I LOVE Alphabet Island!
Why couldn’t I have discovered it early? No boring rules to memorize like K comes before and E, I, Y! Instead, rules are learned through FUN stories and songs! My kids are really taking to it and after struggling to learn these phonics and spelling rules, it’s really sinking in!
My kids have no problem with the C,K rules and my six year old can even tell you if KELLOG is spelled with a C or K and knows CITY is spelled with a C.
I strayed from the Alpahbet Island to the land of Saxon 1 (for my 2nd grader) and Christ Centered Curriculum (for my 4th) and while it was good at reinforcing things we learned on the Island, when it came to spelling words with EE, EA and IE, I found my kids drowning in a sea without a life raft to hold on to. There was nothing for them to grasp out at Saxon and CC sea, so we swam back to the Island and continued where we left off which was at spelling with EE! God is so cool how he makes my hodge podge homeschool all line up!
So we’re having a great time on the Island learning that EE song and the EE words on the FARM. I even made up my own little song. I bet it sounds familiar. “Old MacDonald had a farm, EE Double E. And on his farm he had a SHEEP, TREE, CHEEP, GREEN grass, BEET, BEE, DEER, WEEDs, SEEDs.” Get it! These double EE words are all on the farm!
But I realized some words that should be on the farm like PEACH and LEAF weren’t DOUBLE EEs. So I made up a story, complete with pictures. “My DEAR was at the BEACH drinking TEA and eating a PEACH with a LEAF when a bird with a BEACH tried to eat it!” The kids got in the story making act and we added to it, “The MEAN boys came and BEATed on a pail with shovel…”
Then we went over to the TOWN to MEET the QUEEN, who was MEEK, and GLEEful, but there was this CREEPY TEEN there…and over to the GYM where the WEAK people go and people who play on a TEAM.
My kids are writing their own versions of these stories and drawing pictures, but I’m so excited because this is perfect for my visual learners and they’re actually having fun. Next we’re going to talk about the CARS in the town that drive on the STREET… There’s so much fun and learning left to be done!
