One of the areas that our youngest has struggled most in is Language Arts. He was a late talker, was in speech therapy for years and we just weren't sure how all that would affect his learning how to read. In kindergarten I started him in the same program his sister used and he seemed to be going great. I was so thrilled and remember at Thanksgiving he read some little Bob Books to my mom and brother. I had such a sense of relief that he was learning to read easily because it just seemed like life would go so smoothly once he knew how to read. When we started back in January after the holidays he couldn't read anything he had been reading before Thanksgiving. We reviewed, took another break, tried another program and it was like he'd never learned any words. I was heartbroken and didn't know what to do. I felt that taking the holiday breaks had somehow made him lose what he learned and that it was all my fault. We spent the next 3+ years doing various programs, taking breaks, reviewing etc and just weren't making too much progress. Somewhere around late 3rd grade/early 4th grade we started making progress. He was several years behind and still struggling to remember the difference between a noun and a verb. His writing skills were non-existent and I just felt I was failing him. I finally realized that he loved me reading to him and that it was better for him to narrate to me than to not work on writing at all. I was very intrigued when I heard about Home School Navigator and the different levels their program has. They currently have 6 levels as well as the higher levels have interactive notebooks.
We were given a 1 year subscription and we had about a month to decide on what level we wanted. After spending some time researching the different levels I decided Issac was probably in either the yellow level or the green. I spent some more time going back and forth about which level I thought would work best for Issac. It seemed like the yellow level was better for him with regards to parts of speech and writing whereas his reading level was more on the green level. I finally decided just to ask the ladies that wrote the program! I explained a little about Issac and they recommended we start with the yellow level. They explained to me that we could always add in additional reading at a higher level and it would be better to work on the skills he's struggling with more. I decided we'd jump into the yellow level and see how it went.
The first thing I did is to go and print the monthly book list as well as the daily lesson plans. I know some people prefer to look on their computers, but I enjoy having the paper in my hands. I like being able to mark off what we did and keep all our papers together. I printed the first month of everything in hopes that I could be organized :) There is also an additional master book list that pretty much breaks down what the student will be learning during the year.
Each lesson has the same basic setup which I think students overall enjoy. It gives them a sense of security knowing the "game plan" for each lesson. It's up to the parent/teacher if they choose to have the kids do all the activities each lesson. We aimed to do them all, but if Issac was feeling tired or having more of a rough day then we adjusted.
At the end of the lesson you have the option to upload assignments to help make a portfolio later or to just check that the lesson is completed. We uploaded once, but we don't usually keep a portfolio and so we just kept all our papers from the lessons in our notebook. Originally I had requested all the books for the first month from the library, but once Issac realized we could watch the videos being read on YouTube he decided he preferred that method. Even though I traditionally prefer holding a book in my hand this part really excited him and he looked forward to it. My only issue with the videos were there were some that were hard to hear and it made it difficult to get the information. I believe this is currently being addressed and won't be an issue for too long.
Even though the agenda is the same for each lessons the activities do vary. Issac has enjoyed most of the activities, but would still prefer to skip the writing! I found I was able to encourage Issac to write small amounts and the writing prompts were often interesting to him and that helped to motivate him.
I think for us using Home School Navigator has really helped to foster some writing skills in Issac. He hasn't instantly fallen in love with handwriting or is writing short stories, but he is writing several times a week without tantrums and that's a blessing. I've gone back and forth about whether the yellow level was the right choice or should I have gone with the green. I think ultimately Issac needs to learn that writing isn't a fate worse than death and that it is something he will need to do during his life. He's really enjoyed all the stories so far and he got a big kick out of Anansi and the Talking Melon. We are working towards fostering a love of learning and reading and if we push too much that will not happen. I'm happy with the progress we've made with the yellow level and look forward to continuing on and seeing the progress Issac makes.
Check out this video to get a better understanding about the program. Also check out what the rest of the crew thought as they explored all the other levels.
This looks like a really interesting program. Sometimes it is really hard to decide where to place our children, but by starting at the lower level he has more levels to work through now! I love that the books are all available on YouTube. That certainly makes things a little easier to prepare and afford.
ReplyDeleteHe loved that he got to watch them read the books. You never can tell what makes them happy :)
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