Why I love our First Grade Reading Program #hsreviews

I have a hard time choosing curriculums for each of my children since they are all different.  This year my hardest search was for a first grade reading program for my beginning reader who is developmentally delayed.  But, with the help of the TOS Crew Review Team allowing us to review Logic of English we have found a favorite for one of my girls.  Last year we reviewed Foundations, Level A with all of the reusables.  This year we were blessed to continue our journey by reviewing Foundations, Level B.  We received the Manuscript version of the curriculum as there is also a cursive version available.  

 

Foundations, Level B has 48 lessons that cover learning to read and write the uppercase letters(taught lower in the A book).  Of these 48 lessons you have 40 that are actual instruction and 8 that are reviews/assessments.  Your child will also be reading some simple sentences by the end of the book.  It’s designed for those who have already learned all the letter sounds in the previous book.  They build on each other.  I love that they are independently able to spell over 120 words by the time they are done with this program as well.  

With Level B we received a student book, a teacher’s manual, and 6 student readers that are found in the back of the student book.  These are unique readers as your child gets to create the stories.   Or at least, that’s what it feels like to my child!  There are sentences for the child to read.  Once they have read the sentence they get to paste the sentence underneath the corresponding picture.  So no guessing what the words are by looking at the picture.  That is a big problem for us with one of our readers.  She loves to just make up words based on the pictures instead of sounding them out.  Sometimes she gets them right but most of the time not.  That is why I really like that this program has them sounding out and reading without picture helpers.

Level B is geared for ages 4-7.  In fact, the whole Foundations series of levels A-C is geared towards ages 4-7.  I do have to say that last year I used level A with a 7 year old and this year I’m using level B with an 8 year old.  She is developmentally behind for her age and this course is working great.  At first, when we started I worried that it would move too quickly or not work well for her.  I think it’s more towards gifted children.  But then, as we worked through she was actually getting the concepts that had eluded her before.  I’m sold on the program.  

Let’s talk cost.  You can purchase either the hardback or the pdf version of the teacher’s manual for $38.00.  The student workbook is $18.00 and available in both printed and pdf for both cursive and manuscript.  What I received in the teacher’s manual and manuscript student workbook is valued at $56.00.  If you choose to purchase the reusables they are $85 for what is typically received.

I do want to also mention that with Level A we received the reusable resources package pictured above.  This you will use with all three levels and is a one time purchase so you don’t need to repurchase it each year with each level.  My kids that aren’t even using the curriculum love to use these and help each other learn their letters and sounds.  We are using the manuscript versions as we haven’t ventured into the world of cursive with my beginning reader yet.  These are a great asset to have on hand.  

It is recommended that you use this product at least 4 days a week.  We use in on a daily basis.  Anyday that we do school we use our new reading program.  I have found that consistency is the key in learning.  You have to be consistent especially with children who have learning disabilities.  They need that constant reminding and redoing.  It is so easy to say oh let’s take a week break from this and then come back and find that they don’t remember the last two weeks worth of work!  Then you have to go back and start over.  Of course, it’s totally up to the parent though how you use the curriculum.  If you want to use it three times a week instead you can do that.  

Make sure to go to the Main TOS Crew Review Page to check out all the other Crew reviews.  They’ll give you more of an idea of the other Logic of English products and whether any of them are right for you and your family.  You can also find Logic of English on facebook, youtube, pinterest, and twitter.