English for Life®-The Madsen Method®, a TOS Crew Review

"The Madsen Method is an evidence-based, non-consumable, four-part, cross-grade, do-it-yourself, fully scripted, complete, step-by-step, integrated, basic language arts program, founded on explicit phonics, taught via neurological response instruction." from page Intro 3 of The Madsen Method Part One, Sections 1-3.

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Reviewing homeschool resources with a child on the autism spectrum has been an incredible journey, a roller coaster of ups and downs.

My first year of reviewing in 2008 began not long after I withdrew my daughter from public school, and, interestingly, we received many, many products that allowed me to feel successful with her. I learned that she can indeed learn and that there are products that can scaffold the teaching process for me, while at the same time, scaffold the learning process for my girl.

This year of reviewing, my second, ending this month, has been drastically different. At times, depressingly different. The products I've gotten this year have had a different theme for me. Instead of spotlighting areas of success, I'm learning where, exactly, the gaps in learning and development are, and what are my girl's splinter skills, in terms of communication and academics. Instead if feeling successful, I've spent a lot of this review year facing exactly how far behind we are. Sometimes, that information, while necessary, is difficult for me to face.

The English for Life®-The Madsen Method® is one of the resources that quickly illuminated some gaps. I am deeply indebted to Joe and Sharon Madsen for that.

I listened to several borrowed audio CDs on the drive to the Midwest Homeschool Convention in Cincinnati in April of 2009. One of them was a presentation by Sharon Madsen about English for Life®-The Madsen Method®. I knew then that Madsen Method was on the potential list of vendors for the fall Crew voyage and that I might possibly have a chance to review the program. When I heard her talking about the method our forefathers used, I have to admit, my first thought was with a scrunched-up nose kind of "old-fashioned". We've learned a lot since the time of our forefathers, I thought. Surely we have better methods, now.

(I was wrong. In fact, the more I see the approach our forefathers used, the more I want to learn from the materials we have from that time. In fact, sometimes I wish I had access to a one-room schoolhouse for my homeschooler, where she could interact with children of all ages and grades and work at her own level.)

Guide every student to connect his

FOUR NEUROLOGICAL LEARNING AVENUES:

He SPEAKS; He HEARS what he said; He DOES what he heard; He SEES what he did!

Crew members were asked to view video lectures prior to speaking with Joe Madsen as we made a decision to review this product. I wondered to myself, have we given my daughter enough opportunities for interaction and reciprocity to begin something like this? Developmentally, she's a lot like a four-year-old, although her words and vocabulary are much older than that. After talking on the phone with Mr. Madsen for nearly an hour about my daughter's challenges, I was ready to give English for Life®-The Madsen Method® a try. Mr. Madsen walked me through some sample lessons during our conversation, and he answered a lot of my questions about using the program with a child who has the attention challenges that we continue to remediate as part of an autism intervention. He told me it might not be easy in our situation.

He told me about his and Sharon Madsen's experiences using the program with special needs learners, with students who were considered unteachable. He sent me stories to read. He gave me hope. I'm inspired by the stories of children who not only were able to learn, but excel, when they were not expected to be able to learn. He encouraged me to believe in myself and my child. He believes in my child. That's important to me.

The Madsens offer quite a bit of "hand holding" for purchasers. Okay, most of you call that "support". For me, it's "hand holding". I like how they supply the teacher with all of the tools and are standing by to offer support, too.

At this point, I have to modify most of what we do together. We use a lot of hands-on learning, math and reading in while cooking and baking in the kitchen, writing to-do lists, etc. Sitting down at a table sends my daughter's anxiety sky high, and she begins to itch and scratch, and shriek, resist, and protest. Games on the floor and hands-on learning are better for us. Madsen Method is a sit down at the table activity.

So, we sat down with the first lesson - and I immediately encountered a problem. I saw a developmental gap. And modifying the lesson wasn't going to work in this case. We had some work to do before we could get to the part that I can modify.

I'm not sure I can accurately define the issue. Here's one attempt: We'd never defined terms with her. Mr. Madsen told me up front that we'd have to describe and define words and terms using language she'd understand. But I'd never done that before. I assumed she completely grasped meaning with use of words and terms.


Did you know it's possible for a child to use words and terms appropriately and in context and not fully grasp what they mean, that use of words can be a splinter skill with no foundation?

I didn't. And apparently the staff at the public school systems we left behind didn't know, either. Or if they did, they never explained that to me.

So, not understanding any of this stuff about definitions of words and terms, working knowledge of words and terms, I led us in the first lesson about the five mental muscles, trying to define them, describe them in terms she'd understand. My girl was an awesome student for this sit down at the table lesson (she usually balks because the table is too schoolish)! I wasn't sure I'd done a good job.

As we ended the lesson, and I looked ahead in the book, I realized that we'd not explicitly defined words and terms for her before. Overwhelmed. I felt over overwhelmed. How on earth would I teach her definitions in a way she'd understand without shutting her down? I decided at that moment to allow the two of us to spend several days on each lesson, so I could spotlight these definitions and terms over the period of several days, and wait to make sure she understood them before moving forward.

An aside: Before I give you the wrong impression, Madsen Method is not a program about definitions, although being able to define and explain new terms and concepts is necessary within the program. And it is that defining of concepts that seemed to be my hurdle.

In the next day or two, my entire plan changed. Why? My girl began to do something I'd never ever seen her do before, and she began this new something with intensity. She began to ask, "What do _______ mean, Mom?" (Yes, I know what needs to be corrected in that sentence. We'll get there.)

