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Teach Phonics with Logic of English ~ Foundations A Review

When we started telling people we planned to homeschool, a typical response was, “Oh, you’re an English teacher, you’ll be great at it!” Now, I have my thoughts about why being an educator doesn’t automatically qualify me to homeschool… but also: I have never taught anybody to read before! As a secondary educator, my certification is only to teach 7-12th grades. So kids come to me already knowing how to read! But now? Teach phonics? That gave me a few “take a deep breath” moments!

I’d heard about Logic of English from several friends, so when The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew asked me to review the Foundations Level A materials, I was very interested. Here’s how it went for us!

teach phonics with logic of english

Teach Phonics with Logic of English

teach phonics with logic of english

My core belief about teaching children to read is they should learn the various sounds of language to decode words. This way, you eliminate the “guessing” game that happens when kids are heavily dependent on sight words. Logic of English does use high-frequency words for better fluency, but a heavy dependency on sight words is limiting for children.

Teaching the sounds of words (phonics!) gives young readers the tools they need to break apart the language. This is crucial for when words become more complex as they move on to higher grades.

After cracking open the wonderful materials sent in the Logic of English™ Foundations kit, I saw their philosophy of teaching reading strongly matches my own!

Materials for Logic of English Foundations Level A

teach phonics with logic of english

Here are the materials to aid in my homeschool reading curriculum:

Consumable materials: 

Reusable materials:

  • Basic Phonogram Flash Cards
  • Phonogram and Spelling Rule Quick Reference
  • Spelling Analysis Card
  • Rhythm of Handwriting Tactile Cards – Manuscript
  • Rhythm of Handwriting Quick Reference – Manuscript
  • LOE Student Whiteboard
  • Phonogram Game Cards
  • Phonogram Game Tiles
  • Doodling Dragons: An ABC Book of Sounds – used in Level A only

Using Logic of English to teach phonics in our homeschoolteach phonics with logic of english

After using Logic of English Foundations A for several weeks, here’s how it went for us. We do 3-4 lessons per week, and my boys have both enjoyed the lessons. Our 3.5 year old sits in while I read Doodling Dragons, and sometimes takes part in the multi-sensory learning activities.

It took me a while to get used to the teacher’s manual, because there are so many great sidebar suggestions for teaching! I wanted to do everything! However, I decided to focus on the main lesson and the kinesthetic activities for playing with the sounds.

There are many other extension activity ideas (like themed snacks! and parties!) that I didn’t do in time for this review. Once I get us more firmly established with this curriculum, I will definitely add those features into our day!

My favorite aspect: What makes Logic of English stand out to me is how they take what might be tedious chanting of phonics sounds, and turn the learning into playful games for the students with multi-sensory activities that appeal to a range of learning styles. Here’s just a few ideas we’ve used:

  • Building with Lego bricks for each sound
  • Acting out words when sounds are blended
  • Moving around the room to find blended words
  • Stamping, coloring, and doodling as they match beginning sounds to pictures

What could be dry and dull has become a fun game-like experience for my kindergartener!

Again, what I love best about the program is the concept of giving readers the tools to unlock ANY book at any level, once they achieve mastery of phonemic awareness. I’m setting my kids up for reading success far into the future with this program.

Using Logic of English for handwriting

After we do our sound blending activities, we practice handwriting. The tactile cards have proved extremely helpful, as I’m a right-handed person teaching a left-handed person how to write. Since he can’t simply “copy” my gestures or strokes exactly, being able to explain the shapes of the letter parts (roll, swing, down-scoop, etc), has drastically improved how I instruct his handwriting.

Although we’ve started with the Manuscript tactile cards, after reading their “Why Teach Cursive First” article, I am planning to switch to cursive in the fall.

I’ve been delighted with the Logic of English Foundations program, and plan to continue with future levels into our first grade year!

More reviews of Logic of English

UPDATED: I have continued to use the Logic of English program! I love it!

What are your questions about how to teach phonics with Logic of English? I’d love to answer from my experiences!

teach phonics with logic of english

To see other homeschool parents talking about the Logic of English program, click below!

Logic of English Review
Crew Disclaimer

Michelle

Sunday 21st of May 2017

I am debating between this program and all about reading. Do you feel like the level A would be okay to start even if your i child dose not know all their letters?

Dyan C.

Monday 15th of August 2016

I just received my box with levels A and B, and am excited to start, but I was wondering how you organize the phonics game tiles so you can find what you need quickly? Also, you said you were doing 3 to 4 lessons per week, was that because they were too long to finish one per day? My son is very wiggly as well, and I was not sure how we'd get through long lessons. How long does each lesson take per day? Thanks so much!

Julie Kieras

Sunday 7th of May 2017

I think I replied to this in an email but I'm going to reply here as well for other readers. We store the phonics game tiles in a shallow box with a lid. I've noticed they are color coded (red for vowels, blue for consonant phonograms), and green for something I haven't figured out yet! That makes it a little easier to find piece, but there is always some digging!

We do 3-4 lessons per week because we have a co-op on one day, and then some Fridays we do field trips. So that leaves either 3 days or 4 days to work on Logic of English. I have found the lessons are VERY easy to finish in one day each, and cannot recall a time when we took more than a day for a lesson (sometimes we didn't get to a particular game and carry that over into the next lesson, but the instructional work and practice we're always able to finish in a day).

I'd estimate each lesson takes about 20-30 minutes. It depends how much time we spend playing games, and how long handwriting takes.

I hope that has been helpful to you!

Trisha W.

Monday 11th of April 2016

Although I don't homeschool full time, I have helped my children learn how to read. Since I had zero background in this area, I naturally went with letter sounds. As we delved further into reading, I talked about the blends (ch, th, etc.) as well as the silent e (It makes the vowel say it's name, not its sound.) I was really happy when Leap Frog came out with some DVDs that focused on letter sounds and more. I could get something done while my kiddos watched an engaging movie that was actually teaching them something. They enjoyed the story and the songs on the DVDs.

Trisha W.

Monday 11th of April 2016

I am curious what your Phonogram and Spelling Rule Quick Reference and Spelling Analysis Cards are.

Megan Russell

Wednesday 30th of March 2016

My son and I love Foundations A! There are so many fun ideas and extensions, and we don't do them ALL. But like you, I want to! This program is working well for my 5 year old, so we will continue to use it! Beautiful pictures.

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