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Reading Made Easy or Happy Phonics?
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Hello,
I could use a bit of advice. My son, who is 5, went through MFW-K for this school year and did great with it. He knows all of his letters, upper and lowercase, knows the short sound of each letter as well. He can read short vowel words. His fine motor skills are excellent and he can write all of his letters, too.
I’m unsure as to what to do for him this coming school year. I think MFW-K has given him a great foundation in the area of phonics/reading. He hasn’t learned any of the other phonics rules so we need to start covering that. My question is would Reading Made Easy or Happy Phonics be a better choice seeing as he knows the “basics” already?
I’ve read good reviews on both. So I’m hoping some of you who have actually used either RME or Happy Phonics can help me out. I’ve read that Happy Phonics covers easy phonics through advanced phonics and includes easy readers to get started. To me, that seems to make sense. Find out where he would fit in the Happy Phonics chart and start there with the phonics games/readers…and then just practice reading. I know I’d have to include sight words with Happy Phonics, but that would be easy enough I think.
I’ve heard such good things about RME, too. Help! 🙂
Any advice/experiences you’ve had would be so appreciated!
We’ve gone through Queen’s Language Lessons Book 1 and my son loved that. I thought even maybe doing Book 2 over the summer/start of school year and progress to Book 3. I’m unclear as to how in depth Book 3 goes with phonics though…
Thanks so much for the help!
We used Happy Phonics with The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading for my son. We really liked the Happy Phonics games and I was able to just go through OPGTR and pick the games that went with each set of phonics rules. In the end I just used Happy Phonics by itself because my son did much better with the hands on games and whined when I got the OPGTR book out. 🙂 Oh, and he LOVED the Leap Frog videos for phonics too.
I know nothing about RME. Maybe someone else can help with that 🙂
Amanda
I’ve use RME with now my 4th child. It’s pretty easy to figure out where your child would fit in. The new worksheets CD that comes with it is also so helpful. They are fun and keep my busy 6 yr old interested and keep me from being bored (I find it so hard to stay awake during reading instruction–maybe because it’s the only time I sit down!) . Also, Valerie Bendt is a joy to work with. You can email her directly with your questions and maybe just purchase the CDRom of the lessons your sons would need rather than the whole book. She would help you with that.
I’m not into lots of games. I have other children to school and we travel and I find that if a curriculum depended on a game or activity then it wouldn’t get done because in reality I would not be able to get to it. So, I prefer programs with not too many bells and whistles and if I want to play a game, even and educational game, there are plenty out there that are not dependent on a curriculum. But that’s just me. Know yourself and how you enjoy to teach.
Hi ,
We used Reading Made Easy and found it very helpful. We purchased the CD with everything in one. The lessons are scripted so there’s no wondering what to say or do. If you’ve already begun phonics and don’t want to redo It’s easy to slip into where you think your’re up to.
I really like the passion Valerie Bendt puts into making learning meaningful to the individual and like her other resources also. I think she is the unit study made easy Queen. I’m not big on unit studies but have learnt alot from reading her book Unit Studies Made Easy and still refer to it.
I will use RME with my next child also.
I think there is reviews on http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
Renelle
We have used Happy Phonics with 3 of our 4 kids. The boys really enjoy it and I like the “fun” we have together. Reading instruction was not painful after switching. One of my sons really struggles with language issues and this program was the only thing that clicked with him. Playing games all the time for practice/review is great because he doesn’t feel like he’s stuck on a particular lesson forever. He just thinks we’re having fun every time we play the game, even if we play it over and over and over again.
We haven’t tried Reading Made Easy (but did try a lot of others!) so I can’t speak to that.
Heather
Hi again,
I just noticed that you may have to have the Cathy Duffy Book to read the review, which I have so I’ll give you a very brief idea.
HAPPY PHONICS
– Great for Wiggly Willy’s or Sociable Sue’s so it is a multisensory/ hands on with social activity.
-little writing required.
-but parent prep time is intense
– it somewhat supports CM philosphy
READING MADE EASY
– Suits Sociable Sue’s the most
– little writing required
– medium level prep time.
– somewhat supports CM philosphy
BOTH
– need parent instruction
I have a ds who’s bit of a wiggly willy X sociable sue and he did fine with RME.
Renelle
On the prep time for Happy Phonics – it is all up front. You have to cut out the cards for the program. Once they are all cut, there is no more prep work. Well, I chose to laminate mine so I had that extra step. I cut them out over a few nights while watching some movies a few years ago and have had no prep other than grabbing the envelope containing the game since then.
Heather
FWIW…you may want to try to find a used set of Happy Phonics if that is the route you decide to take. I spent 9 hours cutting mine out and organizing it! But, now that it is done, the planning is real easy.
Have you looked at the Explode the Code workbooks? The pictures and phrases are a little quirky, but my boys enjoy doing them. They are a great supplement to other phonics programs. I’ve also started my first grader on All About Spelling and that seems to be helping him quite a bit.
Brittney
We are using RME and LOVE it. I was concerned that my busy boy wouldn’t do well with it but he asks for a “reading lesson.” The coding is easy for him to figure out. We also have the worksheet CD and use it sometimes…not for every lesson.
Another here in favor of Reading Made Easy! We used this to teach our middle ds how to read. He found it very enjoyable. IMO, it was gentle and real in its approach, even using narration and copywork from the get-go. Highly recommended!!!
Wow, thank you for your responses! I really appreciate it!
Renelle, you said “reading instruction was not painful after switching.” What do you mean exactly? In my mind, in using HP, I envision us using it to teach all of those phonics rules in a fun way and then simply use readers (Bob Books, etc.) for reading practice to reinforce those rules in between games. Am I right in assuming this is how to use Happy Phonics?
I noticed RME has copywork written into the lessons. I’m not too worried about that not being included in HP. My son writes well for his young age. So I’ll either use the SCM copywork or “A Reason for Handwriting Book A.” He just needs the practice is all at this point…
Yes, that is how you use Happy Phonics.
What I meant by “reading instruction was not painful after switching is that DS1 learned to read fairly quickly, but started to cry when I pulled out the How to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. DS2 NEVER got it. So we switched to something else. Worked for DS1, but DS2 didn’t get it and he HATED reading. So I switched again. Worked for DS1, DS2 screamed and cried and pretty much refused to even look at books. Three years of this. Nothing, nothing, nothing worked. DS2 loved to be read to, but hated trying to figure out special symbols or sounds. After a while he started to lose confidence because he was getting older, but the stuff we were reading was “baby stuff.” Once I found Happy Phonics he started to enjoy reading lessons. He loved the games. For example, Castle Game practices short vowel sounds. He had a hard time figuring those out. But he happily and cheerfully played the game every day for a month or more. Even though he’s way past that now he still asks to play. Same with DS1 – they still love to play the games.
So, reading instruction was no longer painful because he stopped crying and screaming and feeling like a failure. He started to read. And we were able to practice as much as we needed.
We used the Bob books, Now I’m Reading, the Beehive Reader, Dr. Seuss, lots of books like that. We also use Explode the Code which has really helped. As has All About Spelling.
He is almost 10 now and reads at about a third grade level. Yes, he’s behind but he’s overcome a lot of learning disabilities and challenges to get where he is. Every week we can see small improvements. We’re still using Happy Phonics with him because he needs lots of practice, but again, he loves the games so doesn’t care if we do it lots of times.
The 6-yr-old has started now too (although he already knows how to read – taught himself at 4 because he was always listening in on the older boys Happy Phonics lessons). He too loves the games and practice and is gaining fluency and confidence.
Heather
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