Introduction to the Curriculum

 

    

Great spellers are ALWAYS great readers, but great readers are often weak spellers! This is because most curricula emphasize some level of the whole-word method to teach reading, believing that if a child can read, spelling will take care of itself. I contend that spelling is a logical preliminary skill to reading.

The PHONICS Road to Spelling and Reading is a complete K-4 curriculum offering the parent a comprehensive video teacher training text with an emphasis on accurate speaking, spelling, writing, reading, grammar, composition, and preparation for The LATIN Road to English Grammar.

The best service you can do for your student is equip him with the basic tools of learning upon which are built the skills to reason and think for himself. Without the basic tools the developing and productive use of the mind, the habit of mental self-discipline and self-education, are impossible. You cannot spend your days watching educational television, playing educational games, and expect your child to be ready for Latin, algebra, physiology, and literature in a few years. It takes consistent daily work to help a child use his mind to think logically and build skills.

The PHONICS Road to Spelling and Reading is a method for teaching the basic skills of the English language - accurate speaking, spelling, writing, and reading - as one integrated subject. This is not the typical phonics study serving as a supplement to whole-word (look-say) method. This study provides the building blocks for Latin and other higher learning by establishing scholarly habit patterns from kindergarten forward.

The core of this method is the technique by which a child learns how to write down the sounds used in spoken English as they are combined into words. Thus, conversely, he can pronounce any printed word. It begins with the correct pronunciation of words and the writing of their component sounds with their rules of English spelling. By this means the saying, writing, reading and meaning of words are well learned and understood. After this initial grounding, a child in his reading recognizes words at a glance, very soon without any resort to phonetic components. For reading there is no resort to pictures or any other aids except the use of phonics. After a new word has been read aloud its meaning is discussed and pictures can be used if they can help explain the meaning. However, looking at pictures is NOT reading.

The PHONICS Road to Spelling and Reading provides an enjoyable and fun presentation of the material, learning to build the English language in the same way a carpenter learns to build a house.

Throughout the study, the parent/teacher is the Foreman, guiding the student through various skill levels. The student is an Apprentice for the first three years, then becomes a Journeyman in the 4th year as he prepares for The LATIN Road to English Grammar.

The Apprentice begins by learning the tools of his trade - single vowels and consonants, vowel teams and consonant teams. After these tools are mastered, the Apprentice uses them to build words according to the Blueprints (spelling list). Along the way the Foreman shows that words are formed according to Building Codes (spelling rules). Rules are set to songs - Rule Tunes - for easy memorization.