Beginning our Homeschool Journey & The Letter A
This year, we opted to homeschool instead of enrolling our son in standard Pre-K. We did this for many reasons, both financial and personal. My husband, in an effort to encourage me away from homeschooling, did some research and read some studies. He finally reported that, of all of the studies that he considered legitimate, a handful showed that homeschooled children out-performed their publicly schooled counterparts. The remainder of the studies showed that they did the same. He found no convincing data suggesting that homeschooled children were behind in ANY area – EVEN SOCIAL! We agreed that it was worth considering.
Ultimately, I’ve always felt led to homeschool our children and preschool seemed like a wonderful trial-run. So… I started following a friend’s tried and true method to teach her sons to read and my children seemed totally sucked in. She had a fun mix of youtube videos, activities and practices. They were phonics-heavy and introduced letters, a few at a time, that would ultimately lead to a quick introduction to the McGuffey’s Eclectic Primer. I was very excited and the munchkins seemed very motivated as well. However, after only 3 days of “lessons,” I found myself changing our approach.
My littlest learner is a 2 year old verbal enthusiast. She talks constantly, makes up songs, mimics everything and has her ABCs and 123s mastered. She enjoys books and is a sponge from a literacy aspect. I expect her to be an early reader.
My older learner is a 4 year old mechanical whiz. He is fascinated by the inner workings of everything. He asks elaborate questions and many of our morning conversations have resulted in google searches on topics like inner ear diagram and why is an apple healthy and how does a seed grow. He soaks up the information and then applies it to new scenarios. A true little scientist and explorer. He’s also phenomenally handy with a wrench (or any other tool, including a hand-saw.) The challenge, from a homeschooling perspective, is that he has very little interest in learning his ABCs or 123s and quickly loses interest in book/paper based activities.
After discovering more about my two students, I decided to change things up a bit. Instead of tackling a few letters at a time, we are tackling ONE at a time, and taking as long as we need to, to ensure recognition and understanding. This doesn’t mean hammering it in until they break, just presenting the information in many ways and gently practicing and revisiting until everyone is comfortable. I was going to to A, C and T, and then introduce the word CAT, but instead, I think we are going to jump from A to H, because they are letters in my children’s names. My focus at this stage is just recognition. We will continue in this manner until I feel we need to change it again, which could be days or weeks or months. This is the luxury of homeschooling. My little munchkins will get a custom education that is designed just for them! We are blessed to have this opportunity and I know that not everyone has that same ability.
Below, I am sharing with you what activities we did to learn about the letter A. Whether you homeschool or not, these are short and sweet ways to reinforce the letter learning. We actually did these activities across two days, allowing for lots of breaks and changes in our plans .
Alphabet Song (Space Version) : This was a fun & different way to sing our ABCs. The kids loved it and ask for it frequently.
Walphabet’s Letter A : The Walphabet series is wonderful!!! The munckhins especially love the Letter V video.
My son is a BIG fan of the more recent Voltron Force. So, he enjoyed coloring an Allura page. You could also use Axle (Leapfrog), Archie Asparagus (Veggietales) or Angelina Ballerina.
Watch Sesame Street’s Letter A
We purchased the Letter of the Week Curriculum as part of a Homeschool Bundle a while back. It is $15 to download as of the time this post was written.
While I don’t follow the curriculum, exactly, I DO use each letter’s printed page in our learning.
After watching the above videos and coloring the assorted pages, we watched a favorite show:
Leapfrog Phonics Farm : available on Netflix
Watch Leapfrog: Phonics Farm on Netflix
During our movie time, I allow the kids to sit and cut scrap paper with their scissors. They need to develop those skills, and they seem to find that activity very calming. It helps them get some “wiggles” out.
Another great FREE resource is the Highlight-a-Letter kit by Babbling Abby.
Each letter has two printouts available. I printed both on one sheet and was able to use the more basic version for my 2 year old to doodle on – or to attempt to find letters, and the more complicated one (including tracing and printing space) for my 4 year old.
This was the FIRST activity that I really saw my son (4 years old) working on and learning through. He was obviously paying attention and soaking it in. It was also the first activity where he started recognizing other letters and feeling confident enough to start telling me what he thought they were. LOADS of opportunities for tiny successes and learning opportunities. I LOVE them!
We made a Letter A : Alligator, after being inspired by Homeschool Escapade
Both of my children did this craft. I had all of the parts pre-cut for them and then assisted my 4 year old by guiding his hands to put glue stick into the shape of the Letter A in his “learning book” and then helping him choose the appropriate sized parts to add.
My daughter (2), needed a little more guidance, but also enjoyed this very much! Our ANGRY ALLIGATORS were a big hit!
Walphabet’s ABCs Song : We really do like the Walphabets series of videos. This one is exciting for my kids. They call it the “pipe” ABCs.
These great, flash, interactive activities are a wonderful and FREE resource, as well! The kids really enjoy them!
I was thrilled to learn that the whole set is available in the Google Play store for Android, or in the Amazon App Store. This means that, instead of hovering around my laptop as a group, my kids can do their learning time on their tablets AND play through the other letters in their free time!
Good news for iPad users : It is also available in iTunes!
I also hung pictures of the Letter A, in upper AND lowercase, on our wall. We point and review throughout our day and as we learn more, we will add them to the wall as well.
Another activity that we haven’t done yet, but that I look forward to trying is forming playdough into the shape of the letter being learned. Some children, especially if they may be dyslexic, seem to learn better in a more three-dimensional manner. Because playdough is more tactile, it helps them learn in a different way. I plan to print the letter on a half-sheet of paper and then laminate it so that they can practice on it and not ruin the paper or the playdough.
I hope you enjoyed! I look forward to sharing more!
Other fun A activities: A is for Angry Birds
