Logic of English Essentials - TOS Review

I love reading and consider reading to be an essential skill. Reading has been a big focus of Miss K's learning. Miss K and I have been spending the past few weeks working on reading skills while reviewing Essentials 2nd Edition from Logic of English.

Logic of English combines the science of reading with the joy of learning. The goal of Logic of English is to enable all people to read proficiently. This is designed to teach reading, writing, spelling, phonics and grammar in a logical manner. Logic of English is designed for all ages, abilities and learning styles.

Before receiving Logic of English I had heard a friend talk about this program. I was curious about the program. Reading is one of Miss K's strong skills but this is a still that we are continuing to develop. I was also at the point of wanting to work more on writing and spelling and I am always interested in what I can do to help with phonics.

For this review I received the following:

Essentials Teacher's Manual
Essentials Student workbook
Spelling Journal
Basic Phonogram Flash Cards
Spelling Rule Flash Cards
Grammar Rule Flash Cards
Advanced Phonogram Flash Cards
Phonogram Game Cards
Phonogram Game Tiles
Phonogram & Spelling Rule Quick Reference Chart
Spelling Analysis Card

I also received The Essentials Reader, The Essentials Reader Student Activity Book and The Essentials Reader Teacher's Guide as downloads. I printed the student activity book and wished I had printed all of them but some of that is my love for having a paper copy.

I was eager to receive this and I was tracking it waiting for it to arrive. I unpacked the box and began reading the Teacher's Guide. I do suggest that you have some time to just read and begin to understand the methods of teaching and also a bit of time to organise all the cards.

Essentials is designed for learners 7+. The first thing that Miss K and I did together was a Placement Test. Based on the results of the placement test there are pre-lessons that are to be done before beginning the lessons. I found this helpful as there were a few gaps that we just needed to review and learn. The placement test also determines which level to teach.

Logic of English teaches and uses terms that I did not learn until I was in grad school words like phoneme, phonograms, and morphemes. That is how English is broken down and how you find the logic.

The teacher's guide has a bit of a script for you to follow but also has information there for you to understand and be able to teach. There are teacher tips throughout the lesson. The lesson is divided into five days. I did find that I had to adjust that a bit just for us to keep Miss K engaged and working through the lesson. She is a slower student and we needed that. There are suggested games to play and activities. There are clear directions as to when to use the student workbook.

Grammar is taught right from lesson 1. I like the integrated approach. I wish we had used this a few years ago so we would learn grammar as we learn to read.

The Essentials Reader is designed to supplement for the older student struggling to read. It is scheduled to be done on day 4. This includes pre-reading, post-reading, and handwriting. Lesson 1 included a number of tongue twisters which required careful pronunciation of each phonogram. There is basically one lesson in here for each lesson in Essentials.

The first part of Lesson 1 was a review and teaching of phonograms. Miss K knows most of her sounds but has a few trouble sounds. This gave me an opportunity to work with her on those sounds. It was a bit of combining speech therapy with reading.

Just in the few weeks have we have used this I can see an improvement in spelling. Today Miss K said, "I know how to spell book" and she wrote it on her list of things to do. I am eager to see how much her spelling improves as we continue through the book.

I love when there are glimpses of how the child is learning. The other day Miss K was talking and said, "fast" and then she paused and sounded out each phonogram. She understood. This is helping her to slow down a bit in her speech which needs to happen.

Examples of Miss K's spelling.

Overall I have been very impressed with Logic of English Essentials for Miss K, a special needs learner. I felt that she was improving, she was confident, and progressing. There were some adaptions that were needed, slowing down a bit, circling rather than underlining, and adding a bit more review. Essentials is great for a special needs learner.

I am thankful for the opportunity we had to use this. I am excited to see how this has helped Miss K to progress.


Beth

Good Friday - Friday's Five

Five thoughts on this Good Friday.

1. Three simple words that changed history, "It is finished."

2. A new to me hymn that we sung today at the Good Friday service. Often Messiah is used at Christmas but to remember that now at this time of year.

'Tis finished! the Messiah dies

by Charles Wesley

'Tis finished! the Messiah dies, 

cut off for sins, but not his own. 

Accomplished is the sacrifice, 

the great redeeming work is done. 

2. The veil is rent; in Christ alone 

the living way to heaven is seen; 

the middle wall is broken down, 

and all the world may enter in. 

3. 'Tis finished! All my guilt and pain, 

I want no sacrifice beside; 

for me, for me the Lamb is slain; 

'tis finished! I am justified. 

4. The reign of sin and death is o'er, 

and all may live from sin set free; 

Satan hath lost his mortal power; 

'tis swallowed up in victory.

3. A simple message as we looked at Luke 23:32-46. We need to see the truth about ourselves like the one criminal. Then we need to see the truth about Jesus, he had done nothing wrong. We need to see the truth about heaven. Such simple truths but a good reminder.

4. The sun was shining this morning as we walked to church. 

5. It is Friday, but Sunday is coming.

Beth

Barcelona Day 3

Thursday our last full day in Barcelona. We had no tickets for things. Our list that day included going to Market of la Boqueria, going to the beach, and going out for lunch.

The children and I headed out to the market. We used our three day Metro tickets and took the Metro.

