Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: kindergarten, kindergarten reading, learning to read, phonics, phonics lessons, phonics stories, phonics storybooks, pre-school, reading, teaching reading

This topic has 7 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 7 months ago by Sally.

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

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September 22, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Sally
Member
I have been using the Sorting Sounds phonemic awareness program with my 2 daughters (4&5) and really like it. Feel like they are really grasping the concepts.
Just feel a little lost about how to get them from basic awareness of phonics to the Bob books/easy readers level…..how do I bridge that gap? Any basic phonics programs that you all like? Maybe this will all come naturally once I keep working with them but right now I feel a little overwhelmed about how to move forward.
September 22, 2010 at 7:56 pm
missceegee
Participant
I use Alpha-Phonics and we like it very much. It is simple and easy to implement.
I also use All-About-Spelling as I have kids who need those rules and this, too, has helped with their reading.
HTH,
Christie
September 23, 2010 at 4:05 am
MamaSnow
Participant
I would suggest reading Ruth Beechick’s book the 3R’s. It has sections on teaching reading, as well as math and language arts, in a very gentle natural way without having to invest in an expensive phonics program. I wish I had discovered this first when I was at the point where you are! We started out with a phonics book (Phonics Pathways), but ended up ditching it after awhile. My daughter was easily overwhelmed by all the lists and lists of words in the book and I ended up having to do a lot of tweaking to make it work for her (like making little word cards out of the word lists and such, because it was too much clutter on the page to just read from the book). She was also getting bored by doing all these “reading lessons” and still not yet really able to read any stories. Finding this little book was just what I needed – it gave me the confidence I needed to let go of the formal phonics program and to follow her lead rather than trying to stick to the sequence laid out in the book.
Hope that Helps!
September 23, 2010 at 5:43 am
missceegee
Participant
I, too, disliked the clutter of the Phonics Pathways book, but have found Alpha-Phonics to be much simpler in style. It goes well with the thoughts in the Ruth Beechick book. FWIW.
September 23, 2010 at 12:11 pm
jeaninpa
Participant
I would definitely second the recommendation to read Ruth Beechick’s books. I wish that I had read them at the start of our homeschooling journey.
We have also used Alpha-Phonics and I have found it somewhat helpful with some children. However, most of my children have done better with actual stories. Alpha-Phonics has lists of words to practice and then sentences using those words, however the sentences do not make up a story. A simple story with a predictable story line seems to help with fluency and they enjoy it more than unrelated sentences.
We have a reprint of the original McGuffy readers that I have pulled out recently for my 9, 6 and 5 year olds. I really like it!

September 23, 2010 at 7:19 pm
aarut4evr
Member
I haven’t been on here in awhile, but I was on last night reading some of the past posts on reading instruction, and I wanted to chime in and say that we just started using Alpha Phonics, and I am surprised at how well it is going with my 9 yo ds. The fact that the words are not always words is really good for him, because he has to read each and every letter. That is something that we have been working on (accuracy). He tends to be a little sloppy in his reading, and not apply the rules that he knows when he’s reading. Reading the lists of word in Alpha Phonics makes him concentrate and not just read the words based on the context or the picture. He is currently reading the 3rd grade Pathway books, but we are starting Alpha Phonics from the beginning, and I am hoping that it will help strengthen his reading accuracy.
I am also using Alpha Phonics with my 6 yo ds, but we are also doing other things, too, like Bob books, and such. He really likes being able to read the silly stories in the Bob books. He brought me one yesterday and said, “I just wanted to read it for fun, Mom”.  Gotta love it!! I had thought about doing Explode the Code books with the 6 yo, but I think I will just keep plugging away as we are. And, I think I will go back and read Ruth Beechick’s books. Thanks for reminding me how valuable they are. 🙂
RuthAnn

September 24, 2010 at 1:11 am
QuirkyMama
Participant
Hi!
I stumbled upon this blog and it may be of interest. I really like it, though navigation can be a bit tricky. http://teachingwithbob.blogspot.com/  It really appeals to me because it is guiding without being strict. We just started following the ideas in the blog, so I can’t speak too much about it. It does contradict a lot of other phonics/reading programs by assuming the student starts out knowing the alphabet/letters. This wasn’t an issue for us because my son learned his letters after he fell in love with Dr. Seuss’s ABC book when he was two.
Progressive Phonics   http://www.progressivephonics.com/  also looks awesome, and is FREE (whoo-hoo!), but we had issues with my son wanting to read everything on the pages, when the student and parent/teacher are supposed to alternate reading. It bogged us down a bit, but may be great for someone else. They had had some technical issues with registration so it took us a while to be able to try it, but it seems to be working now.
Okay, I am new to this forum, and not that much of a social networker, but I can’t get my links to work right now. It may because I am on Firefox as that has caused issued before. I will attempt to fix them tomorrow with Explorer, but until then or if I can’t figure it out, if you search the websites you should be able to find it. So sorry!
September 24, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Sally
Member
Thanks ladies! It seems like trusting my gut and doing a simpler method vs. all out phonics “curriculum” may be the way to go….thanks for the suggestions!