And it was with her increased curiosity and questioning that I gave up the plan to complete one Madsen Method lesson every few days. I decided to set aside those lessons until we'd had some time to practice and experience defining terms and words, allowing her many opportunities to ask her dad and me, "What do _________ mean?" and allowing me opportunities to ask her to define or describe terms to me.

Several months have passed and we have not done another Madsen Method lesson, although it is Madsen Method that opened up a *whole new world* for us. My girl is still asking me to define terms daily as they arise, in context. I know she's paying attention by her questions. Her curiosity has grown by leaps and bounds. Her ability to describe what she means has slowly and obviously begun to expand.

"What do 'unusual' mean?" she asked a couple of days ago. We talk about, discuss, define something new every day! I'm getting practice describing concepts in ways she can understand them - a pre-requisite for Madsen Method. And she's learning to define concepts and words for me and for herself, too, when I turn the question around on her and ask her, "What do you think _______ means?"

My question now is when to pick up Madsen Method and start again. How much experience defining terms and words does my girl need before we begin again? What knowledge and experience does a typically developing child have prior to beginning a program like this one? Has the practice we've done in the past few months laid a foundation that will allow us to begin English for Life® with fewer (or no) modifications on my part? I have lots of questions. I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with Joe Madsen a couple of weeks ago as he coached me through some techniques I can use now, even if I postpone formal lessons for another few weeks. We're practicing saying, seeing, hearing, doing together, away from the table and formal lessons, to introduce this routine before we begin again, formally. Mr. Madsen's "hand holding" is fabulous, and he "gets" the needs of learners like my daughter. He prayed for me before we ended our call, how precious that is to me.

So, you've probably gathered that this review turned out instead to be a pre-review, an opportunity for a discovery, and an opportunity to begin to fill in a developmental gap. Stay tuned. I will to continue to blog about English for Life®-The Madsen Method®, because we are still in the very beginning stages of it. If you have a struggling learner, I encourage you to take a serious look at this program that combines hearing, seeing, saying, doing in short lessons that are completely scripted for the parent in developmental order.

Part One of English for Life®-The Madsen Method® retails for $299.95 (Home Educators receive a 30% discount) with a money back guarantee.

The web site explains that "Part One is the first portion of our complete, ungraded language arts curriculum. It introduces the first elements of English what a student must know to be proficient in English, regardless of his age. In a graded classroom setting, Part One can be implemented as the complete English language arts curriculum for K-1, or it is the first part of a remedial program for an older student. Students completing our program are independently proficient in all language arts skills and content at 1915 literacy standards."

As part of The Old Schoolhouse Crew of reviewers, Madsen Method English for Life sent me a complimentary copy of English for Life®-The Madsen Method® Part One to use at home and review for you on my blog. I am not compensated for this review and am not obligated to provide a positive review.

Scratch & Solve Puzzles + baseball

I always find fun concepts in the book section of the warehouse club. Last week, I found something new to me: Scratch & Solve Puzzles. Priced at $4.99, I bought two versions of Hangman and a Yahtzee Scratch & Play book.


The publisher is Puzzle Wright Press at http://www.puzzlewright.com/. Type "Scratch & Solve" in the search box.


I pulled them out for the girls tonight as we tried to watch my son's baseball game from a very poor position in the parking lot. My younger daughter wanted to head straight for the playscape at the ball park, but I wasn't comfortable with her doing that. The playscape was too crowded tonight. Too many kids. Not enough parents watching them. And I knew my younger daughter would make a scene if we got out and tried to watch the game. So, we stayed put. And I waited for her to calm and quit asking to go to the playscape. I wanted to leave while she was calm --and she needed time to do that-- and without going to the playscape.

I could see little more than third base. That's my husband coaching third base with my son on third. We had absolultely lovely seats. (That's sarcasm, in case you can't tell.)

My homeschooler calmed herself. (WOW) She watched her big sister play one round of Scratch & Solve Hangman and picked up her own book and began to play her own game. The two of them figured out quite a few puzzles, too! At one point, she commented to her sister that the puzzle books were more fun than the playground. (I'm not sure I believed her, but she did say it.)

Thank goodness for a zoom on the camera.

All About Spelling, Beehive Reader 2, a TOS Homeschool Crew Review

Marie Rippel introduces her second hardback book for young readers. "What Am I?" is a collection of 10 short stories.


This book is the same size, shape, weight as the first reader, a nice size for small hands, sturdy. The stories are printed on non-glare paper in a large, easy-to-read font. The illustrations are attractive (I call them adorable, but I think I use that word too much). Like the first reader, "What Am I?" is priced at $19.95. It's brand new - available for purchase here on/after April 1, 2010.

"What Am I?" follows the same sequence and word lists as All About Spelling, Level 2, Steps 1-14. You do not have to be an All About Spelling user to use this book.

There are more words on a page in this second reader (compared to the first one), and my homeschooler sometimes experiences anxiety when she sees more words. To her, that translates into "too difficult". So, we are reading this one together, taking turns. I had to straighten out my own tongue a time or two - the middle vowels of words in the stories changes quite a bit, enough to create a tongue twister of sorts for me. You try, "A slim gal in a silk dress sits on the lump of pink gum." You have to really pay attention (my child needs that).

I took my readers to the homeschool convention and begged Marie Rippel to autograph them for my daughter. She did, to my delight. ;)

Here's a peek inside:
To read my Crewmates' reviews about, "What Am I?", go here.

AVKO Educational Research Foundation; a TOS Crew Review

How do I teach a child with a learning disability to read? I am not a teacher by training. I had no trouble learning to read. What do I do first?

I realized a couple of years ago that the public school system is not equipped to teach my child how to read. A reading problem was lumped under all-things-autism and not addressed in the same way it would have been had she not have had an autism label.

