Homeschool Reading Lesson Plans
How important are homeschool lesson plans? They depend a great
deal on the personality of the parent who is homeschooling, but most see the great
benefit of well-structured lesson plans. Homeschool lesson plans will enable parents
to provide the structure that is needed for children to learn and apply the information
being taught. In teaching reading, for example, the structure and
sequence are far more important than most may realize.
A study conducted at Harvard by Dr. Jeanne Chall concluded that about 70 percent
of individuals will learn to read regardless of the method employed, but 30 percent
will not. This is because roughly 30 percent are accessing a different part of their
brains when dealing with language. Reading lesson
plans with systematic instruction are a more effective way for any reader, but
for that 30 percent, they are a necessity. These learners already have
an issue with processing language, even verbal language sometimes, and putting information
in sequence is difficult for them. "Naturally this will affect their ability to
read and spell correctly. After all, every word consists of letters in a specific
sequence. In order to read, one has to perceive the letters in sequence, and also
remember what word is represented by the sequence of letters in question" (http://www.audiblox2000.com/dyslexia/sequencing.htm).
As they struggle working linearly, left-to-right, they often sound out the word,
pronouncing letter sounds out of sequence. Sequence is something that must be
taught and practiced for these homeschool students to find success
The National Reading Panel has found that homeschool lesson plans and
programs that teach phonics systematically and explicitly are the most effective.
Systematic phonics instruction is an organized method of teaching children the letter-sound
relationships in a manner that starts with the simplest concepts and builds to the
more complex. Some of us may have been taught this way when we were younger, but
even so, most of us do not remember the sequence or how we were taught. Dr. Sally
Shaywitz has said, "What is so critical and so unique about learning phonics in
this way is that it allows the reader to apply his accumulating knowledge to deciphering
and reading words he has never seen before. No other method of teaching reading
can make this claim" (Shaywitz, Overcoming Dyslexia, p. 200). If we want
to give children this systematic, explicit phonics instruction, we need to have
a solid resource that helps us teach this information in the most effective sequence.
This is where lesson plans become vital in helping with our instruction.
Reading Horizons offers scripted homeschool reading lessons plans
in easy-to-use manuals that help parents know what to instruct
and how to instruct this invaluable information. The
practice pages, games, and
software are all correlated to the manual to support the sequence. The
software also teaches the sounds and skills in
the same explicit fashion. This program follows all that research
has said is essential to produce efficient readers. The few minutes it may take
in preparing the reading lesson will pale in comparison to the return of confident,
empowered readers.
Learn more about our software
and direct instruction products and how they can help with your homeschool reading
instruction.
How The Reading Lesson Plans Work
- Learn more about the program, its systematic method and why it is ideal for homeschool
lesson plan and curricula.