Welcome to the start of our Homeschooling Series! In this series we are going to cover our plans (as well as various optional sources) for teaching our children. The series will be divided by subject. This is because how we teach a subject is not going to change much between grade one and two (for example). But what does matter is the progression of starting with the basics, and moving onto more difficult material with mastery.
We will, however, divide the preschool approach from the school age approach, since there are large differences for subjects like science and history.
Step One – Language and Sequence
Before learning to write, there are a couple key skills the child needs to have. One of which is obvious: fine-motor skills.
On the road to writing, a child first must learn to correctly hold a pencil. For Little Fox, from around 14 months of age, we taught her to correctly hold a pencil crayon while drawing. For the most part, Little Fox was able to correctly hold the pencil. There have been periods after I was not observing her colouring that she slipped into fist-holding. However, due to the diligence with which I first taught her, she has been able to return to proper holding techniques with very little guidance.
The second key skill is language. Before teaching your child to write, you want to encourage your child to speak! One fun thing you can do is write down things your child says, and read it as a story at bedtime. This helps the children connect the idea that their thoughts are something that can be written down and then read.
A third key ability is to recognize the individual sounds that words make. When you read a book to your child, as often as you can, try running your finger under the words as you say them. Sometimes say words very slowly, emphasizing each sound. For example, read slowly “s-l-oh-l-ee.” Keep in mind, I am not suggesting you go that slow all the time, just some of the time!
Finally, sequencing events is a helpful pre-writing skill. If you have some routine cards, grab three and put them on a mat. Discuss the order of events at bedtime. “First we read stories, then we say our prayers, and last/finally we go to bed”
This can be down for other times of day too. “First we make our bed, then we eat breakfast, and finally we brush our teeth.” Or, “first I pick a toy, then I play with it, and last, I put it away.”
Step Two – Letter Recognition
At 2.5, your child may be ready for Sandpaper Letters! You can get sandpaper letters in packs, or in a book (try looking for “Montessori Letter Work”). I didn’t start these until 3.5 with Little Fox, which is actually quite late for introducing them. Because I am doing it late, Little Fox will only do them with me when I ask her to, and she does not spontaneously want to use them. (Little Badger is 20 months, and often spontaneously asks to do the Sandpaper numbers).
What we do with each letter is trace the shape, and say the letter sound. “A says a…a…a…” Sometimes we say “A says a…a…a… as in apple.” After one round of naming the letter and the sound, we go through the letters again. This time we just say the sound the letter makes: “a…a…a…”
After repeating this many times, we can do a different activity. I will put three letters out at once (a, b, and t, for example). Then I will ask Little Fox “which letter says a…a…a…” and she will point to the A. Then I can ask “which letter says b…b…b…” and so on. If she doesn’t know, I will tell her which letter and remove it from the options. Or if she points to the wrong letter I will say “that says t…t…t…, which one says b…b…b…?” With this inability I would also return to going through the letters she does not know.
After I am quite sure she really does know all the letters, I can hand her a letter and ask her what sound it makes. It is very important not to do this until I am quite sure she actually is ready to answer. This is the most difficult part of letter recognition.
Step Three – The Moveable Alphabet
At around age four, after becoming familiar with the sandpaper letters, a child may be ready for the moveable alphabet. You can start off by having your child match the sandpaper letters with the letters in the moveable alphabet. Then you can say a sound and ask your child to find the matching letter.
Next you get to work with your child on matching sounds to words. At this stage you can say short phonetic words like “f…o…ks” and the child can look for the letters to make the word fox. In the beginning we start with three letter words (mug, bug, rug, tug). After the oral work, you can give your child some small objects, or flashcards of the objects. Then the child can work out what the word is without your oral guidance. When the child is confident looking at a picture or small object representing these three letter words, then you can start giving him short phrases to phonetically
During this time, the child can continue practicing writing skills with the metal insets. Connecting simple dot to dot drawings, and tracing lines are also helpful. Don’t forget to ensure your child is grasping the pencil correctly.
Step Four – Writing
There are two kinds of writing paper for beginner writing. The first type has a blank top half of the page, and writing lines at the bottom. On these pages the child is able to draw a picture or glue a photograph. Then, they come to you (the adult) and dictate what they want their picture to say. So if a child draws an airplane, they may ask you to write out “Airplane” for them. Or they might want you to write “My airplane.” Or “The airplane can fly.”
After you have written their dictation on a separate sheet of paper, the child takes it and copies it onto the writing lines beneath their picture.
Once the child has mastered writing these simple captions for the picture, the child can move onto the fully lined paper. Then the child dictates a story to you. Next the child takes the sheet with the dictation and copies it out on the larger paper. When a story is several pages long, bind them together and add it to your bookshelf. Then the child will be able to pull out their own writing to practice reading!
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If you are interested in following this curriculum with your child, there are a couple free printables on other websites that may be of interest to you.
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