A trip to a workshop offered by our local ISD (intermediate school district) left me picking my figurative chin from the floor as I learned what services are offered to general ed students that are often not offered to students with a label.

So, I withdrew my girl from public school and set about the task of giving her experience in pre-reading, pre-literacy foundations. The public school system expected her to arrive at school with all of those in place, assumed that all of those were in place OR that they were impossible to attain. Either way, she was not going to get those pre-reading, pre-literacy foundations at school.

Fast forward a year and a half. My girl, who was always proficient at memorizing sight words, is still a sight-word-memorizer. She guesses a lot. We've been working on comprehension of NON-text (aka wordless books and stories), but what do I do as we move into text again? We've got to work on some phonics. But how? And how will I learn to teach her? I am confident that I am capable of teaching her. I need a teacher or a guide.
Enter AVKO Educational Research Foundation and a couple of AVKO's many e-books and MP3 recordings that individuals as members ($25/year) may access at no additional charge. "The Teaching of Reading & Spelling: A Continuum from Kindergarten through College" is a 364 page e-book that is available with an AVKO membership. "The Teaching of Reading and Spelling Starting from Square One," is a 316 page e-book that walks me through teaching reading and spelling. Individually, each is priced at $59.95 in book form. Members may also access the e-version of AVKO founder Don McCabe's story, "To Teach a Dyslexic" (free w/ membership or $14.95 in book form). The e-books are a few of the first things I found when I was given a membership in order to use and review it for TOS Homeschool Crew.

There's a quick-start page here and an articles and essays page here. The articles and essays page features McCabe and other authors.

For non-members, AVKO offers a list of freebies HERE. The freebies include a wealth of material to help parents and teachers better understand reading and spelling and how to teach it to all students, whether the students struggle in areas of reading and spelling or not.

A heads up: Please read materials before giving them to your children. Some of the puns and cute questions pages contain material that I'd put in a category of adult humor and not something I want to explain to my children.

Benefits of AVKO Individual Membership

• Discounts on AVKO printed materials
• Hundreds of dollars worth of FREE e-books (PDF)
  • The Patterns of English Spelling (All 10 Volumes) with Word Families in Sentence Context
  • To Teach a Dyslexic
  • Starting at Square One
  • The Teaching of Reading & Spelling: a Continuum from Kindergarten through College.
  • The Reading Teacher's List of Over 5,500 Basic Spelling Words
• Access to the Member Only section
• AVKO Newsletter with freebies, discounts, resources, and promotions
• Access to Don McCabe's most popular workshop recordings in MP3 format.
• Supplemental Curriculum Materials including word games, worksheets, activities, and more!
• Access to Pretests and Placement Tests
• Access to the Answer Keys for the Unscramblers and Family Reunion exercises of the Engaging Language Kits

I continue to enjoy the AVKO perspective. Don McCabe gives me new insight and inspiration as I chart a course for my child. He helps me look through the eyes of my child. I like that. AVKO has an incredible amount of information for me as I learn more about how to teach my daughter. I know some folks who rave about Sequential Spelling. I don't have enough information yet to know if I'll purchase Sequential Spelling or one of the other products, but having seen the member section, for me. there is a college course or two of information available to me in it. I wish I could read it more quickly -- seems I am always interrupted. If I can't get through it all during my complimentary period for this review, I"ll purchase a membership. I think the information is worth the price for our situation. Don McCabe and AVKO are a wealth of information and experience. AVKO's giving me a new perspective and lots of information to process.

Here's what I don't like: The large books that I'm studying are in .pdf format, which means that if I want to look at the full page on my screen, the font is too small to actually read, even with my reading glasses. And when I enlarge the view, I cut off part of the page and the scrolling feature leaves a lot to be desired. They're a little bit cumbersome. I wish the books were set up like the digital magazines I'm learning to like, where I can turn pages like I turn pages in a real book in my hands.

To read my Crewmates' reviews about this product, go HERE.

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abcteach, a TOS Crew Review

The fact that I didn't know about abcteach at all and didn't expect to like it when I first logged on set me up for a huge surprise. I had no idea how much I needed a resource like this one until I began using it in order to review it. I even subscribed to the member section after our review period was over.

abcteach explains on it's website that it's aim is "to be a user-friendly educational site that provides quality printable materials for immediate use by teachers, education majors, and parents." Topics include math, reading, science, social studies, Montissori materials, shapes, art & music, foreign language, test taking, theme units, seasonal activities and and and.

Created by a retired schoolteacher, it's target student audience is pre-school through 8th grade. That's right up my alley! :)

There is a FREE section that offers users more than 5,000 documents, ranging from single page worksheets to "full ten-page units".

The MEMBERSHIP section provides subscribers access to more than 35,000 printables that include the handiest document generators I've ever seen, all in ONE place. "abctools are designed to help teachers create the documents they need for their classrooms when they can't find exactly what they are looking for elsewhere. We currently have tools for creating handwriting worksheets (ZB-Style Font, D’Nealian, Handwriting Without Tears, and Queensland), crossword puzzles, shapebooks, word walls, word unscrambles, word searches, math_worksheets, and sudoku. You can try all of our tools for free!" I get a kick out of creating my own word searches.

My (incorrect) first glance impression was that abcteach is a web site of busy work. MY FIRST IMPRESSION WAS WRONG.

I use abcteach a lot more than I thought I would. Because my homeschooler's academic skills are scattered from pre-school to 1st or 2nd grade, I can pull from different grade levels. I am a collector of workbooks, and they take up room on bookshelves and require time to browse through as I search for the "just right" page or lesson. abcteach is set up in a way that makes browsing on-line easy and quick, because I can search by grade level and subject matter. (Yes, I've wasted some time here just looking at it all, too--it's so much more comprehensive than my workbook collection! I wonder how long I will need in order to browse everything on the member section? I haven't seen it all, yet.)

