The past two months have been like an out of control roller coaster here on the island. At the end of August we had a 90 second long 7.1 earthquake that tried to tear our island apart. But we were very lucky. There was no loss of life, and only a handful of homes and businesses were damaged. But it was very scary. Peanut talked about it for weeks after.
Then just as the island was getting back to normal, we were hit with torrential rain. A month’s worth of rain fell in three days. This caused widespread flooding in many areas.
Where we live is relatively out of any flood zone, but as the floods came, the Water and Sewer Authority had to turn off the water plants, so we were without water for ten days. Think about it – ten days of using bottled water for all drinking and cooking. Ten days of only flushing your toilet when absolutely necessary. Ten days of no bathing.
Then when the water finally started to flow, it took another week before it was safe to use for bathing and drinking. So seventeen days of smelly people! ewwww….
But some people here lost everything in the floods. They lost all their possessions, and some lost their homes. But again, we were lucky, there was no loss of life.
And just this past week, we were hit with 10 more minor earthquakes. We live inland, so we didn’t feel them, but some areas on the coast were shaken.
So how is homeschooling going after all this excitement?
We took an unexpected week off, and it was really needed. We are back at it, and Peanut is doing well. I’ve made some more changes (no surprise, eh?) and now we seem to be working like a well oiled machine! So what am I going to do? Yep, you guessed it – I’m going to try to add something new!
I’m going to be trying to introduce phonics to Peanut (again). He is becoming a really good sight reader, so now that that’s going well, I’m hoping the time is right to introduce how to read phonetically. The problem is what program to choose.
I have Hooked on Phonics, The Reading Lesson, Reading A-Z (which has a Phonological Awareness program and a Phonics program), or we can use Starfall’s phonics program that includes two free workbooks in the parent section. We already use the Progressive Phonics program, but Peanut memorizes the words, so I can’t say that this is a true phonics program.
Hooked on Phonics incorporates videos, so I think Peanut would like that part. The “workbooks” are colorful and easy to use. Overall, it seems like it would be fun.
The Reading Lesson is colorful and is well laid out, it’s just open and go. That is definitely a perk for me! I think we’ll probably use this along with whatever else we decide on since it makes a good supplement.
Reading A-Z is a bit labor intensive for me, all the flashcards and game pieces for each lesson has to be printed and then cut out. And there are a lot! But it’s well scripted and I think Peanut would have fun while learning.
Starfall combines games, videos, a workbook, and the reading books you can print out. It seems like a good all around phonic program, and I think we may begin his journey into phonics with this program. I like that it has so much to offer.
So which to choose? I honestly have no idea! I’m probably going to try each of them out for a week or two, starting with Starfall, and see which one, if any, Peanut likes.
Wish us luck!
A Joyful Chaos 