language arts reviews Archives

Apologia Readers in Residence Review

April 18, 2017 by Emilee Evans 2 Comments

As someone who particularly loves language arts, I know reading is so much more than just written words on a page. It’s important to truly understand what you’re reading and learn from it. That’s what Readers in Residence Volume 1 (Sleuth) from Apologia Educational Ministries is all about! I was excited for the opportunity to check it out and share our Readers in Residence review.

Readers in Residence Volume 1 is recommended for grades 4 and up. The books suggested for the program are written at about a 4th-6th grade level. It’s noted that this would also be good for older children who struggle with reading comprehension or who are unfamiliar with the skills taught in the program.
I have been using Readers in Residence with my daughter (age 9 and approximately at a 4th Grade level). I found at her age/approximate grade level Readers in Residence has been challenging but in a good way. She is definitely one to resist when things aren’t easy, but with my help, she has kept moving right along and has really started to enjoy it. Additionally, there are areas where they are encouraged to talk with their parents.
Readers in Residence is designed to be flexible so you are able to use it in the way that works best for your child. I am a schedule kind of person. If there is a recommended schedule and it’s feasible for my children to follow it, that is generally what we do. It’s something I’ve always appreciated about Apologia’s curricula. In this case, the recommended schedule is 4 days per week. It breaks up the Modules into multiple, easier to tackle parts. Our lesson times have varied depending on the activities from 30 minutes to just over an hour. The lessons could be broken down further if needed.

What is Included

The Readers in Residence full set includes a large spiral bound Student Text and Workbook and a paperback Answer Key.

Answer Key

To get started, it’s best to start with the Answer Key which is 232 pages. In the Answer Key there is detailed information on how to use both the Answer Key and the Student Text and Workbook. It discusses the schedule, explaining assignments, keeping track of progress and evaluating your child’s work. It explains the rubrics and scoring of the rubrics in depth as well as checklists and guidelines for evaluations.
The Answer Key is full of everything you need to know to successfully use Readers in Residence with your child(ren). It also goes into depth about the who, what and why of the program and how to make it work for your child(ren). It definitely helped me dive into it feeling confident!

Student Text and Workbook

The Student Text and Workbook is 562 pages and includes all of the information and activities children need to progress through the program. It includes a Quick Guide, Preface, Welcome and Suggested Daily Schedule in addition to information for Book Clubs as well as the Units and Modules. We, personally, didn’t have a Book Club. I have been reading along with her, though, so we can discuss the story with each other.

Each Unit covers one book. This may be a specific book or a book of your choice within a specific genre. Each Unit is presented with an Introduction and then breaks down the book by chapters for discussion and activities. I found this particularly helpful especially since Aurora is just getting started with chapter books. It made it much less overwhelming for her.
Each of the suggested books covered in Readers in Residence are familiar books. Even if you or your child haven’t read them, it’s likely you’ve heard of them. I’ve had a great time reading the first book Sarah, Plain and Tall along with Aurora. It’s definitely a book I’ve heard of, but I’ve actually never read it either!

Readers in Residence Review

Overall, we have been enjoying Readers in Residence Volume 1. As I mentioned, Aurora was a little hesitant at first, but because I am walking along this with her, it’s been great for both of us. She love that there are hands-on projects like creating her own book cover. Plus, I can really see the light bulb going off the further she gets into the program. It really has changed the way she thinks about reading – in a good way! I love to see how deep her comprehension is getting as this can be challenging for someone with ADD. I think this is a great program for helping children really dig deeper into comprehension and critical thinking skills.

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Language Arts with a Multisensory Approach {Eclectic Foundations Review}

March 9, 2017 by Emilee Evans 5 Comments

Due to his special needs my youngest son (age 6) has learning challenges. Due to life challenges right now he has also experienced regression. It’s much like starting at the beginning. So I was excited to share ou Eclectic Foundations review. We have been using Eclectic Foundations Language Arts Level A four days per week and I have seen amazing progress.

For our Eclectic Foundations review we received physical copies of what is needed to teach Level A including: Teacher’s Guide, Student Workbook, Appendixes and Word Cards. The Teacher’s Guide, Student Workbook and Appendixes are all spiral bound books. While the Teacher’s Guide and Student Workbook have basic paper pages, the entire book of Appendixes has laminated pages as they are used multiple times with dry erase marker. So although the Student Workbook is consumable, the Appendixes are reusable.
Because we are still in the beginning of Level A we haven’t yet used it, but there is a McGuffey’s section which requires McGuffey’s Primer. The digital copy can be accessed on the Eclectic Foundations. Physical copies can be purchased online or can likely be found at the library. The Word Cards that are included with the Appendixes are specifically for use with the McGuffey’s primer and contain multiple flashcards on card stock to be cut out.

Eclectic Foundations Review

Eclectic Foundations covers the entire spectrum that is Language Arts. It teaches Phonics, Grammar, Spelling, Reading Comprehension, Handwriting, Composition, and Poetry without multiple books! I’m really trying to purge our homeschool curriculum to save space, so I definitely appreciate this! Plus, it teaches all of this with a Biblical worldview. I really try to incorporate our faith in everything we do, which definitely includes our homeschool curriculum. Plus, I love that it takes a hands-on approach because I believe that’s made the biggest difference in Chaz’s learning.