Several times, I stumbled across something in abcteach that compliments a curriculum or resource we are already using. (Yeah, baby, print that and put it in my stack!)

abcteach sends members a weekly newsletter, which spotlights new items, which are sometimes seasonal in nature. I was able to print some October activities right away, even before I had the idea to do some October and autumn themed activities. I probably get a little bit too excited when I see the newsletter in my in-box. I've learned that abcteach always spotlights something I can use right now, for where we are.

There are fine motor activities for little hands that include cutting, coloring, and pin-pushing on abcteach.

abcteach also gives me the ability to print some activities that I know my daughter can complete independently along with some that she and I will complete together. Several times, I've studied some of the worksheets without printing them in order to get ideas on how to teach a new concept to my daughter.

If you have a child who needs visual supports at home, abcteach offers a section of graphic organizers and another section that is a nice variety of daily schedule cards. Some of them are more school oriented, but there are many that can be used at home, too.

We live 600+ miles from relatives, and I think that I'll print some activities for our next drive back "home". I need to start a folder of activities to take along when I know we're going to be in a waiting room.

Here's the pricing:

$40 per user per year / $70 two years — individuals/groups 2-9
$35 per user per year — groups of 10-2
$25 per user per year — groups of 30 or more. **SUPER SITE LICENSE pricing available for groups of 100 or more. Contact support@abcteach.com for details.

Obviously, once you purchase a membership, there are other costs involved. You'll need a printer, toner, paper, and maybe card stock.

There are enough documents on the free section of the web site for you to take a good look and decide if you'd like access to the membership section. Please take a few minutes to browse and see for yourself, and watch this intro video to learn more.

abcteach provided me free access to the subscription area of the web site for several weeks so that I could use the web site and review the product here for you.

My experience with abcteach has been limited to preschool and early elementary levels. Some of my crewmates are homeschooling older children. To read what my Crewmates thought of this product, go HERE.

"The Big WHAT NOW Book of Learning Styles"

I want to pass along a resource to you:

THE BIG WHAT NOW BOOK OF LEARNING STYLES by Carol Barnier

I bought this book at a convention after hearing several presentations there by author Carol Barnier. Two back-to-back Barnier presentations focused on strategies and activities Barnier uses at home. She described one idea after another, rapid fire, and I wrote furiously during those two sessions, trying to capture her ideas into my notebook. When she mentioned that more ideas are in this book, her newest, only very recently available for purchase, I knew I wanted my own copy. As soon as that second session was over, I headed straight to her vendor booth and bought the book, which she autographed for me.

http://www.ywampublishing.com/p-1180-the-big-what-now-book-of-learning-styles.aspx

I have taken it with me to my daughter's music and occupational therapy sessions so that I could study it while I was waiting.

I think it's a little bit like the story about what happens if you give a mouse a cookie. If you buy this book, you're going to need some 3x5 index cards to go with it. And when you're making your 3x5 cards, you're going to want some envelopes to go with them. After you prepare the envelopes to go with the 3x5 cards, you're going to want some paper clips, some magnets, some string and a pole.

*grin*

Barnier homeschooled a child who needs to move in order to learn, in order to process information. And she used some creative, yet simple, strategies and activities as "keys" to unlock the door to learning for that child. There's nothing in the book that costs a lot of money. You don't have to be an artist or crafty. They're all quite do-able. And fun!

Her ditties sold me on the book. They're fabulous. They have me wondering if I can write some ditties, too. (If I do, I'll post them, here.)

I think you'll like the book because you'll find lots of ideas, especially when you feel stuck.

Barnier "gets" kids like mine. She has one of her own. And she shared her "tricks" with all of us in this book. Gotta love a mom like that! ;)

Penny

PS: I found a package of 1000 3x5 index cards at a warehouse club for about five bucks.

My Top Ten Favorite TOS Homeschool Crew Review Products

Choosing a top ten is impossible. I've enjoyed every product I've been given, and I've learned something about ME and something about my daughter with every single one. Still, some of them hold a special place for me. Here are my favorites in alphabetical order from my year of product reviews:

1) ALL ABOUT SPELLING -- This product, based upon the Orton Gillingham method used in remediating dyslexia, is superb. It's one of my very top favorites! I'll say it's one of my top three! It is easy to use, the lessons are short, and it illuminated some issues that I had not yet recognized in my daughter that would contribute to reading and spelling challenges.

2) APOLOGIA'S textbook, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day -- This book breaks down an in-depth, year long unit study into activities that are fun and meaningful, where we have lots of opportunities to use "academics" as a background for relationship development. I liked this so much that I bought two more textbooks in the series. Another of my top three.

3) ARTISTIC PURSUITS and 4) SPEARS ART STUDIO CD-- My biggest surprises were the two art programs I used and reviewed. I would never have considered an art curriculum. I don't know why, but I just wouldn't have. I was shortsided. I was surprised that they are so good. I was surprised that we would like them so much. Between-you-and-me, relationship development moments happen when we create art, and both of these programs are filled with art history, art how-to, and projects and activities. Now, I think everyone needs an art curriculum or two! The two of them create a three-way tie for one of my three in my top three. *grin*

5) BONNIE TERRY LEARNING, Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills -- gave me the tools to grow reading skills in short lessons that require no research and minimal preparation for me.

6) HEADS UP -- I didn't realize the Borings stock sooooo many products for children with special learning needs. Getting to try those tinted readers was a treat. Getting to hear Melinda and Scott in person in Cincinnati was a bonus. They "get" kids like my homeschooler. I enjoy her blog.

