I do think phonics is crucial (for most DC), however, I’m also not a big fan of rigorous phonics. I don’t think every single phonics rules needs to be shared with them. I focus on the ones that pop up the most. For example, I teach “the” as a sight word. I’m sure it can be explained phonetically, but it’s just easier to say this word says “the”. At 5 or 6 years old, my DC were fine with that explanation, and mroe than ready to move onto the next word. Other times, I might go ahead and explain the rule, if it’s a phonome that will keep popping up in other words.
We use McGuffey Readers for phonics instruction, which I think are pretty similar to Pathway readers. I usually add in an inexpensive phonics book for review and a bit of handwriting practice. I don’t think it’s needed, but they usually want to “do school” at this age like their big siblings. 😉 We’ve used Modern Curriculum Press or Explode the Code. I just picked up Core Skills Phonics for my current new reader, and it looks good as well. I think they are all pretty similar, and I look at the table of contents to figure out which level to buy. I usually place them slightly behind of where they are reading, so it’s basically a review for them.
In your shoes, I’d just continue with Pathway readers, possibly adding in a book if you think he’d enjoy it. If the writing gets too much, you can skip those portions of the books…we usually skipped writing sentences or I’d have them dictate a sentence to me instead.
I purchased RLTL, but didn’t think it’d be a good fit for us after looking at it. It was very heavy on phonetic symbols, which I find they don’t need after going over the word once (McGuffey only includes the symbols when the word is introduced). Visually, looking at all those symbols is a bit much for me!
We love ELTL, and I use it a grade level behind, so my current 6yo will start ELTL 1 when she gets to 2nd grade. It’s great for copywork, grammar, poetry, art, narrations, and literature.
