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Good evening, ladies! You've helped so much in the past, and I need your advice again. My son Joel will be 4 next month. We are doing Little Hands to Heaven, and it is a perfect fit! We are really enjoying it and taking it slow so that he will be about 5 when we finish, so we can move right on into Little Hearts. We average about 3-4 days per week.

He already knows all his letters, upper and lowercase, and their sounds. But we're still having fun with the activities in LHTH He can write most of them. We do one page of the Explode the Code preschool primers twice a week. He isn't really challenged by that either. He just likes the fun activities.

So this is my question: he is on the verge of simply teaching himself to read (my daughter did this as well ) and I am not ready for him to start formal phonics yet I wasn't going to start phonics until he was closer to 5. But I don't think that's going to happen. Is it better to just let him teach himself, or is it better to start learning phonics properly? I mean from an academic standpoint.

By the end of the summer I think he will be reading either way, but I don't know if it is better to let him do it on his own or to guide him with phonics. Thoughts?

I don't know from a long term stand point.

I know that I tried phonics with my oldest and it was awful. When I stopped doing phonics with her because literally every lesson was ending up with us both in tears (I thought she was just not ready) she took off with reading! Now, she's not an overly STRONG reader and she doesn't particularly LOVE reading, but she's probably at a 6th grade level? She can read the Bible pretty fluently, but she's fairly familiar with how it flows. She can just simply read the words in nearly anything, but understanding isn't there with higher than roughly 6th grade books. However that is quickly increasing.

My second, I started with phonics and it went smoothly. Then we took a break, I can't remember now why... maybe Christmas? And she started reading in that time. She flew through the ERs and is now doing DITHOR very easily with the level 2 books... so close to a 3.5-4 reading level. She really enjoys reading, though she still doesn't see it as something to do for fun That is coming too with DITHOR. But her reading level is pretty consistently rising as well.

My third, I never got the chance to start phonics... I planned to, but she started reading before I did She just took off. She's 6, just started reading in the fall, and is reading through the ERs with no trouble at all. The only time I have to correct her is if she accidentally skips a line or goes back to the same line (tracking trouble if her sisters bother her). She would be much farther through them if 1.)I remembered to do them daily and 2.)If I let her go at her own pace instead of what the guide says. I'd say she's got about a 2.5-3 reading level.

Honestly, I haven't seen a difference in my kids' reading and the kids they know who have done extensive phonics (for their ages). In fact, they have a better grasp of what they are reading because they aren't thinking about it. Way better comprehension.

Now that could just be the differences there would be no matter what the way they learned to read. I don't know. But I do know that NOT doing phonics saved a good bit of relationship with my oldest. And it hasn't mattered at all with my third.

My experience comes not from teaching my children - who have both required phonics and LOTS of it... and still hate to read.. but from myself.

My mama taught me the letters and sounds in the course of my two/three year old day - I was reading by 3 (Dr. Seuss remains a good friend of mine, and I give copies of, "Oh the places you'll go!" as high school graduation presents).

I then sat through phonics in first and second grade in school - it didn't hurt me to learn syllables and schwas and stuff, I don't know that it added anything to my reading or detracted anything either.

That said, if I am ever blessed with a natural reader, I won't worry about phonics until I'm teaching spelling, and then I'll do phonics no matter how well they read unless they happen to be natural spellers too... because again, from my experience, the two don't necessarily go together.

Hmmmm....

Interesting question. I think phonics instruction has its place. TRL which is what I am using with my 6YO is my favorite so far and it emphasizes phonics but also reading. We have learned more phonics through reading. Lots of time on the couch reading. So I guess I would say just read. Follow his lead/interest. If he is the kind of kid who can find patterns and learn rules just by doing, then he will learn it. If not, you can add in more phonics instruction.

I am NOT a teacher by training just a homeschooling mom. I have no idea of any studies of the impact of doing it either way. I'm sure any study would not necessarily help you figure out what is best for your individual child.

Any phonics program can be used with HOD, but HOD's recommendations are "The Reading Lesson" or "Reading Made Easy," which are both excellent phonics programs. I think I'd go ahead and begin one of them slowly with your dd, following her lead for the pacing, and setting it aside if it's too much for her right now. I do think it is important to do at least 1 year of formal phonics with dc, even if they seem to be natural readers early on. Often around 3rd grade, dc begin to show gaps in their reading and struggle somewhat if they never had at least one year of complete phonics. Here is a link that may help...

Carrie compares The Reading Lesson and Reading Made Easy
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2503

In Christ,
Julie

Thank you everyone for your replies I am always unsure what to do with my kids because they progress much faster than I am ready for them to Despite her age, my daughter is perfectly placed in Beyond, and she is loving it. Then, a few months ago, I sat down with my son and some flash cards, thinking I was going to teach him letters...and (much to my surprise) he he already knew them. All of them I feel a little bit unnecessary as a teacher I guess I'm not sure how to teach kids who teach themselves. Both of them are also very good at math.

my3sons wrote:I think I'd go ahead and begin one of them slowly with your dd, following her lead for the pacing, and setting it aside if it's too much for her right now.

Thanks, Julie! My daughter has been reading for two years, though Joking aside, on your recommendation I will start The Reading Lesson with him in a little while. I used a writing-based phonics program for my daughter and, though she learned the 'rules', she still doesn't spell well and it was way too much writing for a young reader. So I'm looking forward to using something a little more user-friendly Thank you all again for your help!
I'm sure I'll be back for more help next week when they surpass me in something else