Our son can read. I mean, really, really read. And he learned it right here at home!
Let's just say that his preschool is a little lacking in the teaching quality in his class right now. We're not happy about it. We've expressed our concerns. I will grow more concerned next year when he stays in the same class but is considered "PreK."
But that's a different post with lots of let-go frustrations. And that's not what you're here to read today.
My aunt who is a teacher, two friends who are teachers, and some other parents in general have been talking up this one particular website called Starfall. I kept meaning to check it out, but I kept forgetting.
I finally led Patrick to it a couple of nights ago...and HE CAN READ!
He was doing small bits of it at school (one of the three in his class of 9 that had accomplished this feat, says a proud mama), but he was having to wait on the other children to catch up. And that's not what I want.
And since education starts at home, we visited this site.
And were amazed.
It has 4 levels. We quickly decided to forego the first level, because he knows his alphabet and basic phonics. However, it does have a sign language section that might be fun to revisit sometime in the future.
The second level is for those ready to start reading. That is where we started. He knows HOW to sound out words, but needs some prodding. Since neither Chip nor I are educators, we don't have the tools...or at least we didn't until now! The second section works with basic phonics, letter combinations, sight words, and some things like "Y as Long E". And it is very entertaining to our 4 year old son!
The third level, has some fun and games that expand on the reading skills, but also broaden the child's horizons. And the 4th level are some short stories and such for your young reader.
WHAT AN AWESOME SITE!
After just one stop at this site for about 30 minutes, Patrick plowed easily through two fulls lessons and had a great time. He even got to rate each activity, so we know he was truly enjoying it.
So this has already worked for us...after ONE VISIT (can you tell I'm a bit excited?!). You can check out their section addressed to parents to find out more about their methods and practices. There are even downloads to further encourage them.
Although I'm not a SAHM, I would definitely pick this up to use whether I intended to home school or send my child to school. And I'm doing it although he's already in a preschool!
Go visit We Are THAT Family to see what works for everyone else!
*By the way, I wasn't contacted or reimbursed by Starfall to promote their site. It truly works for me (and our son) and I wanted to share that with you!
That is awesome! We are using Progressive Phonics right now and it has really helped my daughter with her reading.
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