Find of the Week: MINDsprinting.com

So I'm going to try a new theme on my blog...a find of the week!  I come across tons of awesome resources every week, and I'd really like to document my favorites (at least once a week).

This week, I revisited a site that I'd glanced at before but never looked at any further.  The site is MINDsprinting.com and, for now, it is free!  I was able to give my DD a reading and a math placement test.  From these results, I found that she is reading at a 1st grade reading level (just like the other 3 tests had said - I guess that's pretty darn accurate, eh?) and a kindergarten math level.  This is not bad for a 4.5 year old, right? :) 

Here comes the cool part - after you take your FREE assessments (there is also a reading comprehension test for older kiddos), you can join their site and get lesson worksheets customized based on your child's results!  Each child can have their own information saved within the system.  The worksheets are excellent and you can save them to review later.  Sometimes it even gives you extra sheets that you could download for extra practice.  Once your child has finished the work, you record the results and it gives you your next lesson for them based on the completion of the past lesson.

I love this service!  The website says that it will go up to around $30/year per student and I think it's WELL worth that price when/if it changes to that.  The scope and sequence of their curriculum is very thorough and I feel that it is complete.

You will still need to instruct your child in the lessons (unless they already understand what is being presented).  At this point, that's no problem because my kiddo is so young and I still know everything she's covering.  This went along very well with what DD has been learning in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading.

I encourage you to check out MINDsprinting!

Completed Reading Assessments...

So I've been doing some reading assessments with DD and am thrilled to say that she's reading very well and at a 1st+ grade level (at 4.5 years old!). I'm beginning to think this homeschooling thing works..lol

I did the assessment here: K12 Placement Tests and she passed the Basic Phonics Assessment with a score of 90 (86 needed to pass). I've done 2 other reading level tests (though they are terribly informal in comparison to this one!) and she was placed at a 2nd grade reading level on one and a 1st grade, 6th month reading level on another.

I'm telling you that The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading really works!!!

DD learned to READ! :)

This week has been CRAZY busy with various activities, so technically DD has 2 more activities to finish off the week (We do 9 activities per day as you have seen from our system)....but after that, we're DONE with week 5! :) It was a fun week for many reasons...the biggest of which being that SHE LEARNED TO READ!!! WOOHOO!!!

We have been doing lessons from "The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading" by Jessie Wise and Sara Buffington. The fist 26 lessons are strictly learning the sounds of each of the letters. After that, they gradually introduce reading concepts, starting with 2 letter words beginning with the short a sound and then moving on the CVC words with the short vowel sound the following lesson. Well by golly, my daughter can READ!

DD figured out HOW to do the CVC words (We have only gone through lesson 31!!! This was in FIVE days of instruction on this stuff!) and has taken it upon herself to read other words with other vowels in them even though her lessons haven't gotten her that far yet. We are LOVING it!

I had a few phonics readers already, but I got the BOB Books from the library and she has been having a TOTAL blast. This particular series from the library is a set of 3 books and each has a CD to go with it. I'm ignoring the CDs because I don't like how they are set up to have the kid read "with" it and it confused and frustrated her when we did it once after she'd completed the first book.

She has read all of the first book (it has 4 of the standard BOB Books in that volume) and half of the second one (so 2 of the standard BOB Books) already and is trying to read any and everything we come across! It's pretty awesome to watch!!

Once we get to lesson 41, we'll start getting into two-consonant blends and that will REALLY open up a world of books for her! Diagraphs as well - although the instruction on that starts about the time I might be having baby3, so we may have to just go with what she's already learned and review lessons for a while until I have regained some composure to move on to the harder stuff. :) I think my DH would help, but I'd really rather be the one to teach so as to keep the continuity and flow.

Anyway, I just had to share!

I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone hoping to teach their child to read quickly and painlessly! I usually write out the words that I'll be teaching her on index cards so that they are larger and easier to read left to right than in the book. This seems to help and then you can also use the cards later in the day to reinforce the learning and do some review work if you want. :)

Have a great week!