Unschooling Reading Resources

Unschooling Reading Resources

Unschooling Reading Resources

Reading is such a huge part of my life so I’m always on the lookout for good unschooling reading resources. That’s a fancy way of saying I love resources that are fun but also actually work to teach kids to read. I now have 4 kids who are completely obsessed with books (granted one of them is still to little to actually read by himself).

The big question to consider when strewing any resources is how do your kids learn? I’ll be upfront and say that I do very little actual teaching to read and my biggest role was to offer the boys opportunities to learn and then sit back to let them choose what works best for them. But I do have some favorite resources that have been popular with all my boys so far that I wanted to share with you.

My three older sons all learned their letters and letter sounds around two. (The newborn obviously isn’t reading yet.) My eldest started reading just before his 7th birthday and now, 2 years later, is reading far above grade level. My second son, age 6, is reading some words and, if he decides to sit and practice more regularly, will be well on his way to above grade levels within the next year. My 3 year old is practicing writing letters and pretending to read by sounding out words.

Favorite Resources to Teach Kids to Read

(disclaimer: some of these are affiliate links which means I may earn a small commission at no cost to you. Keep in mind I only share products that I know and love! Full Disclosure)

” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Letter Factory DVD

Tad the frog goes to the Letter Factory and Professor Quigley lets him sit in on the lessons as the talking letters learn their sounds. My boys have all loved the characters and Leap Frog has done a fantastic job in making each letter and sound memorable. For example, a “monster” walks into the “A Room” and all the little A’s scream “Aaahh!!!”. Don’t worry, it isn’t a scary monster, just the professor in a fuzzy purple costume. The “P Room” is always a favorite as the P says “P” and pops like popcorn. I recommend this to every mama (or grandma) that I know who wants to introduce their child to letters in a fun way.

” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Letter Factory Flashcards

We bought the DVD and Flashcards as a bundle and these cards have been played with a ton over the last 8 years. They’ve seen better days but, by some miracle, we have managed to keep all 26 together. The kids love to ask their littlest brother what each letter says and the older two build words and ask each other to guess which word it is. The only downside with word-building is that we only have one of each letter, which limits the amount of words. But they are still a great tool to introduce letters and beginner reading.

” rel=”noopener noreferrer” target=”_blank”>Talking Words Factory

(Can you tell that we love Leap Frog? They didn’t even need to pay me for this.) This show came with our initial purchased bundle and shows the Leap, Lily, and Tad going to the Talking Words Factory. I think some of the talking letters must graduate to this factory because it is all the loved letters from the previous show, except this time they go through the “word whammer” and get stuck together, along with the icky, sticky letters (vowels). This is the movie that has gotten both of my older boys interested in building words and all I have to do is hit “play” while I’m making dinner.

The big question to consider when strewing any resources is how do your kids learn?

Originator Apps

These Apps are available for Android and iPhone. We have installed Endless Alphabet (vocabulary words), Endless Reader (sight words), Endless Wordplay (spelling/word building), and Endless Numbers (counting and early arithmetic). The Android version (not sure about the Apple store version) has a few words or levels as a free sample and then you can buy the rest as packages. As of this post, I have not purchased any of the expansion packs for three reasons: I can’t figure out which app I should buy an expansion on (which one the kids would get the most out of), I don’t know if the expansion packs will work with my Google account or if I will have to purchase the pack separately for each tablet. They aren’t cheap, if you move beyond the free versions, but the letters and words make fun sounds and are simple enough for even my toddler to drag and drop. Plus it is really cute to watch my 3 year old kinesthetic learner imitate the goofy motions of the letters!

Reading Eggs

We started out with the free 2 week trial that they offer new users. The boys ended up liking it so much that I bought a subscription. The gist is that the child does a lesson full of games and catchy songs and fun characters to guide them, and then they get to hatch an egg with an animal in it (or they hatch an acorn if they are doing a Mathseed, as I purchased the companion Math version as well). They boys love figuring out which animal they will get at the end of the lesson and get excited every 10 lessons when they get a new map.

