Little Hearts users I need help choosing phonics

momof4 · Post by **momof4** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:03 am

Hello!
I've never homeschooled until this year and it's preschool so some have told me I'm not yet so I'm alittle lost with this phonics stuff. I was just given a book and told to learn to read. It was all sight reading - no phonics.

I've been looking at the different options for phonics next year for my soon to be 5 year ds. He can identify all his letters and is learning their sounds as we go through LHTH. He loves going through flashcards and saying the letter, their action and sound. He loves doing all the activities glueing things on letters, masking tape on the floor, etc and he loves doing workbooks where he copies the letter and does more activites. All of this and the continual review has cemented letters/sounds A-I into his head.

Now, I'm looking at the options for Little Hearts next year and I'm just not sure which will work the best for him. Will either Reading Made Easy or the Reading Lesson continue with the flashcards, activities and hands on work that seems to cement this into his head? OR do Reading Made Easy and Reading Lesson teach the phonics and the Little Hearts activites continue to reinforce the lesson like in Little Hands?

I'm just trying to understand if I will need to buy a few extra things (games, make flashcards, workbooks) for him or if I should look for a different phonics that has it all. I've looked at samples of several programs and I'm just not leaning any particular way right now.

Thanks for any suggestions.
Laurie

Tansy · Post by **Tansy** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:00 pm

Hi Laurie,
I can tell You what I did I started out with Sing Spell Read and Write (SSRW). She got to know her letter names and most of the sounds. But I loved the program and DD hated it.

A friend of mine at the ministry jokingly said she could teach my child to read for me if we job shared/ homeschooled shared. At the time she was working part time and I was homeschooling her kid the days I had him. So I said Yes please! since I love to cook! and it was a great partnership!

Now she moved my kid into "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." Within 2 weeks my dd's attidude about reading had completely changed. After lesson 70 she was reading street signs. I had taken over the reading lesson around lesson 25.

The book new only costs 19.99! and it worked. This is a love/hate program your child will either love it or hate it. But the price tag wasn't bad to find that out.
In 100 easy lessons your child learns the sounds the letters make and doesn't learn the names till further on in the book. Even tho my child knew her letter names this did not confuse her. I did find we needed to cover the sounds of J and G and go over the lesson for silent "E" and "GH" a few extra times.
The book looks strange but it was exactly what worked for her. The lessons were very short and concise. She also didn't have any trouble switching from the books kinda strange font to regular letters. She was reading regular fonts before the book transitioned her.

SSRW was full of flash cards, songs, games and workbooks.

100 Easy Lessons used no flash cards but at the end of every lesson the child practices the letter sounds while writing it. (we used the white board from SSRW). This was a very cost effective lesson plan.

I haven't sold the SSRW because we have paper work into China for another adoption and that child may love SSRW and hate 100 easy lessons... Don't get discouraged if the first one you try doesn't work out, you may need to test run a few.

Candice · Post by **Candice** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:31 pm

momof4,

Hi, it sounds to me like you and your child are right on track! I would just continue to do what you are doing. When you begin Little Hearts perhaps you can choose either The Reading Lesson or Reading Made Easy to implement along with Little Hearts. I do not have experience with Little Hearts but, I would imagine that the lesson plans line up quite nicely with those phonics programs. Users of Little Hearts will need to comment on that. I am also using Little Hands now with my daughter and will begin Little Hearts when we are finished. I plan to probably go with the Reading Lesson as I have viewed the sample lessons on thier website and it looks appropriate for my daughter. I appreciate the big letters and so does my daughter. Of course, you will have to decide what works best for your child. One product that comes to mind to help cement the letter sounds and even blending are the Leapfrog DVD titles: Letter Factory and Word Factory. My daughter enjoyed these tremendously and learned so much from them. Good luck in your search and I am sure others will pipe in with great suggestions!
Candice

Post by **Carrie** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 3:50 pm

momof4,

Here's a link to a previous thread on the board about "Reading Made Easy" and "The Reading Lesson". That may help some!

http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=14

Blessings,
Carrie

Melanie · Post by **Melanie** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:07 pm

Hi Lauri,
Don't have any advice on which phonics program to choose, just wanted to let you know that you can use either one OR you could pick something totally different...the lesson plans in no way correlate to the phonics program. There are no other activities in the plans that reinforce the phonics programs, which is a big plus in my book! I'm using Little Hearts now and not using either of the choices. You could use whatever program works best for you!

Tansy is right about 100 EZ lessons...I have a friend whose kids did fine with this book...I sold mine at a garage sale...couldn't stand it!

There are samples of both Reading Made Easy and The Reading Lesson on their respective websites. I believe Reading Made Easy does have you make flashcards for your child.

If it's any consolation, language arts is my hardest subject to feel at peace about as far as what curriculum to choose...I feel your pain!

momof4 · Post by **momof4** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:06 pm

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions and feeling my pain!

I have been leaning towards Reading Made Easy. My only thing was how much he LOVES doing workbooks and flashcards and how much they really help him learn. I thought about adding some ETC books I have read so much about, but I don't want to overload him or myself. I want to continue having as much fun as we are this year.

I'm not sure what we'll do yet. Still have time plenty of time so I guess I'll take the advice I gave Candice and hang in there and trust that God will lead me to the right one or combo of things.

Blessings!
Laurie

inHistiming · Post by **inHistiming** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:54 am

Laurie,

I just want to encourage you in your homeschooling efforts. It does seem daunting when it comes time to choose new materials-we want to make sure we are using the "right" thing! It's different for every child, however, my daughter excelled with Reading Made Easy. We decided to homeschool her, and our 2 sons, when she was beginning first grade. She had ended Kindergarten in a private school and had struggled with reading. She had a vision problem we were unaware of too, so that did not help things. We decided to use BLHFHG and chose RME as the reading program. I loved it! We were able to start her at about Lesson 9 because she already knew her letters. The way the book has you create word cards and a word worm, as well as the different shades of print according to sound or whether it's a long vowel or short, etc.-all of those things were excellent tools for us in getting her reading. It was also a confidence builder. My daughter was convinced she could not read and didn't want to try. By the end of the year, she was able to read the stories at the end of the book, as well as most of her own instructions in the other workbooks we used. Now, she's doing 2nd grade work and can read all the word on the sight word list for 3rd grade. We are so proud of her, and now she is confident in her reading! I have no experience with the other reading program, but I say Reading Made Easy was worth the money we paid for it. Good luck with your decision. I feel sure God will show which will be best for your child.

mom2boys030507 · Post by **mom2boys030507** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 1:48 pm

Laurie,

I am not using either of the programs suggested. We had already started HOP when I decided on this curriculum.

My suggestion is choose the one that you think would work and then add in extras next year if you think they would help and not be overwhelming. We use the ETC books to help reinforce and cement the ideas and we are also looking at using Post It note words to help with story writing. Just have to figure out where we can have a word wall in the house