Welcome to Seeds of Learning!

The After-School Reading Program
For Children Ages 4 through 7

According The Public Library Association, a child who is a poor reader at the end of first grade has an almost 90 percent probability of being a poor reader at the end of fourth grade. Further, the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development has found that over seven million elementary school children cannot read or have poor reading comprehension. This is troubling news for parents-especially parents of young children who realize that their son or daughter may be missing out not only on good books but future job opportunities and academic achievement.

Is there a solution? Yes! Research from a variety of studies indicates that 90 to 95 percent of all children can learn to read at grade level, if they have early and proper intervention. According to a National Reading Panel Report, such intervention includes phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. The report indicates that early instruction significantly improves reading and spelling abilities for all children and strongly recommended that such learning be made available to children before first grade.

At Seeds of Learning, we realized that our students were not part of these appalling statistics because learning to read is an integral part of all of our home school programs. That's when we decided to set up a reading program based on our own success in teaching children to read.

Why are we so sure of our success? We have highly-qualified teachers who are interested in kindling your child's natural desire to read, who will provide him with the proper skills and tools to read comprehensively, and who will engender in him a love for the written word. Our teaching methodology is the second key to our success. It utilizes three basic criteria and is taught in a multi-layered approach. The three building blocks of our program are:

A.	Listening with your ears and your brain- teaching a child to listen to how language sounds and how words are used in context
B.	Phonics- learning the alphabet and the sounds of each letter, then putting the letters together to form words, learning word parts such as prefixes and suffixes, learning to spell, and learning rules of grammar and punctuation
C.	Whole Language- recognizing whole words through comprehension of a plot or story, thereby increasing one's vocabulary

Most children learn to read using a combination of listening, whole language, and phonics. When a child reads in the whole-language approach, for example, he may recognize words in context rather than as phonemic constructs. He may have heard the story read aloud or may use illustrations to fill in words he does not recognize. This approach is valuable for younger children who are more adept at thinking out a concept than they are of understanding the nuances and rules of language. Each child, however, utilizes different approaches to reading and proceeds at a different pace from his peers. Recognizing the individual propensities of each child, our teachers have devised their lesson plans as layers of learning, teaching a child to understand the whole by learning how the constituent parts correspond to each other. As your child examines each layer, he will be challenged and eager to communicate his knowledge as he relates it to the entirety of learning to read.

We begin by introducing your child to simple but interesting books that he can comprehend through whole word reading and listening. As we come to know your child's interests and proclivities, we adapt his reading to subjects that he finds satisfying, since children won't read if they are forced to read only what someone else chooses for them. The more your child reads, the more confidence he gains, enabling him to proceed to new layers of learning.

As your child progresses in his reading, we teach him to "sound out" words that he does not know and introduce him to phonics. We show him how to understand words by prefixes and suffixes, how to use reference materials such as a dictionary or thesaurus, and give him an understanding of the rules of grammar and punctuation.

Using lesson plans, workbooks, and on-line reading activities, we teach your child how to comprehend what he has read. He will be asked to give oral summaries of his reading to his classmates or will be asked to write short paragraphs about what he has read. Following his presentation, he will receive friendly, non-critical feedback and guidance from his teacher and classmates. Sharing of knowledge, through formal feedback or informal guidance, provides a positive learning relationship for each participant. Cultivating a child's creative processes and allowing him to write his own composition enhances his self-esteem and sharpens his reading comprehension abilities.

We will teach your child that reading can be pleasurable as well as practical, that reading can reveal a world of new interests and hobbies, that reading unites us socially and in a commonality of language. We believe that teaching a child to read should be one of the most important goals for both teachers and parents and that with the lessons and productive activities provided by the Seeds of Learning program, your child will become a confident, happy and proficient reader.

Please fill out our Inquiry Form to get more information on the Seeds of Learning Reading Program.

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