hello. Last post on phonics was two years ago, so here goes. My girl is 4.7 and has been wanting to learn to read for a while now. We read a lot and she just learned all her letter sounds and how to write them in due course. Gladly read Sonya's blurb on teaching phonics, which is the plan I was planning on - ha. So, "Bob." I thought the first set would take a while. We finished in week and I've played games to see that she wasn't just memorizing.... she is a little, but that smart cookie has actually done some connecting. SO now what? Do I keep going with "Bob books" - good length and o.k. presentation, I guess, I don't know. I've looked at "sing spell read and write" as it is highly recommended. It seems like a big deal. My daughter writes little books and cards all the time, so the learning to write componet would be fun. Hubby the English major says proper phonics "very important." We do little notebooks that go over the letters and sounds, which I regard as copy work for her - again, she is interestd and its like 5 minutes, and then she is on to her project "mommy! how do you spell......" I guess I am looking for feedback on a good phonics program, especially for little people. (I have a baby too , so I don't mind spending a bit of money as it will get used twice.)
Teaching children to read, phonics program recommend
(23 posts) (22 voices)-
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
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lgeurink
MemberWe use the Phonics Museum by Veritas Press. It is classical in it's approach, but easy to adapt to CM. I learned to read before school so I got to go to the library to read while my class learned phonics, which I think was the right choice, but I cannot spell to save my life and learning all the rules was impossible for me. I wanted a strong phonics program for my kids and this one uses great living books as readers, is Christian, short lessons, beautiful art, and once you have the program you only need to purchase a workbook for new kids. The Kindergarten/First grade combo kit is pricey-$210 plus shipping, but it saves you $90 as a combo instead of buying the two years seperately. A new K workbook is $18 and a new 1st workbook is $19. The art, Christian perspective, and readers are what sold the program for me. Veritas Press has a lot of wonderful products but being classical, it just needs to be tweaked to fit a CM style. For the Phonics Museum, that meant I didn't use the 1st grade spelling tests but I think that was all I changed. My first daughter to use it turned 6 the second week of our school year and has gone through both years, learning to read even though it is not her favorite part of school (snif, snif...) My second daughter will start the K year in the fall at 5 1/2. http://www.veritaspress.com
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
Rebekahy
MemberWe tried the How to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons and neither one of my girls liked it - granted the book says that your child likely won't like it, but I stopped using it and started using Sing Spell Read Write and they BOTH have enjoyed that - my oldest just turned 6 and is reading EXCEPTIONALLY well for her age - I'm constantly impressed considering we haven't even finished the program - so there's lots of blends and rules we haven't gone over, but that she's picking up instinctively from having me read to her and from just attempting to read things on her own. Even though she can't read every word - I LOVE that she's not afraid to attempt to read very difficult books - like The Secret Garden - we were doing it as a read aloud, but she couldn't wait for me to read it to her at night, so she would sneak and try to read it during the day! My younger daughter 4.5 now is also doing well with SSRW. We don't do the writing part because they both learned all their letter sounds when they were three and four and I didn't want to emphasize writing. To keep with CM we don't do the spelling part either. I do have them rewrite the vocabulary words as "copywork", but only in very small sections - I will briefly mention things like the subject of this sentence is...., but I don't spend a lot of time on that - just a minute or two. The best part about this program for my girls have been the songs - they LOVE them - they also really enjoy the games - this program is NOT a CM style program - the books are twaddle, but it's working for my girls and they are enjoying it. We also do supplemental reading in the readers suggested on this website - I forget what they are called, but they are the ones about Rachel and her brothers - my oldest daughter definitely prefers the storyline of these books over the SSRW - she'll read these books on her own for enjoyment. We have also used the Bob books and IMHO those books are REALLY boring and SSRW is better for giving YOU the parent instructions and the tools you need to teach sounds and reading - with the Bob books you're on your own.
Gotta get to swim lessons, hope this is helpful - if you have more questions I'll try to check back later.
Rebekah
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
cherylramirez
MemberHere is a free download of a phonics program from the early 1900s. I tried a couple different programs with my 8yods and this is the one that works for us! Did I mention it was free? Here's the address, just copy and past this into your browser and it should work... donpotter.net/PDF/Word%20Mastery%20-%20Typed.pdf
If this doesn't work simply Google: Florence Akin word mastery and the first link will take you directly to the pdf version.
