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Our 5 year old son goes back and forth between being really eager to learn but reluctant to try new things – particularly in regards to writing. He has significant fine motor delays, and writing is a big challenge for him. When we received Foundations Level B for our Logic of English review his eyes lit up, and he asked if it was time to get started!
The reason he was so excited is because we have reviewed Logic of English Foundations A in the past. Although that was a couple of years ago, he wasn’t quite ready for all of it, but he did sit along with our older two children as they completed it and even participated in the activities he could. I didn’t realize it had made such an impact until he expressed his excitement! I was actually planning on using it with our oldest as he is a delayed reader, but seeing our reluctant learner so excited, I knew I was going to be using it with him!
Logic of English Foundations B is recommended for children who can read and recognize short vowel sounds or a general equivalent around Kindergarten level. If your child hasn’t completed Foundations A, they can still start with Foundations B, but additional reusable resources would need to be purchased that would otherwise be included in the Foundations A-B Set. If you aren’t sure where to start, they have a Help Me Choose option where you can enter the information about your child (or children) and see where they should begin.
Logic of English Review – Foundations B
For our review we received the Foundations B Teacher’s Manual and Student Workbook, Level B Readers, plus the reusable resources we didn’t already own from using Foundations A such as: the Phonogram and Spelling Rule Quick Reference, Spelling Analysis Card and Phonogram Game Tiles.
The biggest concern I had with our Kindergarten age son using Foundations B is that he is still reluctant when it comes to learning writing, and it is hard to gauge whether he does better with cursive or manuscript. For Foundations A we used cursive, but he wasn’t doing a lot of writing at the time. This time I chose manuscript because, as I mentioned, I planned to use it with our older son who, although he also have fine motor delays and cursive is recommended, is insistent on using manuscript. Because writing is so challenging for him, I didn’t want to discourage him and so chose manuscript.
In general, I wouldn’t recommend this unless you truly do run into a situation where one is better than the other for your child. The Teacher’s Manual does include both cursive and manuscript, thought the Workbook includes one or the other. The other challenge this presents is that if you do have reusable materials from another Foundations level, you may have to purchase another. For example, the Tactile Cards, Phonogram and Spelling Rule Quick Reference and Rhythm of Handwriting Quick Reference Chart are either cursive or manuscript, so new ones would need to be purchased.
So although I did pull out the reusable resources from Foundations A I realized I would need new Tactile Cards as well as a whiteboard which I guess got lost in one of moves since we moved twice since we used Foundations A.
Foundations B really is like a smooth continuation following Foundations A. In fact, even the lesson numbers continue from it rather than starting all over again at Lesson 1. It continues to teach phonograms in depth, which has been so helpful for our son as he does have speech delays. He hasn’t only been recognizing how to recognize and read the sounds, but how to say them correctly as well. He’s fairly reluctant when I try to just help him with speech, so having it tied in to a curriculum he enjoys has been very helpful.
The Teacher’s Manual is very in depth. It not only shows Scope and Sequence and Materials needed but also adds in elements like Multi-Sensory fun. I believe Sensory activities are great for all young students, but because our son has Sensory Processing Disorder I find it particularly helpful for him! It not only takes the guesswork out of teaching the lessons, but really adds fun elements to the lessons as well.
The writing in Foundations B continues to build upon what was learned in Foundations A, which is yet another reason I wouldn’t recommend switching. We went back through Foundations A to learn the basic manuscript tips and strokes before proceeding. Although I do feel manuscript is easier to learn (not necessarily easier to write), this did take a little time, so I blended it with the lessons in Foundations B so we didn’t get held back.
The advantage is, we were starting with uppercase letters, and it states that it is more important that uppercase letters are taught for familiarity. Sometimes they are sometimes taught as manuscript first because of the variations in the cursive uppercase letters. In this way, I did feel less pressure about the switch.
Handwriting goes thorough all the uppercase letters of the Alphabet. It is practiced using the whiteboard, Tactile Cards and the Workbook. There is a page with various size lines, and children are encouraged to write the letter three times on their favorite line. The Workbook also contains many different activities to reinforce the lessons being taught including phonograms, fluency and reading. The pages can be easily torn out so they can lay flat on the table.
In addition to Phonograms, Phonemic Awareness and Handwriting, Reading and Spelling are taught as well. What I appreciate about the Spelling is it doesn’t just jump into Spelling tests. Spelling is taught through the steps on the Spelling Analysis Quick Reference. There is repetition, speaking the words, counting syllables, breaking the word by syllables and so-on. It’s a really unique method that may seem a bit long at first, but it seems to be effective!
Chaz has also really been enjoying the Foundations B Readers. After a few lessons, the first Reader is introduced, but he just likes to sit down and look over them again and again! He’s definitely starting to recognize the words and sentences. Because his older siblings with similar special needs had a hard time learning to read (our oldest is still learning), I almost expected he would have the same challenges, but he has been doing really well with Foundations B and the Readers!
Overall, I am so glad we had the chance to review Foundations B, and I’m glad I took the chance to use it with our youngest son. It has really helped to continue to build what he was learning through Foundations A, has encouraged him to work on writing, speech and reading as well as beginning to learn spelling! It is a very thorough language arts program for young kids. He has been making great progress and is doing his work happily, which I love!
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