The BOB Books

Austen is in full swing with school this year and its a lot of fun! Math is pretty relaxed especially since I honestly cannot handle doing Saxon full time, at least for the early years. I am following " What Every Child Should Know..." as more of a guideline to make sure that I am teaching him the appropriate material for first grade but using mainly games and hands on activities over workbooks.

ANYWAYS, I asked the boys the other day what was their favorite part of school this year. Austen's answer, " the Bob books". He said this with such a confident smile that it melted my heart and I thought, if you like the BOB books baby, we will do BOB books as much as you want!

If you do not know what the BOB books are I highly recommend them. They are a series of five with 12 or so books in each series. The first series, the blue set, start off with " Mat"- " Mat sat. Sam sat."- and then progresses through all of the short vowel sounds until you reach "u" and "o".

I enjoy these books because they are simple yet effective. We sat today, in their " hiding place" and read four books in the first series. The excitement I see in him grows daily from the set of books. This has been really good for me to watch as , at this point with Jayden he was already reading quiet independently on his own. .

I'm thankful Austen is different because it makes me approach reading from a different angle. Earlier this year, we averaged about 45 minutes to complete one book- these books are quite SMALL friends. Now, we can complete a book in about two minutes! That to me is progress. We are progressing at his pace and he is loving the books.

I have one educational goal for Austen this year and that is to be able to read and write- with patience, consistency and love- I am confident we will accomplish this together. I am thankful for the opportunity to be the one to teach my child how to read. There is no greater feeling than to see growth in my children.