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
csmamma
MemberHi Amy,
We just LOVED Valerie Bendt's Reading Made Easy! This simple program adds writing/copywork directly related to the day's story. There's no prep involved, very CM friendly and so enjoyable imo! I can't wait to use this again with my youngest ds when ready. http://www.valeriebendt.com/
Blessings, Heather
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
Kristen
MemberAll I used for my daugther (now almost 8) was A Handbook for Reading from ABeka (that my sister gave to me) and we read one set of Bob books and then we found Dick and Jane and she loved that. I started my son last year with the same thing but he isn't catching on as quickly so I found Alpha-Phonics on ebay for cheap and he is doing better with that. I plan on starting my soon to be five year old with this in the fall and I expect her to catch on quick.
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
I used nothing formal with my now 20yo. We just talked about things as we went along. But he read very easily. I used Reading Made Easy with my 7yo and he did VERY well with it. As mentioned above, it's very CM friendly. With my 6yo Chinese son, I'm starting with Ruth Beechick's little book, A Home Start in Reading. I've had this little series (three books...Reading, Language, Math) for years and have never really taken the time to look at them. They are gems if you want to teach these subjects naturally. And very affordable...maybe $15 for the set.
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
mrsselby
MemberI have a phonics problem also. My 4.7 yods is also itching to learn to read. He loves sounding out BOB books, though I'm afraid he's just trying to memorize.
My problem is his writing. Almost every phonics program I've seen has a writing component, where they write the sound they're hearing. My son can trace lines and make letters all day long, but when he's asked to just write them himself, it's nothing but scribbles.
Is this even a problem? Is there something I can do to improve this? Should I wait until he has the fine motor skills to write before I teach reading? Is it okay to ignore those components of the curriculum?
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
Scherger5
MemberANOTHER BIG THUMB'S UP FOR READING MADE EASY!!!! I CANNOT SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS PROGRAM!!!!
My daughter will be 5 in December and she LOVES everything about it. We are on lesson 13 and she is learning to read! I bought the lessons and activity books on CD, so I can print them as needed. WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!
~Heather
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
mrsselby,
In my experience, yes it is fine to begin teachng reading and just ignore the writing components of whatever program you have chosen. My daughter was interested in starting to read at 4 also, but wasn't ready to do lots of writing yet either. I did start teaching her basic handwriting at the same time, but not linked at all to our reading lessons. She has progressed MUCH farther with reading than with writing, we are just taking each skill at its own pace. She's young yet, so we aren't in any rush, just trying to enjoy the process. Hope you do as well. =)
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
coralloyd
MemberBoth of my daughters really loved these Bible story easy readers: http://www.christianbook.com/early-readers-series-level-1/9780740301155/pd/71152?event=1016AOP%7C310744%7C1016. This is just level 1, but there are levels 2 & 3 also. They are what we used after "Bob" books.
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
We use Alpha-Phonics and All-About-Spelling with great success. We also use and enjoy the Beehive readers from AAS and the Pathway readers.
Christie
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
I have used 100 Easy Lessons and loved it to a point. It's easy to use, my kids liked it, it got them reading quickly, and I didn't have to do ANY prep work. It is weak on Phonics rules and the "why" we read words the way wer read them.
I've got my eye on All About Reading... but right now they don't even have the first book published ;-) So that's no help to you.
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
pangit
MemberWouldn't it be lovely if we could just know which program would work best for our children? And that it would be the same one?
I have used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. My oldest DD doesn't like it at all!! My youngest does great in it. My youngest just turned 5 and is reading so well I have thought of quitting 100 Easy Lessons (though she is missing a few phonics things taught in the book, so we are continuing through it while reading other books).
For my oldest I have found Progressive Phonics (FREE!! progressivephonics.com) to e wonderful!!! She no longer complains so much about reading and is progressing wonderfully!!
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post -
Wouldn't it be lovely if we could just know which program would work best for our children? And that it would be the same one?
Isn't that the truth!
I figure with 6+ kids (only 2 readers right now) I should be an expert when they are all graduated ;-) Ask me this same question in 20 yrs.
Posted 2 years ago # Report Post
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