Our adventures began on Friday at the dentist, of all places.  The Little Outdoorsman's first dentist appointment was a success, to my relief.  The  pediatric dentist we chose made him feel so comfortable.  I mean, the hygienist made a balloon animal at the end of the appointment.  Oh how times have changed!

One adventure conquered, we looked to the next- our camping trip out West.  We've been preparing Reed (and me) by setting up the tent in the backyard and cooking over a campfire. Next step- some hiking clothes!  He looks so darn cute! 

I think we have him all ready for the trip!  We let him test out his new boots at the county fair last night.

He takes the fair VERY seriously. One does not wear just any old shirt to the fair, of course.

We met up with his cousin, Matt, and looked at some goats and cows. I love watching these two together!

Summer is always better with a friend.

We looked at all the rides and chose to do the big slide. I loved that the height restrictions required me to ride with him!  I'm trying not to think about how much longer he will need me to do stuff like this with him.  He's just getting so big so quickly! Sniffle.

We ended the night by watching tractor pulls. It was my first time watching a tractor pull (Reed's, too), and it was INTENSE.   Loud noise, smoke, and shouting from the crowd scared TLO a little. We stayed for a few pulls and headed home, where I complained about my aching feet to all who would listen (Oliver). 

The adventures continue over the next few days!  I'm so excited to soak up these last weeks of summer.  I hope you do the same!

After researching, I decided to use the letter order suggested in How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way by Tim Seldin:
First set: c  m  a  t 
Second set: s  r  i  p
Third set: b  f  o  g 
Fourth set: h  j  u  l
Fifth set: d  w  e  n
Sixth set: k  q  v  x  y  z
This letter order, along with many other options and the teaching process is explained in great detail on one of my favorite blogs, Living Montessori Now.  When introducing each set of sandpaper letters (that I made myself), I do the following:
1. I sit beside Reed, usually on the ground, with the new letters at my side.
2. I place one of the new letters in front of us.  I slowly trace the letter with my finger (just as I would write it) and say the letter sound (for example, "a" as in "apple" or "b" as in "ball").  I try to make the letter sound as clear and natural as possible, no silly exaggerations or games.  To review, if I was teaching the letter "s", I would : show the letter, trace the letter, make the letter sound (sssss).
3.  Next, I have Reed stick out his pointer finger, and I hold his hand as I trace the letter with him, saying the letter sound clearly as we trace.  I ask him to say the letter sound as well.  I have also found that it works well if we talk about the shape of the letter.  We talk through straight lines, curves, hooks, circles, and other shapes.  He really likes doing this.  Then, we are finished with that letter.

Frequent, no-pressure practice is the key after learning new letter sounds.  After a few, or maybe several, introductions to the new letter, I rephrase my question to say "show me, 'sssss'" to see if he can identify the letter on his own.  And then, after mastering that question, I should eventually be able to hold up the letter "S" and say, what is this?  At that point, Reed has mastered the letter.

We have a couple of sandpaper letter games that have been helpful in mastering the letter sounds as well.  If you have any questions about using sandpaper letters to teach letter sounds, please leave them in the comments!

Related Links:
Sandpaper Letter Games

DIY Sandpaper Letters

Why Teach Letter Sounds with Sandpaper Letters?

Sandpaper letter games are our go-to for learning letter sounds right now.  I want to make literacy as fun as possible for Reed, so we rarely drill or sit down and do "flashcards".  The only practice we do with any regularity is a quick review of 3-5 letters each night before we read at bedtime.

Reed's favorite game is a letter "race".  I scatter several, or sometimes all, of the letters on the carpet around his bedroom. Then I place a basket in the middle of the floor.  Reed runs around the room and picks up each letter, traces it with his finger, says the sound, and places it in the basket.  After he picks up all of the letters, I usually give him a small prize like a sticker or a sucker.
Reed really loves this "game"- the more he gets to move around, the better the game!  Sometimes he will bring his letter box out into the living room and ask to "do his letters".  That always makes me really happy!

The second game we've started to play is an idea I found on my literacy go-to site, Living Montessori Now (link).  This site is a rich resource with tons of ideas about teaching pretty much anything in a hands-on, "fun"  way.  I can't say enough good things about this resource.  For this game, I lay out several letters and we drag out a basket filled with little toys and random, everyday items.  I usually just let Reed dig through the items until he finds one that interests him.  He says the name of the item out loud, and then I say it again, emphasizing the first sound (g-g-g-gorilla).  Then, he searches for the "g" and places the gorilla on top of the sandpaper letter.  He usually makes it through 3-4 items until he gets sidetracked and just wants to play with all the little toys.  Ha.

Our journey with literacy has been a fun one so far, and I hope to keep it that way.  Our next step: writing!  This blog post by White Bear Montessori School is my current food for thought.  Know that I will keep you updated!

Related links:
Why Teach Letter Sounds with Sandpaper Letters?

DIY Sandpaper Letters

How to Teach Letter Sounds Using Sandpaper Letters

Sandpaper Letter Games

Sandpaper letters are a lot of work to DIY, but it is totally worth it!  Sandpaper letters have been very successful for my son- click here for the rationale behind my choice to teach him the letters in this way.  My advice is to prep all of the wood and letters right away, and then sand just a few letters at a time, unless you have some sort of crafty sanding machine or an army of gullible teenagers at your disposal. My arms get tired after about 4 letters.  Or 2. Or 1.

After purchasing the materials you need, begin by cutting the board into 26, 5 x 3.75 inch rectangles.  Use a stencil or Ellison machine to cut out the letters.

Then, carefully sand the edges and corners of each rectangle.  Again, I only sand 3 or 4 at a time because it takes a few minutes to sand each one and my hand gets tired.  Really, I'm a wimp.  Just say it!  But also, I only introduce 3 or 4 letters at a time to Reed, so there's no rush to get the whole set done in one day.

Because Reed only has 6 letters left, I decided to dig deep and knock out the six final letters in one day: v, k, y, x, z, and q (find out more about letter order here).  I sanded the last 6 rectangles, warmed up my glue gun, and glued each letter in the center of a block.  After a few minutes, they are finished and ready to use!

We are so happy with how Reed's letters turned out.  We use them like flashcards sometimes, but our favorite thing to do is play letter games.  They will last us forever, I think, or at least until we are finished having kids and they all know their letter sounds.  It is definitely a worthwhile investment of time and money.

Feel free to leave questions in the comments!

Related links:​
Why Teach Letter Sounds with Sandpaper Letters?

How to Teach Letter Sounds Using Sandpaper Letters

Sandpaper Letter Games