7) HOMESCHOOLING ABC's e-course. This course arrived with perfect timing, at the beginning of the review year, and each weekly lesson taught me and encouraged me. The freebies and samples that came with the course introduced me to even more resources. This course was really valuable to me as a new homeschooler, and I like being able to go back and refer to information in lessons I received months ago.

8) LITTLE MAN IN THE MAP - This book for children is a fun way to learn where the states are on the map.

9) MATH MAMMOTH - I had no idea that there was a company that sells math worksheets in packages the way Math Mammoth does. They sell quite a few configurations for any need. They're a download, so you can get 'em right when you need 'em. No waiting for them to arrive in the mail. The worksheets we reviewed gave me great ideas for working on math off the worksheets, too. I adore a product that is an idea generator!

10) MEMORIA PRESS-- I like both the Christian Studies Book I and the three copybooks we were given. They're meaty. Quality. Classical. Adaptable. They'll be great for summer activities.

Why stop at 10? *wink*

11) PETERSON DIRECTED HANDWRITING - Peterson educated me about the way students need to scribble first, how to encourage the kind of scribbling that will help a student in penmanship, and how gross motor movements play an important role in handwriting. I actually bought another program from Peterson after they sent me one to review. We're using their pencil grips and triangular shaped pencils (that I purchased), too.

12) RIME TO READ -- We enjoyed these on-line books for beginning readers. The way the books are developed gave my daughter practice paying attention as the stories grew more complicated.

13) SPELLQUIZZER SOFTWARE-- Our whole family uses this one for vocab and spelling. The kids like to make fun of my southern drawl when they listen to my voice on the playback. It makes spelling fun!

14) TRIGGER MEMORY SYSTEMS flip charts -- Families who have children with autism are very familiar with visual charts, icons, picture communication, etc. WHO KNEW that there is a company making visual flip charts and marketing them to homeschoolers?

and last alphabetically, but one of my top three:

15) WRITE SHOP STORY BUILDERS -- These little cards with story parts printed on them have been a lot of fun, and are a perfect "academic" background activity with a relationship development focus in the foreground. Definitely another top three. I'm watching for more of them to show up for purchase.

When I saw the TOS ad to recruit focus group members to use and review homeschool materials, I was reeeeeeeeally new to homeschooling one child who happens to be on the autism spectrum. Joining some yahoo groups focused on homeschooling made me feel inadequate. There were so many acronyms used, I often thought that I needed an interpreter to help me figure out what they were talking about! (That's so ironic, because we use a *lot* of acronyms when we talk about children in specialized education in the public school system, and lots more that pertain to autism.) Ultimately, I completed the application process and was absolutely delighted to have been chosen to serve as an alternate on the first ever TOS Homeschool Crew.

(An aside: the Schoolhouse Planner I was given to review as part of the application process has been a resource I've used several times thoughout this school year -- it has so much stuff in one place, it's the first place I look when I need a template or form of any sort.)

I wasn't sure I'd be able to USE anything that would be sent to me. My daughter's skills and abilities are all over the place, and her work in the old public school setting had been heavily adapted. I figured all homeschool products were developed for typically developing children. (I was wrong.)

The list of participating vendors emerged, and I began to look at those web sites. The world of homeschooling resources began to unfold before my eyes!!! I still had no idea if I'd be chosen to use and review any of the items, as an alternate.

(For every Crew product review, go here: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/)

I could have been overwhelmed with products to use and review. But I was not. I received just enough to keep me busy but not enough to feel overwhelmed. I was suprised again and again by products that met our needs, products that taught me that we can indeed work on relationship development in the foreground and academics in the background, and build both. (Thank you, Lord for your plan for me in this year of reviews!)

FYI: Links to all of the companies who sent me products are in the side bar of my blog. Some of those companies have blogs, and those links are also in the sidebar of my blog.

HINT: Watch company blogs and sign up for their e-newsletters for discounts, sales, and freebies.

Stay tuned -- I am staying on the Crew for one more year, this time as a "First Mate". You can follow all 25 First Mates from the sidebar of my blog through the summer and as a new review year begins in the fall. I've enjoyed this review year and I hope that I've been an encouragement to you.

If you are considering the role of "accidental homeschooler" like I did, bringing a child home from public school because public school wasn't workin' for ya, I want to encourage you to give it a try. I am convinced that there is at least one resource for any need, and often, there are several resources for a need. So many of them are reasonably priced. There are resources that will work for you and your child, resources that public school staff never had access to. There are resources that will allow you and your child to be successful in many ways.

Blessings,

Penny

Bonnie Terry Learning: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

After attending a workshop last year on the topic of guided reading for lower elementary school levels, I am aware that there are approaches to work on reading, comprehension, fluency. The workshop I attended was aimed at public school teachers. I am a homeschooling parent, and did not have access to the resources the schools have. What was I going to use at home? I had nooooooooooooooooooo idea.

Enter Bonnie Terry, M.Ed., a special education teacher and a Board Certified Educational Therapist in private practice. To use and review at home, our family received products that address reading skills and study skills.

"Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills, A Fast, Fun Approach to Improve Writing and Study Skills," ($37.00) is packed with information and tools for students working in the 3rd-12th grades. It reminds me of the journalism stylebook I learned to use in college. We are not working at a 3rd grade level in some areas, so we have not been able to use the entire book, and I am looking forward to utilizing it. Terry "gets" the fact that adding the visual component between teachers and students is important, and she's created an incredibly useful tool in adding the visual component to studying and writing.

