When teaching children to read, color coding the alphabet can help them learn the different kinds of letters in the English language. Color coding also helps highlight common letter combinations, such as consonant blends, and shows how these combinations create a variety of consonant and vowel sounds. As a result, children learn to recognize letter and sound patterns, helping the reading process become more intuitive. This approach is often used in Montessori teachings. For example: Red: Consonants (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z) and Consonant Blends (bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fr, tr, fl, gl, gr, ld, nd, nk, pl, pr, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st) Blue: Short Vowels (a, e, i, o, u) Green: H-Digraphs (sh, th, ch), Long Vowels (a, e, i, o, u), Silent e (e) and Spelling Patterns (ck, ff, ll, ss, ay, ee, ow, oo, ou, ow, er, or, ar, ing) Once the red consonants and blue short vowels are mastered, the remaining spelling variations are noted in green to distinguish that these sounds are different than the recognizable consonants or short vowels. The series is taught in a specific order to develop familiarity: Short a Short i Short a and i Short o Short a, i, o Short u Short a, i, o, u Short e Short a, i, o, u, e Consonant Blends H-Digraphs Silent e / Long Vowels Consonant Phonogram Spelling Patterns ck, ff, ll, ss Vowel Phonogram Spelling Patterns ay, ee, ow, y, oo, ou, ow, er, or, ar. BONUS: Short Vowels and Silent e Comparisons. This is the second book in the series, Book 2: Short i, written by a mom, edited by a Montessori Director.

When teaching children to read, color coding the alphabet can help them learn the different kinds of letters in the English language. Color coding also helps highlight common letter combinations, such as consonant blends, and shows how these combinations create a variety of consonant and vowel sounds. As a result, children learn to recognize letter and sound patterns, helping the reading process become more intuitive. This approach is often used in Montessori teachings. For example: Red: Consonants (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z) and Consonant Blends (bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fr, tr, fl, gl, gr, ld, nd, nk, pl, pr, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st) Blue: Short Vowels (a, e, i, o, u) Green: H-Digraphs (sh, th, ch), Long Vowels (a, e, i, o, u), Silent e (e) and Spelling Patterns (ck, ff, ll, ss, ay, ee, ow, oo, ou, ow, er, or, ar, ing). Once the red consonants and blue short vowels are mastered, the remaining spelling variations are noted in green to distinguish that these sounds are different than the recognizable consonants or short vowels. The series is taught in a specific order to develop familiarity: Short a Short i Short a and i Short o Short a, i, o Short u Short a, i, o, u Short e Short a, i, o, u, e Consonant Blends H-Digraphs Silent e / Long Vowels Consonant Phonogram Spelling Patterns ck, ff, ll, ss Vowel Phonogram Spelling Patterns ay, ee, ow, y, oo, ou, ow, er, or, ar. BONUS: Short Vowels and Silent e Comparisons. Written by a mom and edited by a Montessori Director.

New sounds and blends with longer words and sentences are introduced as On the Go! continues the adventures in reading with zany illustrations and hilarious stories sure to delight beginning readers and parents alike. CD-case-like package includes magnetic closure and holds ten removable story books plus the Parent Guide. GRL: D/E

Is your child getting lost in the system, becoming bored, losing his or her natural eagerness to learn? If so, it may be time to take charge of your child’s education—by doing it yourself. The Well-Trained Mind will instruct you, step by step, on how to give your child an academically rigorous, comprehensive education from preschool through high school—one that will train him or her to read, to think, to understand, to be well-rounded and curious about learning. Veteran home educators Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise outline the classical pattern of education called the trivium, which organizes learning around the maturing capacity of the child’s mind and comprises three stages: the elementary school “grammar stage,” when the building blocks of information are absorbed through memorization and rules; the middle school “logic stage,” in which the student begins to think more analytically; and the high-school “rhetoric stage,” where the student learns to write and speak with force and originality. Using this theory as your model, you’ll be able to instruct your child—whether full-time or as a supplement to classroom education—in all levels of reading, writing, history, geography, mathematics, science, foreign languages, rhetoric, logic, art, and music, regardless of your own aptitude in those subjects. Thousands of parents and teachers have already used the detailed book lists and methods described in The Well-Trained Mind to create a truly superior education for the children in their care. This extensively revised fourth edition contains completely updated curricula and book lists, links to an entirely new set of online resources, new material on teaching children with learning challenges, cutting-edge math and sciences recommendations, answers to common questions about home education, and advice on practical matters such as standardized testing, working with your local school board, designing a high-school program, preparing transcripts, and applying to colleges. You do have control over what and how your child learns. The Well-Trained Mind will give you the tools you’ll need to teach your child with confidence and success.

All Bessie wants is to go hiking with her father and brothers. But it's 1896, and girls don't get to hike. They can't vote either, which Bessie discovers when Susan B. Anthony comes to town to help lead the campaign for women's suffrage. Stirred into action, Bessie joins the movement and discovers that small efforts can result in small changes—and maybe even big ones. Inspired by the diary of the real-life Bessie Keith Pond, a ten-year-old girl who lived in California during the suffrage campaign, author Claire Rudolf Murphy and illustrator Stacey Schuett offer a thought-provoking introduction to the fight for women's rights. This story of hope and determination is perfect for girl-power readers!

A step-by-step program that shows parents, simply and clearly, how to teach their child to read in just 20 minutes a day.