Nice blog SeaStar.  Thanks for sharing.  No matter how much I know reading is good for my kids I still enjoy the subject.

Thanks Krista. Those books you linked look great - I'm always looking for more to read in the subject too.

Thanks guys!

I'll have to remember the advice to be patient and resist the temptation to test as she has refused to read more than 1 or 2 sentences since the day she read the book. (repeats Manda's mantra to self "input, input, input") 

Thanks for the support guys 

nee - I haven't read that book. It seems very interesting and it looks like it would be a quick an easy read. Maybe someone else on here has read it? Like you, I also like to read from a variety of sources. When I first started reading Glenn Doman's books, I then read 'Why Einstein Never Used Flashcards', just to make sure I read something from the other side!

I've decided to throw my hat into the blogging ring. While the first post, 'Read aloud to increse your child's IQ' may be old hat to you guys, do stop by as I would appreciate your comments and feedback.

http://catherinehallissey.wordpress.com/2012/11/22/read-aloud-to-increase-your-childs-iq/

(please excuse the long name - I'm waiting to link another domain name)

thank you for the links - I'll definitely check them out 

sonya - your point about goals is a good one. I have read through some old thread on why people are teaching Latin. I am still completely on the fence about it.

The more crucial point to this discussion is that while I would love my children to be fluent in a few languages, I have not managed to get even a tenth of the way there. I really need to develop a plan and stick to it. Ideally, I would like to teach the following, in order of preference:

English (mother tongue)
Irish (second language in Ireland - not widely spoken but compulsory for 12 years of school - both my husband and I have ok-ish Irish)
French (I learned it in school for 6 years)
Spanish
Italian

Now, to complicate matters, I am considering Latin!

How do the rest of you teach multiple langauges? A specific day / part of the day per language? One parent one language would not work for us as I do all the formal EL and neither my husband nor I are fluent in any language other than English.

After seeing many references to the Well-Trained Mind, I finally got around to reading it. I found it to be such an interesting read and it has helped me to look at my educational goals for my children with new eyes.

One subject I had never even considered teaching is Latin. However, after reading the book, I find myself thinking about it more and more. With this in mind, I have been searching for Latin resources. My preference would be something easy and inexpensive to begin with to see if we like it and can incorporate it into our day.

I saw Song School Latin mentioned a few times on the WTM forum - do many of you use it? Would you recommend it or are there better resources out there?

Thanks

Thanks for all the links, it's great to have some new, tried-and-tested resources 

Thanks for all the encouraging posts, I'm still on a high. It all seems to be coming together over the past few days. She even read some of her book for my dad today 

sonya - yes, I am really looking forward to using the games section when the UK curriculum comes out.

Keri - you're right, Sophie is the sun, moon and stars to Reuben!

I am delighted to share my news - today my daughter read her first complete book, aged 2 years 8 months!      To say I am thrilled is an understatement!

It came as a complete surprise to me. My friend was showing me her recent delivery of Little Reader Deluxe. While we were chatting, Sophie picked out one of the books, Yellow Sun Blue Sky, and proceeded to read. I supplied three words when she got stuck, but other than that, she read it independently! I am on such a high since then and just had to share. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to film it but my friend kindly lent me 5 of the LR books so I'll have the camera at the ready for the next few days.

So, for those of you out there who may be feeling discouraged, as I was at different times over the last 10 months, KEEP GOING, the feeling when you get there is wonderful! 

Oh no, now there's something else I want! 

Are you thinking of the Reading Bear presentations on YouTube?

Yay to Mummyroo and your gorgeous little boy - what a success. I'm THRILLED for you guys. 

RB was what got us really on the road too - she learned very few words through whole-word methods but quickly learned to sound out after watching RB only a few times. I have come to the conclusion that she an auditory rather than a visual learner. We haven't done RB for around a month and her progress has definitely slowed down. Better get back to it tomorrow.

Well done again!

I think what I might be the most concerned about is amount of read-aloud time for the older kids. Are you able to lots of reading in?  I know the amount I read-aloud has gone down a lot since baby two. I had great visions of holding or nursing a baby while reading to my older son.....but it just didn't happen like that.  We mostly have our focused reading time during the baby's nap now...which is not always as long as I want....  I imagine it will be much easier in another year or two.

Our read aloud time has definitely suffered since baby came along. I know that each time I made a concerted effort to read a lot, my toddlers reading advances. However, I find it challenging to fit in as much reading as I would like, along with everything else.

Thank you for the comments - contest is open for another day, end of day tomorrow

Just wanted to quickly bump the thread and tell a little story. A few minutes ago, Cub and I were winding down a lesson (LM, LMs, LR) and were doing some Starfall letters while he digested his milk and we finished "Z" where you fill in the word "zig zag"... so I usually say the letter sounds as I drag and I do this for the whole word "zig" - but then on zag I stopped. When I pick up the a and start dragging it, he says "a" outloud as it's dragged... I was shocked. I know there's a good chance it was coincidence, but I'm not so sure about that - he may know some of his letter sounds already!

 

That's fantastic, well done cub!

I really love the notice board. It is something I had been thinking about for a while but your blog has inspired me to actually do it. And I especially like the idea of including phases of the moon.

I actually looked for your blog to see how you guys are getting on with Saxon K...