Terry includes a "read this first" information sheet to help the teacher begin, spotlighting which pages to photocopy, offering some tips that I'd define as "quick-start". The book is divided into four parts. In Part I, Terry dedicates a few pages to helping a student get started by discussing how to choose a place, what supplies to have on hand for 3rd-6th graders and for 7th-12th graders, and by providing calendar templates for scheduling your study times. Purchasers have a limited reproduction permission, up to 50 copies per year of any part of the book for use with his or her students only.

In Part II, Terry provides visual "organizational forms that can be used from third grade through high school level. The forms start with basic story organizers and end with essay organizers and business letter writing."

Part III gives readers study and writing tips and Part IV is an easy reference section that students will reach for again and again. The easy reference section includes common spelling patterns in the English language, rules for capitalization and punctuation, parts of speech, helping verbs, how to sections on bibliographies and works cited.

In "Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills, A Fast, Fun, Phonic Approach to Improve Reading Skills," Terry provides a student book ($32.00) and a teachers manual ($37.00) that can be purchased individually or together as a package for $60.00. She also included a write and wipe plastic sheet protector and a marking pen to go with the teacher's book. The drills are intended for students 1st grade and up. And again, Terry provides "READ THIS FIRST" set of "quick start" tips that were very useful to me.

I know that shorter lessons are better for my daughter, and still, I have trouble knowing how much is enough, how much is too much, how much is too little. I LOVE resources that are already divided into SHORT lessons that have "enough" defined for me. THIS IS ONE OF THOSE! :)

Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills contains 45 drills. Terry recommends a minimum of two lessons a week, although you may use them daily.

The teacher's book contains all of the "how-to" information, the progress charts, and the drills are numbered here. The student book contains just the drills, and the drills have no numbers along the sides of the pages, and Terry explains in the teacher's book that the "numbering tends to stress" students out.

The program is simple: start at the beginning with the first drill, work for mastery, and move on to the next lesson. The book is arranged so that there is one drill per page, one page per day, and the student reads aloud the words in rows from left to right, with an oral pre-read followed by an oral timed read. (I am not sure how to modify this for non-speaking children.)

3/18/09 UPDATE: I know many families who have non-speaking children on the autism spectrum, and some read my blog, so I contacted Bonnie Terry via e-mail and asked her how to use this product w/ a non-speaking child. She devoted a blog entry to the answer: http://www.bonnieterry.com/blog/?p=284

As I use this with my daughter (she has an autism diagnosis), I realize what issues challenge her. The drills have been good practice for us as I look for ways to give her experience and practice watching ending consonants. I like the developmental progression that Terry utilizes, working on a single middle vowel sound (same), but changing the consonants around them (different); then she introduces a new middle vowel sound; and the next lesson, she reviews both of those vowel sounds. The student must pay attention to work through the rows of words with accuracy and increasing speed.

We use a piece of paper or a plastic "reader" to block out all but the one line of words that we are reading.

When we get to the end of the page, we are done for the day! "Enough" is very clear for both of us! :)

Extra expenses are minimal, including the legal photocopies you make from either book (calendars, charts, forms) and the cost of a timer if you don't have a stopwatch or timer.

If you're looking for a study tool and reference guide all-in-one, I recommend this one. And for those of you working with struggling readers, consider Terry's products.

A great resource is the Bonnie Terry blog.

My Crewmates' reviews of these and other Bonnie Terry products (including the areas of math, spelling, and a sentence game) are located here.

UPDATE: VIDEO OF A FIVE MINUTE TO BETTER READING SESSION HERE: http://www.bonnieterry.com/blog/?p=461

SpellQuizzer Software: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review

I'm always on the lookout for something that combines fun and learning, and SpellQuizzer spelling software fits my criteria! SpellQuizzer is a spelling program that helps us practice spelling words and vocabulary words. Priced at $29.95, the program offers purchasers the option to use pre-programmed lists of spelling words or to enter your own lists of words. We like the way we can customize it to a particular unit study or lesson in terms of vocabulary. I can imagine the software would be great for working on foreign language spelling and vocab, as well.

SpellQuizzer works with or without a microphone. I purchased the least expensive microphone at a nearby electronics store for about $12, and we have used the program with it and without it. We like using the microphone -- it's just FUN that way (*grin*), but the program is equally effective without the microphone.

The download was quite simple; I was able to put it on our two family computers with no problems, and we began entering lists of words pretty quickly. The software is very user friendly! The concept is simple: You use a pre-programmed word list or you enter your own list,--if you use your own list, then you enter the voiced recording of that word and save it, --enter an optional hint (a hint is required if you're not using the microphone), and begin! Students type the words after a spoken prompt or pre-programmed (by you) hint on the screen. The SpellQuizzer web site is quite descriptive in terms of showing potential buyers an inside look at the product, and the company offers a free trial download as well. Please check it out!

The ability to add your own voice recording makes the software very customizable. For example, with a child who needs experience on auditory discrimination of vowel sounds within one-syllable words, I can record exactly what I want to emphasize on the spelling lists for that child. Instead of saying "pet", I can customize that list and record "pet. puh - eh - tuh. pet."

Ya know, sometimes, you look at a product and you know if you buy it, it's not going to be useful to all of the students in the family, because some products are geared for older students or younger ones. SpellQuizzer spans the age and grade ranges -- because you have the option to enter your own word lists, this software isn't limited to a certain demographic in terms of users.

And because users type answers back to the program, our children gain keyboarding experience as well.

If you have a laptop, you can take your spelling on the road when you travel, without having to keep up with paper lists.

My kids crack up at my voice on the recordings (I still carry a southern dialect that my children have not grown in the midwest, much to my dismay, y'all) and they are able to practice "with" me (my voice, anyway) during times when I might need to be doing something else. I'm going to say "fun" again -- THIS SOFTWARE IS REALLY FUN!

For other Crewmate reviews of this product, check out the TOS Homeschool Crew blog here.

