Levels A and B
Foundations by Logic of English is “a systematic language arts curriculum for grades K-2”. (It includes phonics, spelling, handwriting, and composition.) I loved the program and its unique approach to phonics. I was taught differently in my college courses, and I taught phonics differently as a teacher. I think I remember hearing something like less than half of the English language is phonetic. Well, according to the book Uncovering the Logic of English, 98% of it is actually phonetic.
…the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet are inadequate to describe the 44 spoken phonemes or sounds. To solve this discrepancy, English adds 49 multi-letter phonograms. …When we only teach children the alphabet, even if we include long and short vowel sounds, we give the false impression that English has only 31 sounds. …To provide students with a more complete understanding of English they must master not only 26 letters but the 75 basic phonograms.
Eide, p. 16
Logic of English teaches students 75 phonograms and 31 spelling rules, giving them 106 tools to decode words.
I knew Molly would learn all the sounds (phonemes) for each phonogram (letter or combination of letters), but I’ll admit I was a bit apprehensive. How in the world would she learn all three phonemes for letter a and then more in the very next lesson? There’s no way she would remember all that.
Boy, was I wrong! I’m still in awe every time we go through all the flash cards and she can spout off all the phonemes in a matter of a couple minutes. I definitely underestimate what young children are capable of learning. The books Doodling Dragons and Whistling Whales, as well as their accompanying songs, also aided her learning.
I had to remind myself to trust the process and remain committed. There were times I struggled with teaching it the way it said because I didn’t understand a particular phonics rule. I was tempted to teach my own rule and veer from the program here and there. Fortunately, I stuck with it, and most of the time I eventually learned the reason behind the specific rule or instruction.
I believe it’s important to settle on an approach and then to strictly follow the instructions. There are multiple effective ways to teach a child to read, but jumping back and forth can be detrimental. Choose one and commit. And then TRUST THE PROCESS.
Reading Uncovering the Logic of English by Denise Eide wasn’t necessary to teaching the method, but I’ve found it helpful, especially because I tend to question everything. As a former public school teacher who was trained drastically differently, the book was eye-opening and served to reeducate me.
Molly completed levels A and B. This is somewhat of a regret. If I were to do it again, I would go more slowly through the levels. Logic of English isn’t geared toward grade levels; you go at the child’s pace. Each level has 40 lessons, and those lessons are to be completed as needed. Some may finish a lesson in a day; some may need three days. Because I had read that many children complete levels A and B their first year, it kind of became a subconscious goal of mine, despite having told myself we didn’t need to finish B before the end of the school year.
I feel that Molly would have benefited from moving more slowly through the lessons. We typically took two days to complete a lesson, and we should have broken them into three parts. The more I read about the Charlotte Mason approach, the more I got on board with shorter lessons. I saw first-hand how Molly seemed exhausted after only 20 minutes. I wish I hadn’t have pushed her the way I did.
Next year I’ll set a timer for 20 minutes, and we’ll end our reading lesson at that time no matter what. I purposely didn’t order level D yet. I want to see the rate at which Molly moves through C.
Visit the Logic of English–Foundations site to learn what is covered at each level and to see sample lessons.
(I apologize for the poor photo quality!)
