Discover phonics through over thirty real books with historical and biblical content in the Phonics Museum! Featuring gifted writers and award-winning illustrators such as Doug Jones, R.C. & Denise Sproul Jr., Doug and Nancy Wilson and others, your children (and you!) will want to read these primers over and over. Follow a young boy and his family on a scavenger hunt through the museum, learning about art while discovering letter sounds. Utilizing multiple learning styles, children will learn to read on their own using fine art flashcards, puzzles, games, music, chants, and stimulating daily worksheets. Comprehensive teacher's manuals feature daily instructions, icons and pictures of the student worksheets, and other elements that make teaching easy and efficient.

The Homeschool Kindergarten/Grade 1 Combo Kit includes everything you need for one student over two years. For additional students, add the Individual Student Kits for Kindergarten and First Grade.

The kindergarten kit includes:

1 Alphabet Quest book

10 primers

1 Kindergarten Teacher Manual

1 Kindergarten Workbook

50 Puzzle Pieces

1 deck of Kindergarten Game Cards (Archives Game)

2 decks of Playing Cards

29 5" x 8" Flashcards

1 Pop-up Museum/ Game Board

1 Music CD

1 packet of Games Pieces (6 pawns, 1 die)

1 deck of Fine Art Card (to hang in the museum)

1 Paper Doll Sheet

1 Paper Clip Packet (to assemble the pop-up museum)

1 Iron-on Museum Bag Decal (bag not included).

The First Grade Kit includes:

1 Alphabet Quest book

21 primers

1 First Grade Teacher Manual

1 First Grade Workbook

113 Puzzle Pieces

1 deck of First Grade Game Cards

2 decks of Playing Cards

46 5" x 8" Flashcards

1 Pop-up Museum Game Board

1 Music CD

1 packet of Games Pieces (6 pawns, 1 die)

1 deck of Fine Art Card

1 Paper Doll Sheet

1 Paper Clip Packet (to assemble the pop-up museum)

1 Iron-on Museum Bag Decal (bag not included).

This deluxe reading course uses classic artwork to teach letter recognition in kindergarten. The pages of the storybook, Alphabet Quest, walk the student through the wings of an art museum. The marvelous paintings observed in the story are the paintings featured on the alphabet cards. Although visually interesting, close attention to listening is required in Phonics Museum, as lessons teach the sounds of letters and blends. After learning only two vowels and a handful of consonants, the kindergartner “reads” his first little book (primer) by “sounding out.”

These story primers have settings as varied as their illustrators’ quirky art styles. Some are cute. The rest have an academic feel to them. (One story is from Greek mythology.) The student will probably meet up with more decoding of words than he needs to be faced with in one primer. Mother and child can take turns reading alternate pages “round robin,” as suggested in the teacher’s manual.

The manuals are written for the classical schoolroom with notes for the homeschool. They coordinate all activities while accommodating a variety of learning styles. The kit’s sturdy puzzle pieces enable little hands to interlock letters to form words. Various sets of flash cards, game cards, and a thick attractive workbook give the student pleasant practice. The print size of the workbooks of both grades is refreshingly large, with illustrations that are tastefully arranged. A CD of upbeat songs, necessitating the memorization of phonic rules, seems superfluous to me but might fill a niche for a certain child. Penmanship is practiced with the D’Nealian style, rather than unwieldy ball and stick. How nice that the letters to be traced are not dotted but are hollow and provide a clear writing path.

The first grade student learns more complex phonics and is presented with an interesting sight-word vocabulary. His workbook adds reading comprehension, and spelling tests are regular. His 21 primers are centered on history. The Wright brothers, King Alfred, Martin Luther, the 1969 moon landing, Moses in Egypt, Queen Elizabeth, and others take the stage. The Christian authors make faith in God a natural part of life.

The combo kit is a big, heavy box of stuff: 31 color primers, two thick workbooks, two teacher’s manuals, music CD, packs of cards, and game pieces, which add up to provide an economical two years of reading, penmanship, spelling, and history. When some fluency is reached, my advice is to pick up Frog and Toad from the library for a childlike chuckle.

—Karen

http://www.christianbook.com/phonics-museum-combo-from-veritas-press/marlin-detweiler/9781930710597/pd/000800

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