My eldest had issues with the timed lessons so I often sat beside him to turn off the ticking sound and would cover up the timer and tell him we would just practice a few times. He now realizes that the timer is irrelevant and he has learned to turn off the sound and ignore the visual. A great lesson for him to learn how relax enough to think under pressure.
I like that it lets you redo the game as many times as they like, though some of those silly songs from lessons the boys did a couple years ago are still stuck in my head! (1,2,3,4,5, once I caught a fish alive. 6,7,8,9,10, then I let it go again.) You can also get your child to do a placement test if they seem to be struggling or if they’re cruising through the lessons.

My eldest has finished all the maps in Mathseeds and Reading Eggs and isn’t interested in Reading Eggspress (he would rather read paperback books at this point). My 6 year old loves to cruise through 4-5 lessons in one sitting and then doesn’t touch it for a couple weeks. I don’t force him to sit down but I did put a box on his sticker chart. He does his “morning high-5” and then gets to hatch an egg or seed. Again, I’m not super strict about it and give him the option to do it or not. He often decides that he wants to and I have learned to be okay when he doesn’t.

The program is good for toddlers all the way up to tweens and it is is the only program that I consistently pay money for and I’ll continue getting subscriptions for my upcoming readers as well. Getting me to part with my dollar is not an easy task so that’s saying something!

learn to read online

Books, books, and more books

The final resource that has helped my kids with learning and loving to read is to surround ourselves with books. I’m partial to non-fiction books with lots of vivid pictured but I do keep a good stock of quality fiction stories around too. My husband reads a chapter of a read-a-loud every night and I read a lot, both for myself and with them, so reading is just a normal part of their lives. My 9 year old has even started reading a bedtime story to his brothers every evening. I know that the library is ideal for getting fresh books but I love to get books from the thrift store to fill our own shelves. They are super cheap and then the kids can read them over and over again. I also often have a book on hand regarding whatever topic they’re interested in. They don’t have to wait until we make a trip to the library and can delve into that book for however long they want. (Though I have noticed I have a gap in my home library when it comes to geology. Guess I need to make a trip to the thrift store soon, yay!) Sometimes they pull a book of the shelves and get interested in a new topic that way. While I agree that libraries are handy, they do not replace a home library.

You may also enjoy reading:

Book List for Boys (I’m sure they’re great for girls too but I don’t have any girl readers at this point.)

How to Encourage Boys to Love Reading (Again, the advice is sound for girls too but my reading experience is just with boys so far.)

As you can see, we love both technology as well as old fashioned paperbacks when it comes to reading. We don’t do phonics lessons, or forced reading assignments and probably never will (unless a child asks for it). My goal is for my kids to grow up thinking reading is a normal part of every day life. We love Leap Frog and also purchased a LeapReader Pen and LeapPad a couple months ago at a garage sale. So far they are well loved and I believe they will both contribute to the boys’ growing love of books and reading.

What are your favorite ways to foster a love of reading in your children? In yourself?
how to teach kids to read 2

Unschooling Reading Resources

Reading is such a huge part of my life so I'm always on the lookout for good unschooling reading resources. That's a...
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Book List for Boys

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homeschool curriculum choices grade 6 grade 4 grade 1 (7)

Homeschool Curriculum Choices for Grade 6, Grade 4, and Grade 1

I have always had an unschool mentality. I believe (and my kids have shown me) that people learn what they need to...

Homeschool Curriculum Choices for Grade 6, Grade 4, and Grade 1

Homeschool Curriculum Choices for Grade 6, Grade 4, and Grade 1

Homeschool Curriculum Choices for Grade 6, Grade 4, and Grade 1

I have always had an unschool mentality. I believe (and my kids have shown me) that people learn what they need to know when they need to know it and life is meant to be experienced and explored rather than dictated and directed. So why am I now talking about homeschool curriculum choices and learning cards?

Would you believe my kids asked for it?

They have made more and more friends who’s families have different homeschool methods and kids talk. My kids love learning and saw their friends learning certain things and getting new binders for the school year (love that my kids got excited about office supplies!) filled with activities and projects.

So I sat down with my older three and asked what kinds of things they are interested in. Between their requests (largely science, history, and Reading Eggs), and them agreeing to some additions of my own (like typing and All About Spelling) I made up a simple schedule and checklist for them and added them to our household rhythm.

I made these cards to be largely independent with the high hopes of doing 4 days a week. After about 6 months of using these “learning cards,” I can confidently say I over estimated the level of cooperation I would receive. But the kids still mostly enjoy them so we keep trudging along in an attempt to make them part of our daily rhythm.


