child is unique, and I have seen that come to life over the last five years of our homeschooling journey.
Even if you don’t use all of these books at once, they are all VERY helpful resources to teach reading. You might enjoy browsing through each one to see if it’s a good fit for your sweet kiddo.
Phonics Pathways
I bought this book last year because I heard such great reviews about it on YouTube. When it came in the mail, I looked through it and was immediately overwhelmed. So, it sat on my shelf for a good year before I pulled it out again and started using it to supplement our Logic of English lessons.
Well, one day a BIG light bulb went off when I remembered that this was a full-blown phonics/reading curriculum! I quickly began studying how to use it and was hooked.
Each day when I start our lesson, I set a timer for 10 minutes. (That’s it!) I get through as much as I can in that time frame.
The book walks you through the process and how to use each page, so as long as you’re reading the directions it’s easy to follow. I also save the last couple of minutes for her to practice writing from dictation (suggested by the book). This has been amazing practice and has improved her reading, writing, and spelling all in one!
See a curriculum look-through for Phonics Pathways HERE.
Reading Pathways
This book is filled with reading pyramids. It helps the reader to develop fluency in reading. It is a fantastic supplement on its own, and that’s exactly how we started using it at first.
I’ve been using Reading Pathways off and on over the last year. It’s actually the partner-book to Phonics Pathways mentioned above. The reason I continue to use it is because the Phonics Pathways book suggests doing one pyramid a day as a warm-up. (Check out this YouTube video for a look through.)
That’s exactly how we use it! Before we open up Phonics Pathways, she reads one pyramid. It only takes her about a minute.
Treasure Hunt Reading
I had never heard of this program until this year – never! And I research curriculum all the time! This is such an incredible resource. You can download and print FOR FREE if you’d like, but to make it even easier you can buy it on Amazon. Every time I look online the price is $11, and that is a steal in my opinion for what this is.
Each lesson in this workbook comes with short video lessons hosted by “Adventure Kate”. She’s the best! She’s easy to listen to, and has almost brought me to tears at times as she encourages little readers to just keep practicing! I love her. You can watch some of the videos HERE. Check out the “Program Overview” video for parents.
I have also recorded a look through of this workbook on my YouTube channel if you want to see a closer look. We actually blew through Journey 1 in a couple of days because my daughter already had letter sounds down. Once we hit Journey 2, we slowed down a bit. On average, we complete about two pages a day. This usually takes us about 10-15 minutes.
Explode the Code
Explode the Code has been a helpful workbook for my daughter. She is currently working in level 2. I do feel like for some kids it can be busy work, and I actually don’t use it with all of my kids. I do love using it in this case because it encourages independence (She can do it on her own.) and the phonics practice is needed.
I’ve also been able to see a lot of progress with Explode the Code. Going from not being able to do an exercise…to doing it with help…to doing it on her own. We have even used their 1/2 levels to reinforce a few skills and I’m so glad that we did.
She completes a page of Explode the Code daily during her independent work time. This happens right after she gets ready for the day and finishes her morning checklist. It only takes a couple minutes for her to do.
Other Language Arts Components
The following components are technically language arts, but they happen naturally in our day. I’m going to list them here though because I think it’s important to point out that not all reading and language has to be learned in workbook form.
Independent Reading: I aim to have her read to me for 10 minutes a day. I am really bad about sticking to this. However, the goal remains, and I do try to reach it.
Narration: Narration has impacted our homeschool in the best way. If you’re unfamiliar, I highly recommend looking into it. It has simplified our days while enhancing our conversations about what we are reading. The book “Know and Tell” by Karen Glass was a huge help to me with this. I could go on and on about this book, but I’ll be sharing another blog post about it soon. 😉
Family Read Alouds: We read aloud constantly. Every morning we read devotions and picture books during morning time. I read throughout the day, maybe during the afternoon. I also read a novel to my big girls every night. Reading aloud doesn’t feel like school, but it’s technically part of language arts. To us, it’s life!
Audiobooks: We love audiobooks in my house. My daughter is an audiobook super-girl. It’s her favorite thing to listen books, and I love that she’s been exposed to so many. I can barely keep up with what she’s reading most of the time. We get our audiobooks free from the library. I check out the CD’s and we have a system at home in their room using a simple CD player. We also use the Libby app from our library, which I love!
Lesson Timeline
Lastly, I want to break down a language arts lesson in the simplest form to show how our routine plays out. It looks a little something like this…
- Independent Work – Explode the Code – First thing after breakfast and chores (1-5min)
- Morning Time – Read alouds and narration
- Phonics with Mom (10 min)
- Reading Pathways
- Phonics Pathways
- Treasure Hunt Reading with Mom (10-15 min)
- Independent Reading (10 min…when I remember! Just being honest.)
- Evening Read Aloud
Yes, it’s a lot of pieces but the short bursts of learning are fun for her and it honestly feels like less work for me too!
As I share this post, I hope for a few things. One, I hope it exposes you to some resources that may be helpful to you and your family. Two, I hope it encourages you to always do what’s best for your child. And three, don’t be afraid to mix things up! Have fun with learning…and make sure you’re having fun as the teacher too!
