Putting the games together is a snap! |
For reading, he is learning the phonics rules that are necessary to learn to read. However, through the games and the repetition, he’s also learning many words as sight words for quick recall. Then the Phonetic Farm brings it back to the phonics rules level to reinforce WHY certain letters or groups of letters say what they do.
For writing, my son is learning fun letter stories to help reinforce what the letters are supposed to look like. He is practicing by doing “spelling tests” for the letters right now, which tests his recall abilities for writing letters we have already covered. He is getting lots of practice without it being too much for a 5 year old, kindergarten-aged boy.
I was worried it would just be too difficult or boring for him, but I am finding it is the opposite. HE LOVES THIS PROGRAM. Since he loves it, I know we will be continuing this! I am pleased with how EASY it is for the teacher, so I am encouraged to get it out and work on it with him each day. He is getting to do cut and paste, handwriting practice, journaling with pictures, playing folder games and card games, learning poetry, discussing and dissecting literature, and learning stories to make writing and recognition FUN. He can hear, see, and touch this program.
[…] If you’ll remember, I have used IEW before in helping to teach my son to read with the Primary Arts of Language (PAL) system, so I knew how well IEW’s programs do work and didn’t want to waste any time […]