How It Works

Each boy has Day A and Day B. We alternate them as we mostly complete them which means some weeks start with A and others start with B. Each boy also doesn’t complete theirs on the same day as his brothers so he may miss out on a subject, which I try not to stress about because they are still learning, regardless of completed cards.

We don’t technically stick to grade levels as my boys’ interests lead to their skill levels being all over the map. I also don’t tell them exactly what page or lesson they need to do as it is pretty simple to just do the next one.

How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver! (Prov 16:16)

Let’s Dive In.
(I have included some affiliate links here and, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Feel free to read my full disclosure.)

Homeschool Curriculum Choices for Family Learning Time

Morning Time

We are not very fancy here and just flip through a binder with a few Bible memory verses, a song that we are working on memorizing, the Lord’s prayer, a piece of memory work (currently working on “In Flanders Fields”), listening to a song or two on YouTube, and I finish off with reading a page from The Answers Books for Kids or another apologetics book. (We just finished Cold Case Christianity for Kids and it was a huge hit!) It takes us between 15-45 minutes, depending on how cooperative the littlest ones are.

For many families, morning time is a time of communal learning but I decided to make it more a time of Scripture and character study, apologetics, and a family devotion time. Character before academics is a belief that I have always held to and I was glad to see Kathie from the Character Corner, a mom with far more homeschooling and parenting experience than me, affirm that as her number one homeschooling tip in her post listing 10 things that helped her through 31 years of homeschooling.


History


We are currently going through Story of the World: The Ancient World. I’ll say upfront that this is not my ideal history book but I had been given a copy a while back and a friend had the activity book she wasn’t using so I thought I’d give it a try. We haven’t been doing the big activities and projects. I read a chapter and we do some of the review questions (mostly with the the 8 and 5yo as my 11yo has read the book several times on his own so he knows all the answers) and the older two do the map activity and coloring pages while the 5yo just gets the coloring page. I may need to start copying an extra coloring page as the 2yo often wants to copy his big brothers and I’m not sure how long a blank scrap piece of paper is going to be good enough for him.

Science

Apologia Young Explorers Botany text. I adore these books! The hard covers, bright pictures and diagrams, easy to read text, and tying it all back to God as the Creator. Maybe I’ll even invest in their actual notebooking journals one day!

But, for now, I printed off the free notebooking pages from their website and we read a chunk out of the book then the older 2 do the notebooking page or, if it’s really simple, the activity.

Sometimes, once I’m done reading, I print off an applicable picture for the 6yo to color and put in his science duotang. My boys love the nature walk activities and are always amazed at the variety of plants we have growing on our own lawn.

(The original plan was to start with the Astronomy book but it was spring so botany seemed more fitting. We might put that on pause now that days are getting shorter so stars are easier to study and plants are going to be covered in snow soon.)

  

Homeschool Curriculum Choices for Individual Learning

11 year old

Bible: He had been following a Bible reading plan but always read ahead so now he just reads at least one chapter of whichever book he is going through. Soon I’ll expand his Bible time to include a journal of some sort but we’re just starting with reading.

Math: He is a big-time reader so Life of Fred has been a great fit. He is “behind” for his age group but is cruising through the lessons. Understanding mathematical concepts is not something that come easily to him so both he and I love having the option to choose something that falls more in line with his learning style.

Copywork: He is working through some free stuff I found online but is nearly finished. I think what I’ll do next is give him some lined paper and ask him to write a Bible passage from his daily reading. He does this in cursive, which comes a lot easier to him than printing.

All About Spelling: While he is an avid reader, his spelling hasn’t caught up. Just not the way his mind works I guess. I found the books for All About Spelling level 1 and 2 at a local curriculum exchange last winter and it has been a great fit for him. He appreciates all the rules and explanations as to why words are spelled the way they are. I have to be honest and say that I’ve enjoyed it too! I’ve always been a pretty intuitive speller but knowing why words are spelled a certain way has been enlightening.

Typing: He does about half a lesson at Typing.com I like this site because you just need a login name and don’t need to sign up with an email address or anything. It’s pretty simple and straighforward and gets the job done. Plus it’s FREE. Always a nice perk.

Spanish: We use the Duolingo app for this. He decided he wanted to learn Spanish a couple years ago and was just picking away at it sporadically. So I put it on his learning card and he’s making decent progress.

