My First Reading Lesson Or Eat Your Words

"Exercises treated as a game, which yet teach the powers of the letters, will be better to begin with than actual sentences. Take up two of his letters and make a syllable 'at'; tell him it is the word we use when we say 'at home'...Then put a b to 'at' -bat; c to 'at' -cat; fat, hat, mat, sat, rat and so on...Let the syllables all be actual workds which he knows...the child will learn to read off dozens of words of three letters and will master the short-vowel sounds with initial and final consonants withou effort...Do not hurry him."

-Charlotte Mason, Home Education, Vol.1, p.202

Open up a couple of packs of Letter Bites Fruit Snacks...or similar letter snacks and have fun with building words. Just ask him if he can spell any word. If he can, then tell he can also spell other words like them, and name a word that rhymes/is spelled like the first word and ask him to spell that word. Your confidence that he can do it can go a long way to his own confidence in spelling.
"If you can spell bat, then you can spell cat...
or sat."
Then ask if he can spell another word. If he can, keep playing like you have been. If he can't, then give him a starting word... and have him build new words off this new word. Dog can become fog, log and hog.

Keep playing as long as your child hold interest in it. Then he can have a snack for all his work.

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Links: 

• We Don't Need No Education Language Linky

Letter Sewing Cards

These sewing cards are great for children learning how to write. They build fine motor skills, teach or review how the letter is made and teaching beginning sewing skills. Take a piece of cardboard or cardstock. We used cardstock, but it does bend some. Draw a letter, number or shape (whatever your child is working on) with a thick dark marker. Punch or poke holes at regular intervals around what you have drawn. Have your child use a plastic canvas needle or other large blunt needle to sew yarn around the letter, following the holes you have made.

ABC's Hands-On Style

Click on the photo of the letter you want to take you to activities related to that letter.

Z is for...

a zebra-striped "Z" with googly-eyes...
zebra-striped pudding parfait...

and planting Zinnias.

Y is for...

YARN...

and cooked YAMS put in ramekins...
sprinkled with cinnamon and brown sugar...
and topped with marshmallows.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until marshmallows brown.

X is for...

X is for X-ray...and Tic-Tac-Toe X's and O's...
X cookies...
X-mas' Santa Claus.