And I think I have found it, at least for now. I have a formula that seems to be working, so I wanted to share it with you. Like many homeschooling families, I have discovered that a mixture of approaches/curriculums works better for us than trying to do it all strictly with a single approach. And the big surprise for me is that along the way I have re-discovered Montessori and its proper place in our family's education.
As it turns out, I didn't have to throw out the baby with the bathwater after all. We are back to using some Montessori materials as a way of augmenting our total educational experience, but we are no longer focused just on Montessori materials. Also, we are very much trying to live out the Montessori philosophy (promoting the child's independence, following their interests, enabling the older children to teach the younger ones) in how we do our education, regardless of what actual texts we are using.
In the next series of blog posts, I'll cover by subject area what works for us at the moment, starting today with phonics.
I love Jolly Phonics. Better yet, my children love it! Interestingly, it is very compatible with Montessori because it is such a multi-sensorial approach to learning language (in fact, in the later instruction on grammar, they knowingly use the Montessori colors for parts of speech, so there is some clear interplay with Montessori here).
Jolly Phonics teaches the main sounds of the English language and later also teaches their alternate spellings. Every sound has an action associated with it; for example, the sound for "d" will have you pretending to "drum" with your two index fingers. The actions are always introduced with a fun story, and each sound also comes with a special song which reinforces the action (on a CD). Thus, phonics takes on a kinesthetic aspect - children can jump around and act out each sound as part of their learning. The Finger Phonics books also have a tactile component where the children can "feel" the sound on the page - kinda a weak version of the sandpaper letters.
Before Jolly Phonics, when I was trying to follow the Montessori teacher manuals from Montessori Research and Development, I felt totally overwhelmed and "stuck" when it came to phonics instruction - the amount of "stuff" that was needed to teach phonics the Montessori way (and the amount of materials I would have to create) just seemed far too demanding, and the whole approach also struck me as too loosey-goosey and unclear.
Jolly Phonics was truly a game-changer for us. It was the laser beam that focused the entire process into something that was still very much in the Montessori spirit, but actually doable and even enjoyable! The results have been astounding.
Hannah was the primary beneficiary of Jolly Phonics since I was actually teaching only her, but Jonah loved it and followed along voluntarily, so although he is not even 4 yet he can now read at a green series level, and he is spelling pink series words with the movable alphabet with ease. Even Sophia (2 years old) has been absorbing some of it - she knows several of the sounds and likes doing the actions, and this morning she surprised me when she was looking though the Jolly Phonics story book and said "er for mixer" and pointed at the "er" sound - I guess she can read it!
I am still amazed at how effective this program is. Now that we are finished the seven Jolly Phonics books, I find that we have progressed all the way through the Montessori pink, blue and green levels in a very painless way. What's more, I am now better able to effectively use Montessori materials to further hone our newly learned skills. We are using the movable alphabet to practice spelling out words, and I use phonics materials from the Montessori Print Shop to give the children practice and review opportunities. We are also moving on to read simple books.
Essential gear:
- Jolly Phonics Teacher Manual (Phonics Handbook) - Good, though not essential tool for the homeschooling parent. This manual explains the method, lays it all out in easy daily lessons for introducing the sounds, and includes a ton of photocopy materials. I used it a lot. The usefulness of this manual is limited after all the sounds are introduced - Montessori printables, the movable alphabet and simple readers are a great continuation for further practising and developing the skills that have been learned with Jolly Phonics. NOTE: Make sure you get the Print Letters version - that's the American English version. The Pre-Cursive Letters version is British English, and there are a couple of subtle but important differences.
- Jolly Phonics Workbooks - I liked these a lot. They are black-and-white, no stickers or frills, but very good exercises and lots of fun. Later I got the Activity Books, thinking they were an improvement since they were newer, but I discovered that I liked these no-frills Workbooks better after all.
- Jolly Phonics Songbook with CD - We love this CD and enjoy listening to it in the car. Every sound has its own catchy little song. Great for reinforcing the learning of phonics sounds. The songs are sung by children with a British accent, but we have not found that to be a problem.
- Jolly Phonics DVD - Note that this DVD has an "American English" option! We only discovered that after we listened to a few of the chapters in British English first.
- Jolly Phonics Finger Phonics Big Books - My children love these books, maybe because they are so special since they are the biggest books we have at home. They are beautiful and Hannah especially has pored over them many times, which surely helped her learn her sounds. We got the big ones by mistake (though I think it ended up a good buy) but they also have a normal-sized version of these books.
- Jolly Phonics Story Book - Hannah and Jonah love this and it has been another way to reinforce the sounds. Aside from stories about the familiar characters Inky, Bee and Snake, it also includes words to read and sound out for every sound.
- Jolly Phonics Wall Friezes - these are very good but big. They are meant for a classroom, and they are sized for a large space. We ended up putting these in our upstairs hallway. Sometimes the children look at them - but not sure I would buy these again.
- Jolly Phonics Activity Books - I didn't like these as much as the Workbooks. For one thing, the Workbooks are much easier to photocopy and use with multiple children, since they are only black-and-white and no stickers. These Activity Books must be bought separately for each child, since they are full colour and totally consumable with lots of stickers. I found I am not a big fan of those stickers that never fully stick, and then come flying out of the book or sticking on to other pages (or they just might be used by the children somewhere outside of the book, and then what will you do when you need them for your in-book activity?). I also find that these books are too busy and all the activity and color might detract from actual learning of the sounds.