Read to Asher: This is my sneaky way of getting him to practice reading out loud as well as taking the toddler off my hands for a while so I can focus on something else (usually helping the 8yo do his AAS lesson without little fingers swiping magnets).

Sidenote: You can see I’m not a perfectionist with these cards. He really wasn’t enjoying piano (and is kind of rhythm challenged) so I removed it. He also felt copywork each day was too much so he negotiated that off too by saying he makes cards with writing and does his All About Spelling writing regularly so that should count as writing practice.

8 Year Old:

All About Spelling: He and his brother started level 1 at the same time but he skipped several days and his brother doubled up on some of the early lessons so now they’re in different books. He is a much more intuitive speller (he can remember complicated words because he read them a couple times) so he doesn’t think he needs this. We often skip building the words with magnets and he goes straight to writing them down. He can do more of the building in his head so, when he actually does his lesson, he flies through it.

Math: He’s a weirdo and actually asked for a workbook in math. We just use a Canadian Curriculum book we got at Costco and alternate with workbook one day then a Mathseed lesson the next day. (I’m not an affiliate there but I’m thinking I should be and you really should check them out because everyone I have recommended it to loves it!)

Copywork: He or I choose a Bible verse for him to copy and he (sometimes) draws a picture. (Don’t tell him but I don’t really care about the picture but he thinks he’s rebelling by not drawing it. He likes to have that control and I’m willing to make sure he feels it.) He does not do cursive yet but, now that I think about it, he has asked if he could learn so maybe I’ll get a workbook for him for Christmas or something.

Reading Eggs: He does a Reading Eggs lesson on the off day from copywork. He is reading beyond the skill level of this but we’ve paid for the subscription and he really enjoys it. It’s kind of a reward for him after he has done some stuff he’s not as fond of.

Typing: He also uses Typing.com

Piano: I play piano so he asks me for advice but mostly he does this by reading the blurb in the Alfred’s Basic Piano Book and winging it. This will work for a while but I have a feeling I’ll need to assist more as he progresses. He really enjoys it and seems to understand music a bit more than his older brother.

Read to Asher: Same as before: reading aloud practice and a way to keep the toddler occupied for a while.

5 Year Old

 

He’s too young for anything formal (he will be 6 in a few weeks) but he loves it so who am I to deny the boy his workbooks? He does a workbook page every day and a Reading Egg or Mathseedevery day.

He did ask to tweak his learning card so he does a math workbook page the same day as his Mathseed and his letter workbook the same day as his Reading Egg.

He’s actually a kinesthetic learner (which I’m totally NOT and was a bit nervous about) so he comes to me while playing Lego and tells me “Mom, I know what 3 groups of 2 is!” or “I know what 7+7 is!” So apparently Lego can be used to teach math. He also just has an inherent understanding of “building” words and often uses magnets or letter tiles to build words that I’m pretty sure he hasn’t reached yet on Reading Eggs.

He occasionally takes 45min to write one page of Os and the next time will cruise through 10+ pages of his workbook in one morning. I’ve stopped trying to understand his methods and just go with the flow.

 

I hope you can see that our learning cards are not intense and we have a very relaxed homeschool. Our homeschool curriculum choices are simple and mostly independent. The stuff that is more parent intensive requires time but requires minimal prep work. I don’t make a big fuss if we only do 1 or two days per week. (Though I have a feeling it will be a bit easier when the snow flies and kids can’t escape to play outdoors.)

 

We are slowly working back into all of this after taking time off for my final stages of pregnancy and our newborn survival phase. My primary goal is to get the boys to do their High 5 and then we will begin to work on Morning Time. Do you have a bare minimum that you and/or your kids can do to make it feel like your day is a success?

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Introverted Unschooling

Introverted Unschooling

Introverted Unschooling

It’s not that we don’t enjoy visiting and going out, we do, it’s just that, as an introverted mother with a couple of introverted children (and a couple of extroverts too) we enjoy staying at home too.
Late morning and my 9 year old is reading a novel beside me on the couch and my 6 and 3 year old are playing quietly in the play area with the marble run. The 4 week old is sleeping on my chest and I’m typing this out on my phone. A bit earlier the 3 bigger boys went outside while I sat on the couch with a sleeping newborn listening to podcasts (this position is the one I hold most of the time lately). The afternoon will probably look very similar, though I’ll get a nap in and maybe finish folding that basket of laundry I started with yesterday.

