Advent Preparations

 Can you believe that it is almost the new year? 

Are you excited for what a new year brings?

There are so many preparations that we make for the holidays and new year. Something that might fall by the wayside is the spiritual preparations for Advent and Christmas. 

This Sunday, November 29th, is the first Sunday of Advent. As such, it is the liturgical new year.  In the Eastern Churches, Advent is known as the time for the Nativity Fast - and Eastern Catholics and Orthodox Christians are already fasting. They begin their fast forty days before Christmas. In the West, we do not have the same emphasis on fasting as preparation today. 

In our secular society, Christmas decorations were on the store shelves before Halloween! The grand debate between many is Christmas music before or after Thanksgiving. Neither! Christmas music should be for the Christmas season. It is time for Advent music. 

It is time for penance and reflection. 

It is time for alms, fasting, and prayer. 

It is a time of preparation where we hear the voice in the wilderness cry: Make strait the way of the Lord. 

Need inspiration?

First, take a look at the Advent Guide for the Extraordinary Thoughts. 

Next, check out the Advent Overview at Fisheaters. 

Then, maybe read Around the Year with the Von Trapp Family.

Finally, listen to Advent music!

Primary sounds for M, A, N, S, E, and T

 Happy Thanksgiving. 

My five-year-old asked me if we were going to record a video today. I said, "Sure!" He was a little tired, but he was so excited to record our video. 

We have done these lessons several times. We will continue to review previous phonics lessons as we continue on our journey to learning how to read. Repetition builds confidence. 

At the bottom of the page, Ms. Akin wrote notes to the teacher. These are brief notes. They include the recommendation to go over these foundational parts slowly.  We are building masterful readers. Our goal is not to have our five year olds reading at a 3rd grade reading level. Our goal is to build a strong phonetic foundation so that our children can learn to read well. 

Phonics helps to decode the patterns of language. Once a child can decode words, the child can begin to work on comprehension and understanding. Follow Ms. Akin's advice: lay the foundation well. 

A quick phonics lesson for the primary sounds of M, A, N, S, E, and T. 

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 Links of Interest: 

Florence Akin's Word Mastery Course:https://play.google.com/books/reader?... 

Flashcards and Letter Tiles: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/P... 

My Blog: https://atouchofbeautylife.blogspot.com/ 

My TpT Storefront: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S...

A Short Reading Lesson

 Learning how to read is important, but the lessons do not have to be complicated. Some reading lessons can consist of the child being read to. Some lessons can consist of the child reading. Some lessons can include phonics. Some lessons can include games. 

Variety in lessons keeps them from getting boring. Consistency in reading to and with the child is more important than following the same lesson structure every time.

Children who are learning to read can be taught phonemic awareness by sounding out words. There are two ways to do this. Children can sound out words by decoding them or reading them. They can also sound out words orally. We frequently play games that involve sounding out words. 

 

In this short video, we demonstrate a short reading lesson. 

First, we practice sounding out words. 

Second, we practice letter familiarity. 

Third, we discuss the pictures. 

Fourth, we look at the words. 

A more in-depth reading lesson would include a phonics lesson, recitation of the sounds and words in the lesson, and copy work in addition to the above steps. 

The child's voice in these videos belongs to my child who turned five in August. 

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Links of Interest: 

McGuffey's First Reader: https://archive.org/details/mcguffeysfirstec00mcgu2 

Flashcards and Letter Tiles: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Learn-to-Read-Level-1-Template-5923913 

My Blog: https://atouchofbeautylife.blogspot.com/ 

My TpT Storefront: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Wisdom-Through-Nature

CLEPS and Direct Credit Resources

 So, a few days ago I mentioned that I have discovered a few resources for CLEP exams. 

CLEP exams can cover most of the material taken in the first semester or two in college, saving money and allowing you to get into the "fun" courses sooner.  At the moment, CLEP exams cost around $85/exam plus proctoring. CLEP exams can be taken from home using remote proctoring. 

According to the website, about 2900 colleges accept some or all of the CLEP exams. Before starting your CLEP journey, speak with the admission office at your college or perspective college so you know how many credits you can CLEP and which classes are accepted. 

