Quietly Content at Home

 I successfully taught my now 6 year old daughter how to read at 4 years old using the book  Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons  [Affiliate link] by Engleman et al after educating myself on the science behind reading instruction through La Trobe University, Australia, and scouring resources like SPELD NSW for advice.  Initial instruction only took 3 months or so but it is now 18 months later and she not only reads well but seeks out books and tries to read them to herself. To support and reinforce her phonics based explicit reading instruction, I took the Dolch sight words list from the MyHomeschool curriculum and created my own flashcards. Most flashcards were far too big for my (and my home printer's) liking so I opened the trusty Canva and created my own ten to a page format.  I have provided the PrePrimer level below for free. They are jpg files so just Right click and select Save As to save them to your computer to print later. I use a corner ...

There are thousands of wholesome book lists online and just as many parents and educators ready to share theirs. This is my list of enjoyable, clean and heart felt books for children aged 3 - 12 years. This list is a good place to look for a comfort read and a good story. Charlotte's Web by E. B. White What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt The Magic Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Graeme Heidi by Johanna Spyri The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Pollyanna by Elaenor H. Porter Ruby Red Shoes by Kate Knapp Little Pilgrim's Progress by Helen Taylor Because of Winn Dixie by Kate Di Camillo Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing ...

 Learning to ride and care for horses is a wonderful experience for so many children. A love for horses can be explored and enjoyed through stories when getting to the stable is not possible. Here are some suggestions for books about horses and their humans. First we will go through some classics then all the series I have come across as a librarian. The classics are read and enjoyed by both boys and girls but the series on this list were written mostly by women, for a female audience aged 8 - 16. Horse Diaries however would appeal to boys who enjoy historical fiction for children such as My Story, My Australian Story and Royal Diaries. This is a simple list of cherished classics, for further details please check Common Sense Media, Booktopia, Amazon and any of the other wonderful lists of horse books that give summaries of the stories. Goodreads is not particularly good for reviews of classics or anything with religious characters. Classics The Black Stallion series ...