Heather Aliano
Dec 28, 2012
My middle child has a favorite book. We sit and read Where the Wild Things Are more often than I can count. He squeals with joy when the wild rumpus starts, and he stomps around the room, growling his terrible growls and gnashing his terrible teeth. He loves to tell me, with a gleam in his eye, that he is MY "wild child."
The boy isn't kidding. His favorite activities involve running, and jumping, and yelling, and attempting to fly, and wiggling, and laughing, and throwing things, and "battling" everything at his height. He is stubborn. He wants to be the boss at all times. He is a joy to have around, a happy little ball of fire. He's also a handful. Or an armful as the case may be.
Homeschooling a child like this is not easy. I had been putting off doing any school work with him, because frankly, I didn't see how it would be possible to get him to sit down long enough to learn anything. However, this child needs something to channel his energy into, and learning how to read seems a lot more productive than his plan to find the highest object to jump off of without breaking a leg.
Foundations Is A Program Written With Children Like My Son In Mind.
Let's face it, my kid isn't strange. He is a lot like most other Kindergarten age kids. He is an active child. He is creative, and wild, and oh so bright. He needs to be engaged, and the Foundations program does a fantastic job of doing just that.
A few months ago, my son could not recognize his own name written, let alone read it. Foundations starts with the very basics of phonemic awareness, which needs to be mastered before a child can read. He gleefully practiced listening to sounds, feeling his throat to see if a sound was voiced or unvoiced, and looking in the mirror to see how his mouth formed a sound.
We found a new favorite game in Foundations, Blend and Do, where I would sound out a word such as "spin" and he would blend the sounds and fly out of his seat to act out the movement. Watching his face light up when he realized I was sounding out his favorite activities (like stomping, running, jumping) melted my heart.
It feels like this program was written just for my little wild child. When I pull out the workbook, he comes running over. Every day feels like something new and exciting, because every lesson is full of varied activities to keep his interest. There is no such thing as drill and kill in the Foundations program. The phonograms are learned through a series of active games, such as scavenger hunts, obstacle courses, and races. The Phonogram flash cards, which intimidated my son out of the package, became the item he would bring to me again and again during the day to play with. Even on days when he really doesn't want to learn anything, Logic of English Foundations works with him. Today, he wanted to go off and play something else instead of "doing school," but then I told him the plan for today was to crumple up a paper with his reading words on it and play "basketball" with each one after he read it. He finished the lesson with laughter, instead of tears.
Reading is the Foundation of All Other Learning
It's easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure when you are faced with the task of teaching your child to read. Reading is the foundation of all other learning, and I did not want to mess this up for my little Wild Child. Thanks to the incredible teacher support from Logic of English, I was able to spare myself many sleepless nights worrying about teaching reading.
There are families all over the United States who are discovering Logic of English and sharing their enthusiasm for the program. Any time I have had a question or wanted to share our successes, I have been able to find someone to help me and cheer us on. I am so thrilled to have found a program that is backed by people willing to work with me to give my son a better education.
The Foundations program has provided me with all the tools I needed to work with my active child, and to help him find the joy in learning. It's trained me to be a better teacher, and helped me see the positives in my son's wild tendencies. I'm happy to say I have a son who can read, and a tear-free, fun homeschool.
Written by Heather Aliano, Blogger at www.onlypassionatecuriosity.com, and happy homeschool Mom of 3.