There are a plethora of free resources to learn the material on the CLEP tests. One example is a full college algebra course on YouTube.

Khan Academy has numerous videos appropriate for the college-level. They have arts and humanities, mathematics, social sciences, science, economics, and computing videos and courses. They also have social skills and career development help. 

Saylor Academy has free resources that can be used to study for CLEPS, or if your school recognizes Saylor Academy's direct credit, you can get credit for very low cost. Saylor has arts, humanities, business, science, social science, and mathematics courses. 

Alphabet Awareness

 

In order for children to learn how to read, children must be aware of the sounds that the letters represent. To increase alphabet awareness, teachers and parents should increase child awareness of letters. 

*Point out the letter on a page when reading

*Use flashcards or word tiles to help the child recognize the letters

*Practice primary letter sounds, not just the letter names

 

Written words use symbols, the alphabet, to represent sound. In English, each letter can have multiple sounds. Understanding primary sounds of the letters is a first step in reading that even young learners can master. 

 

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Links of Interest: 

 McGuffey's Speller: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15456/15456-pdf.pdf 

Flashcards and Letter Tiles: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Learn-to-Read-Level-1-Template-5923913

My Blog: https://atouchofbeautylife.blogspot.com/ 

My TpT Storefront: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Wisdom-Through-Nature

New YouTube Phonics and Reading Series

Phonics is a foundational step to reading and speech. With an emphasis on sight words and reading early, phonics is sometimes neglected inadvertently or deliberately. 

I am teaching my five-year-old how to read. And, before I actually started - I was secretly terrified that I would fail him. But, after hours of research, I decided to use older books to teach him to read. 

After much debate and comparison of programs, I decided that the more simple my program for reading, the better. I wanted to make sure that he would be ready. I also wanted to make sure that my method of teaching would not be depended on a single methodology, book, or font. 

Many people will tell you that an app will teach your child to read. A program. A book. These might help, but I wager that reading is not a one-size fits all endeavor. Some children will learn faster than others. For some children, 100 Easy Lessons will be perfect. For other children, it might be a disaster. This new series will have step-by-step lessons designed to teach children and adults how to read using free materials and resources.

Phonics is an important foundational part of reading. In this video, I introduce Word Mastery by Florence Akin as an independent or supplementary phonics program. In subsequent videos, we will learn how to read using McGuffey's Readers and Akin's Word Mastery. 

 

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Links of Interest: Memoria Press: Reading and Phonics Set: https://www.memoriapress.com/curricul... Florence Akin's Word Mastery Course: https://play.google.com/books/reader?... 

McGuffey's Primer: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14642... 

E. Louise Smythe's Primary Reader: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/... 

My Blog: https://atouchofbeautylife.blogspot.com/ 

My TpT Storefront: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S...

My husband told me to slow my roll...

 It is just a fact that I am a planner. I love to sequence curricula. I love to gather information and coordinate plans. I am very good at this sort of work. And, I am also very good at implementing. 

My children are very eager little sponges who want to homeschool every single day. 

I am not exaggerating. 

I am not kidding. 

They LOVE to learn (right now). And, they love the attention it gets them. LO is beginning to read by himself. He has even read his siblings a story. Their eagerness combined with my almost neurotic need to plan has created numerous excel sheets filled with possibilities of lessons for them. 

I plan to continue using Schola Rosa as my main curriculum because it is working wonderfully. But my children are devouring books and stories and lessons. They want more. So, I am looking at every resource I can to fill their excess time with good literature. 

As a result of my planning, I asked a priest what age my son should begin memorizing the Mass parts for future serving. And, that's when my husband told me to slow my roll on the five-year-old. He said he was afraid I was already looking at college programs for him. And, honestly, if you look at my master plan - I kinda was. 

Okay, I wasn't really looking at colleges, but I was definitely looking at what classes I could prepare my children to CLEP. So, basically the same thing. 

So, anyways, if anyone is looking for free High School resources that end in CLEPS, I have ideas.