A Multisensory Approach

Each lesson is short – around 10-15 minutes though we have gone up to 20 minutes. It starts with learning one letter at a time. It starts very hands-on by using play dough to form the letters. I love this because it really does reinforce learning the letters and helps strengthen fine-motor skills as well. Because Chaz has fine-motor challenges, this has been a great way to work on those skills as well. Plus he uses glue to trace the letter and sprinkles glitter on the letters, which also works on those fine-motor skills. It recommends colored sand, which is what we are using now, but when I didn’t have any the glitter worked well as a substitute!

Of course, as he is learning the letters he progresses from using the play dough and sand to writing on the white board to writing on the paper. There has been no fuss about writing on the paper, and this is HUGE. The biggest struggle I’ve had with teaching him to read and write is that he is too intimidated to try writing. He would do it, but would get easily upset if he messed up. I think the biggest difference is the hands-on approach. The sand/glitter is messy, and that was OK, so if his writing is messy at first, that’s OK, too. It offered him the perspective I hadn’t been able to offer before. Plus the step-by-step progression really helped to ease into it.
Unfortunately, Chaz still doesn’t write his name. This is another thing that he is just completely resistant about. With Eclectic Foundations there is a place to write his name, and it suggested writing it with highlighter so he could trace it. I thought he would still be resistant, but he hasn’t been! He’s getting so close to being able to write his name independently!

Learning Language Arts is Fun

Chaz has really been having fun with Eclectic Foundations. Not only is he improving with writing, but really hearing the letter sounds has been an improvement. The lessons progress from hearing the letter sound at the beginning of words to then identifying if the sound is at the beginning, middle or end of the word. There are pages in the Appendixes with smiley faces to point to during these exercises. He’s really had a lot of fun with it.
Something we’ve both enjoyed is playing Tic-Tac-Toe with the letters. He gets extra practice writing the letters, and we get to have a little game time together. We play at least two games so he can be both the lower case and upper case letters. When it’s a cat game he has to draw a cat. He hasn’t been keen on drawing either, so this is another pleasant surprise that has started since we started Eclectic Foundations!

Additionally, he gets to follow the letters through a maze to the other size. He does this with pencil, so he’s getting even more practice writing while having fun! Each lesson then ends with a Mother Goose poem.
Overall, Eclectic Foundations has been a great fit for my struggling learner. I love that it offers a multisensory approach and has short lessons that are fun. It offers an ideal progression that has reduced intimidation and fun games that have encouraged learning. Plus there are paragraphs for identifying letters he’s learning that are Biblical. It covers so much without using an overwhelming amount of resources.

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Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting Review

October 7, 2016 by Emilee Evans Leave a Comment

We have delayed and/or struggling readers and writers in our home. It definitely can be challenging, but we’re always excited to discover resources that can help. Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting from Everyday Education, LLC is one of those resources. It offers a step-by-step program for teaching children to read well and have beautiful handwriting. This is exactly what our children need, so I was definitely excited for the chance to review it.

Everyday Education, LLC offers a variety of homeschool resources and information. They offer resources that help families streamline necessities for the homeschool to have time for more important things. Additionally, they offer homeschool resources for teaching language arts from preschool to high school.
For our review, we received the digital version of Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting. It can be downloaded to any device and accessed as a PDF. The ebook can be printed multiple times for use within the same family, so I have been using it with both of our boys (ages 10 and 6). It contains 60 phonics-based lessons with italic handwriting that progresses from straight to slant and joined. It can be used both as a primary or supplemental teaching tool. We have been using it as a supplement.
The beginning of the Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting ebook has an extensive Foreword and Introduction. It is a very thorough introduction to the program including tips, suggested schedule, reading time and more as well as how to use this program. Additionally, the 1st Chapter dives further into tips for teaching. By the time I was done reading through all of them, I understood the concepts of the program, how to use it properly for the children with different needs (one is struggling while the other is just beginning), and why this method is recommended. I was definitely impressed with all the information it included.

Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting Review

To teach this program to a beginning reader versus a delayed reader/struggling writer is a little different. With our youngest, we progressed slowly – about 5-10 minutes a day, 5 days per week. This schedule is ideal for him. He does know many of the letter sounds, but it was a great way to introduce the program without overwhelming him. The writing, in particular, overwhelms him as he feels it’s something he just can’t do. Doing a little at a time has been helpful. Although he has still been hesitant about writing, he has continued to progress without fuss or complaint. That alone is encouraging!
Our oldest son is a delayed reader, but he knows his letter sounds. We were able to skip some sections as recommended in the “School age children that are already reading” schedule. If we run into things that are more challenging, I will switch to the “student with learning challenges” schedule, which is the same as the beginning readers. For now, we have been working about 10 minutes each day, 5 days per week. We skip “Introduction,” “Sound Out,” and “Read” and focus on the writing.
Because he struggles with writing, it’s definitely not his favorite thing to do. In fact, if it were up to him, he wouldn’t do it at all. Because Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting teaches handwriting in this “Italic” fashion, though, I have found he’s much more receptive. He finds this style easier on his hands and easier to use in general. 20 of the letters are made in one stroke, which is very helpful for those with fine-motor challenges. The less he has to pick up the pencil, the better! Plus the letters are more oval than circular, which doesn’t seem like a big difference, but I’ve been surprised the difference it does make!

