TOS Crew Review: Logic of English

As a mom who is a bit intimidated about teaching her children to read, I eagerly agreed to do the Logic of English review for the Crew.  I chose the very first book, Foundations, Level A ($38 for the teacher’s manual and $18 for the student workbook)  which included the REUSABLE RESOURCES ($85).  In addition, we received Doodling Dragons App ($4.99) and the accompanying Doodling Dragons book ($15).

Why I Wanted to Try Logic of English

Because Bookworm went to school from preschool to 3rd grade, I never taught him to read.  He went to school, he learned how, and it wasn’t a struggle.  He’s been a voracious reader for as long as I can remember.

Me?  I don’t know anything about teaching kids to read.  Knowing that I would have to teach PB & J Girl (5) as well as Cuddle Bug (4) to read was the one thing that scared me most when we decided to homeschool.  What if I failed?  What if they never loved reading as Bookworm and I do?

Last fall, when PB & J Girl turned 5, we used a curriculum to teach her to read by blending sounds together.

It.was.a.disaster.

Even though I tried to be gentle with her, PB & J Girl is a perfectionist, and if she couldn’t do the blend and figure out the word, she would burst into tears and refuse to try again.  After a few weeks of this, I stopped the curriculum we were using altogether and instead switched to Songlight’s Core P4/5.

I wanted to try out Logic of English because it was a different way to teach her reading and writing.  It didn’t rely on blending sounds.

And guess what?  She loves the program and asks to do it every day!  Best of all, she’s learning to read!  I can’t tell you what a proud and excited mama I am.

What Is the Format of Logic of English?

One reason why I love the program and PB & J Girl does, too, is that each lesson has the children doing several different activities.  There’s no time to get bored.

Each lesson has a section on phonemic awareness and handwriting.

Phonemic Awareness

The phonemic awareness section in each lesson includes a variety of tasks such as putting your hand in front of your mouth when saying the letter “p” and “b” and then plugging your nose to say the same letters.  While these activities seem silly and are fun for the kids, they’re also teaching kids about voiced and unvoiced sounds and nasal sounds.

My kids favorite activity is when the lesson has them do a specific action, such as jump or shout when they hear a specific noise like /m/ in a group of noises that I’m instructed to make.  PB & J Girl also liked it when I blended words out loud for her and she had to determine what the word actually was.

What I liked is that the program explained all the different sounds a letter could make.  For instance, “a” can make three different sounds.  The previous curriculum we used only told children one sound per letter, so PB & J Girl would get confused when a sound used in a word didn’t sound the way she learned it.  With Logic of English, her confusion was gone.

Handwriting

Honestly, when I started the handwriting portion, I felt sure that it would never work.   The first few lessons start out teaching children names of writing strokes such as swing stroke, down stroke, roll stroke, and straight stroke as well as how to create them.

I thought just learning strokes would be abstract, but a few lessons in, when PB & J Girl started making the letter “a” I heard her repeating to herself as she drew each letter, “roll, swing, straight.”

Shows how much I know.

How We Used Logic of English

The girls and I used Logic of English about 3 to 4 times a week.  PB & J Girl enjoys it immensely.  Cuddle Bug, not so much.  Of course, she just turned 4, so I don’t push it.  If she sits with us and wants to participate, that’s fine.  If she wants to play instead, that’s fine, too.

Our daily lessons last anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes.  When a new letter is introduced, I have the girls use the Doodling Dragon app after our lesson.  This app allows them to both listen to the Doodling Dragon story and to choose individual letters to hear what sounds they make.  Though you could certainly teach without the Doodling Dragons book or app, it was a nice addition to the program and a good way to reinforce lessons learned.

Does Logic of English Work for Us?

We love Logic of English.  After less than 10 lessons, PB & J Girl was reading a very easy Bob book with a little bit of help from me.

I was also happy when grandma came to visit and she pointed to the Logic of English materials and said “I’m learning to read with those books.”

If PB & J Girl continues to enjoy these lessons, we’ll move on to Foundations B when she finishes Foundations A.