All About Spelling, a TOS Homeschool Crew Review

As an alternate on the TOS Homeschool Crew of reviewers, I knew that I would not have an opportunity to review many of the products in this year of reviews. And, originally, I was not supposed to receive All About Spelling. Talk about mixed feelings--I was both relieved and disappointed that I would not be reviewing it.

Next thing I knew, three alternates were chosen, and MY name was on the list! (A "God-incidence" for sure!)

More mixed feelings surfaced--excitement and self-doubt.

There are two products that I have reviewed during this season that have an extra extra special place in my heart and among my homeschool resources, and All About Spelling is one of them. I am really excited about this one! :)

All About Spelling is a multi-sensory spelling program based upon the techniques of the Orton-Gillingham approach used successfully in dyslexia. It is developmental in nature, building foundations and then growing them.

From the AAS web site:

"All About Spelling is a comprehensive spelling program based on proven strategies to teach spelling using the best and easiest method possible. It gives parents, homeschoolers, and teachers strategies that work, including:

Lessons with crucial concepts explained in easy-to-understand language

Multisensory methods for different learning opportunities

Effective techniques to teach both beginner and remedial spelling"

The box of materials arrived and I spent about a week cutting apart with *scissors* all the pieces that I would need in order to begin. A paper cutter would have made this part so much easier and faster! In 2009, All About Spelling will begin to offer perforated cards, beginning with Level One, to reduce prep time. AAS's Marie Rippel made the change to perforated cards when several of the review crew members (including me) commented on the amount of cutting we had to do before we began.

The laminated letter tiles are an additional purchase ($9.95) that you use with the program can be used "as is" on a table or desk, or they can be attached to magnets ($5.95) and used on a magnetic board. I opted to purchase a magnetic white board from a local discount store at a cost of about $15. You'll need an index card file box or recipe card box, too. I bought one from a discount store for $1.44.

Working with a child diagnosed on the autism spectrum as homeschoolers has been a growing experience for both the teacher and the student. I'd been borrowing from this workbook and that curriculum here and there, but had not yet attempted using an entire curriculum the way it was intended. I wasn't sure we could do this. Additionally, we are approaching autism from a relationship perspective, using the concept of "guided participation" (a Barbara Rogoff term), where the adult is a trusted guide and the student is an apprentice. We've been working hard on that guide/apprentice relationship, and anything I choose needs to fit into that idea. I took a deep breath and dove in.

An aside: One of my very personal challenges has been keeping lessons short enough that they are not overwhelming, but long enough that I feel like we had a lesson. I am a work in progress as I figure out where that "line" is, and when I push my daughter too far, I lose her trust in me. I become, for her, the one who pushes her too far. And that is NOT the experience, the memory I want to give her.

So, I dove in at the beginning. Level One. The teacher's guide is well written with instructions that are easy for me to follow. I did not have to spend hours figuring out my role, how I would use myself, in this program. My part of the program is spelled out nicely. (pun intended) I am so pleased with the length of the lessons in the teacher's guide that All About Spelling provides in the set along with the student material packet. They are short, which means we can stop at just one, or complete several in one sitting. The lessons provide a valuable framework for ME to know when enough is enough.

The flash cards included in the student material packet keep us very organized. In addition to the flash cards, AAS provides file dividers for Review Cards, Cards Mastered, Cards Future Lessons in the categories of phonograms, sounds, key cards and word cards.

When we began, I realized very quickly that All About Spelling is so much more than a spelling program. It is a boost to a beginning or struggling reader. Because it is multi-sensory in it's approach, there is an auditory component that gives us practice that we need at our home in auditory discrimination. I realized right off the bat that my daughter wasn't always discriminating between a short "e" sound and a short "a" sound in the middle of a word.

Ah, All About Spelling spotlighted an important distinction for me. Auditory processing issues are different from, separate from autism. And AAS gave me a framework to use to give us practice and experience at discriminating sounds.

I am so tickled that this is a "between you and me" program--one that sometimes becomes a background activity for "guided participation"!

We sit in front of the white board with the letter tiles before us, with our index box of cards at hand, and work through a lesson. I am often surprised by what my daughter knows that I didn't realize she knows, and by what I thought she understood that she does not. When we come to a concept that she seems to not have mastered, we practice it briefly there at the white board w/ the letter tiles, and then we stop the "formal" lesson, and I use that as my springboard for the next few days, looking for ways to practice that during our chores and play. The time at the white board is for ME, not for my daughter, to help ME grasp the concept that the two of us need to work on away from the white board. We deliberately avoid that white board while we are building upon a new concept. We are taking the program slowly, and I see progress. ;) (YEAH!)

The All About Spelling web site is easy to navigate and the descriptions of the products are accurate and thorough. AAS provides a link to the scope and sequence of each level, there, so that you can see how the developmental approach plays out. There are sample lessons available for you to evaulate, and there are numerous articles for you as you research.

Levels do not correspond with grade levels, and Marie Rippel suggests that every student begin at Level One to insure no foundations are skipped. Level One and Level Two sets are priced at $29.99. Level Three and Level Four sets are priced at $39.99. They include a teacher's guide and one student material packet. Additional student packets are available for a separate purchase. The letter tiles are priced at $9.95 and the optional magnets are priced at $5.95. A phonogram CD is available for $14.95. You will need an index card box to hold the flash cards, and if you choose to use magnets, you'll need a magnetic board to stick them on. Level Five will be available in 2009 and a Level Six is in the works.