Progressing Through Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting

The Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting book starts in chapter two with the simplest of exercises – simply tracing the letters. What an ideal introduction, though! They introduce the writing style right away. Then as we progress through each lesson, they are already familiar with the writing style. With our youngest, I didn’t have to do a lot of explaining as writing the letters is still fairly new to him. With our oldest, though, I did point out the differences in the letter styles so he would recognize it right away. While tracing the letters I did also make it a point to emphasize the letter sounds particularly for our youngest.
Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting then breaks up into lessons. The lessons include short words focusing on a specific vowel sound followed by writing sentences using these words. Writing independently was a little more challenging for our youngest, so we really focused on tracing the letters, and I just continued to encourage him. Although it seems he may be progressing more slowly, I do definitely feel he is progressing.
We print out the lessons as needed, but you could surely print the entire ebook at once. I simply print out what we need for that week. I, personally, only print out the pages they will be writing on and read the words on the iPad from the PDF. I’m always a big fan of saving paper!
Overall, I do find Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting to be an effective tool for beginning and struggling readers. Although we use it as a supplement, I do think it would also work well as a primary learning tool for beginning readers and writers.

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Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization {IEW Review}

May 18, 2016 by Emilee Evans 2 Comments

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Please refer to my Disclosure Policy for more information.
Memorization? Mastery Learning? Although we have done some memorization, these are concepts that were new to me, and I was definitely interested in incorporating it into our homeschool. Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization from Institute for Excellence in Writing knows the importance of and encourages memorization as it is a powerful learning tool. Poetry is used because it uses vocabulary and sentence structures that help establish a linguistic foundation.
Mastery Learning is based on this repetition, review, and gradual expansion of repertoire. With Mastery Leanring memorization becomes easier and retention is permanent. I’m sure you, like me, have quite a few things we’ve remembered through the years as well as many thing we didn’t! The Mastery Learning Approach helps to avoid this!

Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization – What’s Included

Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization includes a Teacher’s Manual, which is a spiral bound manual. It includes 96 poems and speeches as well as instructions, poet biographies, memory charts, and certificates. Also included are audio CDs (one for each level) with the poems and speeches. The CDs are packaged in a beautiful case, and the book and CDs were packaged in a nice box.
There are also downloadable resources included like the MP3 downloads of the CDs, additional audio files, and the Student e-book. These are easily accessed through your IEW account. The audio files include:

Nurturing Competent Communicators
Mastery Learning, Ability Development, and Individualized Education
Ten Thousand Times and Then Begins Understanding
On Listening
On Speaking
On Reading
On Writing

Additionally, there is an option to purchase a spiral-bound copy of the Student e-book as well. For our review, we received this spiral-bound copy. IEW is very generous in that they allow additional copies to be made within your family whether it’s from the physical copy or printing additional copies of the downloaded Student e-Book.
We also received a bonus DVD of “Nurturing Component Communicators,” which is a conference talk by Andrew Pudewa, which I find is helpful to watch before getting started.

We have been using this program with all three of our children. My intentions were to just use it with our older two children (ages 8 and 10), but after the second or third day of using it, our 6 year old also wanted a turn to say the poems! So, of course, we were going to include him!
There are 5 levels starting from short and simple poems all the way to longer speeches. Because our kids are young, we started at the very beginning. It is recommended to start at the beginning regardless, though older students may breeze quickly through the first couple of lessons.
What I find very interesting is that concepts I didn’t understand before were really coming to light. For example, I was concerned that the more poems we learned the harder it would become especially given our children’s special needs and challenges with memorization. It really has been exactly what they noted – the more they learn the easier it has been to learn!

How We’re Using Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization

For our “lessons” we first go over the poems all together with the audio CDs. Because they eventually were moving forward at different rates, we would start together and then they would be dismissed after their current poem. Afterwards, I break the kids up to recite their poems to me. This way I know they are reciting them on their own and not just because they heard one of their siblings say it. With all three kids our “lessons” are still pretty short – around 10 – 15 minutes. Plus, I know I can ask them to recite them any time – no matter where we are, and they get extra practice!
I have seen quite a few benefits since starting Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization. In addition to improving their memorization skills, they are pronouncing words more clearly and with more emotion as well. Using emotion rather than a monotone voice is a challenge for our oldest who is on the Autism Spectrum, so this has been a nice surprise. Even if I were to say them in a certain way, I really think it was the audio CDs that are making the biggest difference.
For multiple children, I definitely recommend they each have their own Student book (or print out). This way you can keep track of their progress on the given charts. Plus, if they want to “study” the poems on their own, they will be able to do so.
Overall, this has definitely been a great addition to our homeschool. It easily fits in to our day because it is so flexible, and it has been a great supplement to our language arts curriculum. Plus, it has made memorization in other areas (like science and Bible) easier as well!

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