 

Our trips outside the home this week included about an hour to town for a chiropractor appointment for me and visiting friends Friday morning. That’s truly it. We didn’t go to church last Sunday and didn’t need to do groceries this week. We don’t have classes or co-ops or more than one playdate per week. And our home is filled with an incredible peace.

We don’t have classes or co-ops or more playdates. And our home is filled with an incredible peace.

Jamie from Simple Homeschool wrote a great post with 15 resolutions for being an introverted homeschool mom that I printed out at still refer to regularly. Her third resolution is about honoring the person God created you to be. I think that unschooling lends itself well to being an introvert because I don’t need to pressure my kids to do things and my main job is to facilitate and observe. My role is to learn about my children so I can parent them in the way that they need.
What is one thing that have been adding to your or your children’s schedule because you feel you “should” be doing it? Are you brave enough to let it go?
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Unschooling Reading Resources

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S is for Sparrows: The Unschooling Process

S is for Sparrows: The Unschooling Process

The unschooling process starts whenever there is an observation.

The unschooling process starts with an observation - Aimed at the HeartWe have a lilac bush right in front of our back deck. I can’t see anything on the other side of it and I plan to chop it down and trim it or move it this spring. But, for now it sits there, as pretty much the only thing we can see out of our deck door.

The sparrows love our bush. And C loves the sparrows. We hung up a simple bird feeder the other day and have been watching the birds extra closely to see if they eat it. I asked him to grab his bird book so he could identify them. He instantly found that they looked like the birds in the sparrow section. It was tough to see the details to be able to identify the type of sparrow more specifically so I grabbed my camera and took a few photos.

The unschooling process starts with an observation - Aimed at the Heart

We noticed that there are different kind of sparrows in the bush. So we looked through the book and then grabbed a computer and Googled “types of sparrows.” We looked through a ton of photos online and compared with the ones that I had taken. We talked about the beak colors, crown, eyes, chest and tail. It was great to go through the details and show my boys how many different types of sparrows there are and how they are all different.

Then I got the song “His Eye is on the Sparrow” stuck in my head so I sang it to the boys. It gave me the opportunity to talk to them about Matthew 10:29-31 that talks about how God notices a sparrow fall from the tree, how much more does he know and notice you. So many sparrows just in our bush, yet God knows each and every one of them. I played the song through on the piano a couple times, which made C want to play for a bit. I have a couple lessons books that he likes to try, with some assistance. So he played on and practiced the piano for a while before he came back to the sparrows. By that point, I had printed off some coloring pages, a few of which had some key words (such as Nest, Egg, Sparrow, Seed) for C to learn.

Subjects covered: Science (animal anatomy, diet, and habitat), research skills, music, Bible, reading, coloring and photography. (Did I miss any?)

The unschooling process doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, it’s a lot simpler than people think. Even families who don’t unschool follow the unschooling process in their day-to-day lives. It starts with an observation, which leads to a question, which opens the door to exploring for answers.

What questions have you answered lately for your child that led you down a wonderful path of exploration?

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Does Unschooling Actually Work?

Does Unschooling Actually Work?

A perfect example of how unschooled kids actually do learn everything they need to know. Does unschooling actually work? - Aimed at the Heart

My oldest son has known his letters and their sounds since before he was three. But couldn’t count for the life of him. I knew it would come eventually. My husband and I giggle about the fact that the first day he counted to 5 (at about age 5) his little brother was right beside him (at just over two) and counted to 10! We reminded ourselves to trust God’s design for him.

A few mornings ago, he was awake at 5:30am and just laid in bed, quietly. I asked why he didn’t go back to sleep. He told me he was practicing his counting. I asked him why and his response was simply that that he wanted to learn his numbers. I believe it is so he can recognize cow numbers so he can be a better helper for his daddy and Opa (my dad).

He recently started counting everything. He’s 5.5 and can finally count to 10! And count 10 items and recognize all sorts of other numbers between 1-100. Tonight he was even doing addition and subtraction with his dinner (he had 7 nuggets and ate 3 so he had four left, things like that).

I just wanted to share because, to my husband and me, this is such an amazing example of how our kids will figure out what they need to know in their lives/interests and then pursue it.

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