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This is awful, but I am still in a quandry about the phonics issue. I confess that I have switched too many times with dd. She'd have struggles, so I would look for something else. Before we were with HOD, she had some Abeka and MFW. Since then, we have used TRL(with meltdowns), ETC and Rocket Phonics. I ended up stopping the Rocket Phonics, which takes long to complete the program. I am having dd do ETC along with ER books(slowly). I don't have to help her with a lot of words, but I have been concerned whether I am covering the phonics properly. I know the ER books are basically done after phonics, but she was ready to do some reading. I know this has been discussed so many times, but I need some reassurance and direction. I guess it is because we have never completed a phonics program. How much do I stress rules and how much sight? She looks at a word with 'igh' and wants to sound the 'g' and 'h'. Even though I keep reminding her, she forgets. Is she getting enough instruction about the rules with ETC. I was reading about Spell to Write and Read, and noticed how they stress the phonograms. DD wants to spell phonetically, so unless the letters are memorized, you wouldn't believe how some words are spelled. Am I making any sense? I just want to make sure I've covered what is needed. If ETC is enough, I will just continue with that. She is on book 3. Since she is reading, I know that helps with spelling. I feel bad that I didn't do one phonics program consistently, but I can't go back. Now I have to deal with it the way it is. I just need some guidance. Should I just continue with what we are doing or is there something else I should be doing?

I think it would be good to stick with what you are doing and complete the phonics program you currently have. I know I switched a lot with math and it didn't help my dd 12-I was tempted to switch her out of what she is doing now and she said, "Please mom, let's just finish this one-I'm getting used to it" Reading skills come with time and practice, and if she is making progress little by little with what you are doing, keep at it

If she is doing ETC and seems to be doing okay with it, I would just continue. I haven't done past book 4, it's my impression though that the first books are very very basic, so she's probably learned those rules already. Now, working on it a little more won't hurt, but if you are also moving ahead into Emerging Readers you may want her to move through and learn some more rules fairly quickly. So that's the only suggestion I have, maybe look ahead at ETC and see if you can place her where she'll start learning some new rules. I think the pattern and repetition of ETC could really help some kids, so once she goes through many of them she'll probably have the rules down really well.

I don't know for sure but I imagine once a child has learned how to read somewhat, a beginning phonics/reading program like TRL might seem too childish or boring to them. Now, I am waiting on TRL so I don't know what it is like toward the end, I've only looked at the first two sample units.

Thank you. I will just keep working through the ETC books as long as necessary. The book dd is doing now has words coming up that will be good to practice. She does need repetition. I just need to keep her reading and writing to learn to spell. I need to stay away from other sites that make me second-guess myself, and just stay on a consistent path.