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We are in unit 5 of The Reading Lesson and loving it! My son is finishing K (almost 7yrs) I am curious about phonics? Is the point of "phonics" to just learn how to read? And I know it helps with spelling too. But is TRL enough phonics teaching? I think some programs go way overboard with all the rules & memorizing but is anything additonal needed? Besides just moving onto the Emerging Readers when done? Explode the Code?
Thanks ladies,
God bless

I don't have the exact answer for you; however, I have asked some similar questions. I just thought you may be interested in reading some of the responses under the topic: "phonics with The Reading Lesson." It is so difficult (for me at least) to find the right balance in teaching phonics. I want it to be thorough, but not overkill. Its sounds like you are right where I am in trying to decide what that perfect balance is. I will keep up with your post to see how others respond seeing as I am having similar questions.

May God bless you in your homeschool journey.

I understand you wanting to find the right balance as I have been the same way. We used TRL and for the most part if was all we needed. However, I have done a couple of extra things that I think has been the right balance for me.
- when doing the spelling words I talk about the rules and I point out words that don't follow the rules. I have pointed out a couple of things here and there that were not really covered in TRL, but really try to to go overboard.
- for my oldest son (only one reading so far), I did find it helpful to review a little bit. I took another phonics book that I had that is more complete and made up a few worksheets that we did now and then. I will probably pull them out one more time at some point. It was nothing fancy, I just put the rule at the top and typed a few words that used that rule for him to practice, then put a few sentences below for him to read. For those worksheets I did add a few rules that were not really covered in TRL. My oldest has not proven to be a content reader, so knowing the phonics rules is vital for him. I do think some children will just get it more than others, so what you do for phonics may vary from child to child.

After our year of phonics, I use the "Explode the Code" workbooks. They are short, fun, fairly independent, and a great review. We usually do Books 1-3 or Books 2-3, depending on what the child seems to need. I let each child choose 1-4 pages to do each day, and we work at the pace they want until we have finished ETC Book 3. Dc do phonics anywhere between 1-3 years usually, depending on their needs. If your child is able to start the Emerging Reader's Set after completing TRL and do quite well, then just the ETC books are probably needed. If after completing TRL a child is not ready to start the ERS, then one more year of phonics with a different program would be good to do. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

ninipelley wrote:We are in unit 5 of The Reading Lesson and loving it! My son is finishing K (almost 7yrs) I am curious about phonics? Is the point of "phonics" to just learn how to read? And I know it helps with spelling too. But is TRL enough phonics teaching? I think some programs go way overboard with all the rules & memorizing but is anything additonal needed? Besides just moving onto the Emerging Readers when done? Explode the Code?
Thanks ladies,
God bless

We like to use MCP Phonics C after TRL and alongside the Emerging Readers Set. It goes over the rules pretty well and has some other elements that I like such as spelling rules, writing prompts, and the like. We actually use MCP Phonics A and B alongside the Reading Lesson as well. I have not used Explode the Code.

Thank you so much ladies for your support and knowledge. This does help alot