No, my daughter does not always like "school", and at this point, All About Spelling hasn't turned her into a child who begs to sit down for some academics. ;) But it HAS created a place where we can be competent together in short lessons at the white board while giving me the knowledge to carry the lessons to places in our day, and the program is touching not just spelling, but reading and listening as well. And for those reasons, AAS has a special place in my heart. I've recommended this program to friends who were looking for a spelling program, on yahoo groups when a question about spelling was posed, to a total stranger I met at jury duty, and I recommend it to you, too.

Other Crew reviews are available to you here.

Time4Learning, a TOS Homeschool Crew Review

Time4Learning is an internet-based interactive curriculum for pre-schoolers through eighth graders, covering reading/language arts, math, science and social studies.

As the parent of a child on the autism spectrum who understands how computer time can be an obstacle to the social and relationship experience my child needs, I was unsure about an internet based curriculum. Would it be something that my daughter would use to stim and perseverate? (I don't want that!) Would she be able to do the work or would the program be too "wordy" and frustrate her?

The sign-up process was simple, and I answered some questions that told Time4Learning at what levels to begin for my child. I saw information that let me know I could change her levels at any time.

Interestingly, we'd just begun using a developmental spelling program at home when we received complimentary access to the Time4Learning site in order to use it and review it. All of my concerns were eased when I saw that the activities were working on *exactly* the same concepts as the developmental spelling program we are using. I love the idea of reinforcing concepts that we've worked on throughout the day via Time4Learning!

One of my concerns was that my daughter would be overwhelmed and frustrated by the material on T4L. She needs longer to process events and activities than my other children, and if she feels frustrated she sometimes gives up. Jennifer Eaton from Time4Learning explained that T4L "provides a feature that allows students to navigate the grade level above for enrichment, as well as the level below for review, depending on the grade level. If at any point the work in a given level seems too challenging or not challenging enough, we can easily make adjustments to a more comfortable level for your child."

The web site is quite comprehensive. I like the "lesson plan" links on the Time4Learning web site. When my daughter was a public-schooled student, I familiarized myself with the grade level content standards set by my state's DOE, and being able to see for myself what each T4L lesson teaches is important to me. There are links to articles about using T4L with students with special learning needs:

Special Needs Learning
Autism and Education
Your Right-Brained Visual Learner
Dyslexia - My Homeschooling Story
Is your child gifted?

The site contains a blog and a parent forum, and the T4L staff created a place for Christian discussions when the suggestion was made by the TOS Homeschool Crew. There are free newsletters, and they provide internet and telephone support.

Time4Learning's web site gave me the definition for "accidental homeschooler", and I learned that I am one! ;)

A quick way to peek at everything on the web site is to look at the site map.

Time4Learning is priced at $19.95 a month for one child, and $14.95 a month for each additional child on a month-to-month payment basis, and discounts for subscribers who sign up for several months at one time. T4L offers a 14-day money-back guarantee. Children need to be able to operate a mouse.

I can vouch for the pre-school and early elementary sections--we LIKE them! After my daughter's first sesson with the science program, she could tell me the difference between plant and animal and why. If you're looking for an internet based interactive curriculum for your young student, consider Time4Learning! (If you want to read the experiences of families with older children, please check out the crew blog, where many more reviews are available to you.)

Something new to us: Time4Learning dot com

Time4Learning is a web site for on-line learning that includes language arts, math, science and social studies. We are using it as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew's focus group.

I am not a fan of computer-based learning--we are working on experiences in relationship development, and that is impossible on a computer. HOWEVER, the timing of Time4Learning has given me a new perspective on computer-based learning, one that recognizes that an on-line program can fit nicely in our day when it supports what we're doing off the computer!

Time4Learning walked me through an easy registration and set-up process where I answered questions about my child's current understanding of concepts. I gave her a user name and password and we were good to go!

Interestingly, we began All About Spelling just before we began Time4Learning, and the Time4Learning language arts activities have my younger princess practicing exactly the same concepts that we address in the spelling program, reinforcing in activities and games the concepts we are addressing during other times of our day. Watching my daughter "play" on Time4Learning lets me see how she is generalizing our spelling lessons. I have already bumped up her language arts level once--I like the feature that allows a parent to do that.

My princess likes the science lessons, too. She worked her way through an activity that talked about living or not living and plant or animal, and later, at lunch, told me about why something was an animal and not a plant.

Time4Learning is another one of those resources I would not have known about if I hadn't begun homeschooling. As we use more of it and get to know the product better, I'll post more. Stay tuned!

TOS Homeschool Crew PRE-Review: We began our spelling program today...

DRUMROLL PLEASE! I am proud to announce that I finished cutting out all of the cards and tiles for Level 1 in the All About Spelling program. I made a trip to the department store last night to buy a big magnetic dry erase board and a recipe/file box, and my princess (one of them, anyway) and I began All About Spelling this morning. (I should have taken some pictures, darn it!)

I cannot imagine using this program prior to giving my daughter lots of experience apprenticing her dad and me, as she learns to share attention with us and her world around her.

For RDIers, All About Spelling is a example of a background activity in the form of a spelling program to provide more relationship experience between teacher (parent) and student (child). And before I understood the core deficits of autism, I would never have looked at a spelling program from this perspective.

All About Spelling frames and scaffolds the process of spelling (and reading, actually) for the parent/teacher/guide, so that taking a child/student through the process happens in a developmental order, building a foundation and growing it.

We went through two lessons this morning. Interestingly, they seem quite short to me. I always think that I need to be sitting longer, pushing more, as if longer lessons make add up to more learning. (The Peterson Handwriting Program recommends short lessons, too.) We finished two lessons, with a little frustration in the second lesson, and we stopped at a place of competence, with something to build upon next time. Sounds like just the framing and scaffoldling I need to remind me not to push and push and push. Short lessons are okay! :)

I think I may like this one! Stay tuned...