I think one of my favourite things to do is wander through a market whether it is Pike Place for just the wet markets in Asia. I love looking at the variety of things being sold. Some are unique to that place.

So many fruits and so nicely displayed.

I can imagine on a hot day that this vendor would have lots of sales. They look so neat in a row just waiting to be bought.

We were not far from the Mediterranean Sea so it is not surprising that there is lots of seafood there.
We even saw a few shrimp walking on the ice.

My son loves dates and so he looked at this neat display of dates drooling about eating them.

Bread is such a staple in so many cuisines. This looks like good crusty bread to dip in olive oil.

Some more fruit and vegetables.

They sold cups of fruit ready to eat. Miss K got some strawberries. They also sell olives in cups ready to eat.

One more photo from the market. I love wandering looking at what is being sold, finding unique things. I love taking photos. This was a mixture of locals and tourists shopping.

We walked out of the market and decided we wanted to head to the beach. I needed to figure out which way to go and then in the distance I saw Columbus pointing the way to the new world and new if I walked toward him we would find the beach.

We found it -- the beach -- the Mediterranean Sea. It is so blue. It was not that hot but warm enough. I  put my feet in the water just to be able to say I have done it.

Here J and K are heading to the water. Miss K had her swimsuit on under her dress. She knew we were going to the beach and it was hard to convince her that she didn't need to wear her swimsuit.

I think the beach was the highlight for the kids.

After playing at the beach for some time, we met daddy for lunch. J ordered grilled sardines. Four sardines nicely lined up in a row on his plate.

Four skeletons neatly lined up in a row after he had finished eating.

It was a great trip and fun to experience a place that was new to each of us. Miss K just said she missed Spain.

Beth

Down Syndrome Day 3.21

World Down Syndrome Awareness Day

21.3

I remember when we learned that Miss K had Down Syndrome there were so many questions in my mind. 

Will my Down Syndrome child learn to talk? Miss K did though it took her a bit longer to do that. There are times that we have to ask her to be quiet. There are struggles with pronunciation at times and add in the fact that she is learning British terms and pronunciation. Miss K loves languages and love the First 1000 words in various languages books.

We were living in Asia at the time of her birth. I wondered would we have to move back to the US, our home country? No, In her 11 years of life she has lived overseas more than in the US. We are limited to where we can live but that is fine.

Will she learn to walk, run, and jump? Yes, she did. She has walked on the Great Wall, run in Grandma's backyard, and jumped into the Mediterranean Sea.

Will she grow know and love God? She is doing just that. She loves to go to Sunday School and Kids Club. She loves to listen to her music and sing.

Are there any limits? Yes, there are some and we will continue to encounter them but together we can work to achieve all the God has planned for her life.

I am so thankful that in the midst of those and other questions that we have a God who is faithful and good.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, 

plans for welfare and not for evil, 

to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

Beth

Friday's Five

Five Things I have done this week.

1. Recovered from holiday and then a mums and daughters weekend at a nearby holiday centre.

Miss K working her way around the climbing wall. I did a bit of climbing as well. 

Trying some archery. 

2. I have been enjoying a new Bible study, John from Journal and Doodle through the Bible. My doodles needs a bit more work but I am enjoying a new way to look at Scripture.

3. I made some Bible bookmarks this week. I think I enjoyed looking for verses as much as making the bookmarks.

4. Drove J to his piano exam. This was the first time he has taken one of the exams. He thought he did fine.

5. I took Flat Stanley to the Co-op. He got lost in the biscuits.

That is five things I have done this week.

Beth

Barcelona - Day 2

Our Second day began with a visit to Park Guell. Again we had purchased our tickets online. We had a 10:30 entry time. We rode the Metro and then a bus to get there. I have to say that the public transit system is good. We bought 3 day tourist passes and it worked for both the metro and the bus.

Here is the famous salamander. There was a bit of a line to get your photo taken with the salamander.

Miss K waited in line. Before we took our trip we read the book A Stroll with Mr. Gaudi. That gave us just a bit of information about Gaudi. I am glad we had read that so we had some background information before the trip.

On the upper level are the benches which are covered with mosaics. I love the look of all the colour and bits of porcelain. There were parts that had all of one colour and other parts that were just a mix of colours.

Here are the benches. They flow along the top of the area and are full of mosaics.

Park Guell is located at the upper part of the city and so you have a great view of the city and even to the sea.

Here is another view. The two houses look a bit like they are fun Candy Land. The line to get in the one house was about 45 plus minutes. The other house is the gift shop. We wandered in there. The walls are curved.

Our afternoon plan was to go to the Chocolate Factory. That ticket was not saved to put in a scrapbook but rather was eaten. It was the best ticket I have ever eaten, a rich dark chocolate.

Miss K found Chicken Little.

We then wandered through the city and found the Barcelona Cathedral. It is free in the morning but in the afternoon there is an entrance fee. We decided to pay and go it.

 This had the architecture that we have seen in other cathedrals.

We wandered through the Gothic Quarter which is not far from the Barcelona Cathedral. We saw the bridge that is like the Bridge of Sighs in Venice. This is also the part of the city that has some of the old Roman ruins.

Then we wandered until we found Christopher. As my husband said, they have put him on a pedestal. He is pointing towards the New World.

It was a bit grey that day but we did have a good day.

Beth