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Well...I am at a loss on what phonics program to use. I reviewed both of HOD's recommendations. Since I wasn't crazy about one's use of decoding symbols and the other's lack of capital letters, I ventured out on my own.

So, we ordered the Phonics Museum. I wish I had listened to Carrie! It's a great idea, but the execution is poor. There is WAY too much complicated and extraneous material for a child who needs to learn to read.

So, do you use one of the recommended programs? How do you like it? What have you used that you don't like?

My son knows his letters & sounds. My daughter can read short vowel words & some sight words. I don't want to use a program where it is hard to pick up from where they are.

Thanks!

Hi Shannon,

I use Hooked On phonics to get the basic blending..., Cat, Sat, Mop, Hop and then I buy A.C.E. Social Studies Paces from there on out. It has the child read and answer questions. I use these along with the reading schedule from HOD. If I were just starting I would probably go with one of the suggestions here, but I've used HOD with all my other children and don't want to do another learning curve.

We are using Happy Phonics (a program that uses a wide variety of games to teach phonics) along with Explode the Code books. It's working out very well and my son really enjoys it!

I have been through so many curriculum trying to find the one that would work with my son. He's had a tough time learning to read. We have finally settled on All About Spelling. It's an Orten Gillingham based spelling program but if you teach a child to spell/read with an OG method then they can't help but learn to read at the same time. My son could read CVC words but if I asked him to write words that I said to him he would misspell several of them because he only had the short/soft sound of the letter in his memory. I was just really learning about the OG method and put it off because all the other OG curriculums were so hard to understand and actually teach. Then I found AAS and I couldn't be happier. I sure wish I had known about this when my son was 6 instead of when he was turning 9. I think it would have made a ton of difference in him learning to read with this method. If you would like more info on AAS you can check out their web site at http://www.allaboutspelling.com/miracle There is also a wonderful yahoo group is you are interested in that also. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/all_about_spelling_group/

Hope that helps,
Paige in TN
Joshua 9 BHFHG
Jacob 2 Before Five in a Row

We use Explode the code. My girls LOVE it. The books are very simple, not flashy at all. They are also very inexpensive.

We used Reading Made Easy with my daughter when she was learning to read...we were very happy with it. I do have to say we've never tried anything else, so really can't compare. I plan to use RME with my ds 5 also when he is ready. We have begun using ETC with my daughter as a supplement...only because she needs extra practice. It's too early to be able to give an opinion on it yet, but I've heard great things about it.

We also use Explode the Code and Happy Phonics!! I love Explode the Code's progression and then we supplement with the Happy Phonics (by Love to Learn) games. My son enjoys both and he is learning so fast!! I also supplement with leveled readers, like Bob Books, I Can Read series, Step into Reading series, Now I'm Reading series. I also throw in other little games when I see an idea I like, such as sticky note phonics (I write words on sticky notes and he has to stick them on the appropriate thing), and treasure hunts (I write clues to where he needs to go next and after 3 or 4 clues it leads him to a little surprise like a sticker of something).

With both ETC and Happy Phonics, you could pick up at whatever your child's level.

HTH

We use Progressive Phonics and ETC. Both of those you can pick up wherever your child is at. In fact, that's why we bought them. My DD likes them both and they seem to be doing the job.

We also do Happy Phonics and ETC!

My son had a really hard time learning to read. It just did not make sense to him. I found Scaredy Cat Reading, and I tried it as a last ditch effort. He loved it, and now reads quite well. The website is: www.teach4mastery.com

We are using the Reading Lesson with the CD for my 4 and 6 year old and that is working really well for them. I have another child that has special needs and is older. She probably could have done well with the same and did for a while but it just caused too many problems to have her in the same program. So for her we are not using the Words level of Scaredy Cat Reading. All in all I wish I had found The Reading Lesson Earlier it's my favorite. For my daughter with special needs a written component I think so all in all I think it will work out for the best. I am really just starting with Scaredy Cat so I can't comment on it yet. But I got it because it got rave reviews for children that have special needs.

We used with various boys CLE's learning to read, explode the code and now are using The ordinary parent's guide to teaching reading.
I didn't use what was scheduled in HOD because I already had these and they have worked so far-kwim?
But I will say Carrie has never led me wrong, so if I need to find something else for the last boy, I'll see about her recomendations.

We are using Reading Made Easy and ds is really liking it. We are on lesson 32. You stated that you were concerned with the decoding symbols, but they have worked great for my son. He knows what each means and can easily read the words. In the last couple of lessons, they are slowly introducing sentences that are not coded and he is reading them just fine. We do 3 lessons a week and on the off days he is reading the first set of Bob books and we play the "Phonics Game" (kind of a goofy game, but he likes it and is learning more words). We've had to repeat a lesson on occasion because his mind can't quite grasp it the first time, but he is enjoying it alot!

I have nothing to compare it to since this is our first year homeschooling, but teaching him to read was my biggest concern when we decided to homeschool him and he is doing great!!

Hope that helps - some?
Laurie

mrsrandolph,

I'm so sorry your Phonics Museum didn't work out for you. Finding the right phonics program can be a search. There are many good ones, but it is easy to spend TOO much money searching for the "right" one. Often it's just the student maturing that makes a second or even third phonic's program work better than the first!

I did want to mention that the lack of capital letters threw me in the Reading Lesson too, but they do add them in partway through the book. The reason they omit them in the beginning is because the authors felt that students were used to recognizing the capital letters but were less sure about the lower case letters. By omitting the caps, they force the kiddos to get comfortable with lower case letters. It does make sense when you think about it!

Blessings,
Carrie

Another vote for Explode The Code here! We use ETC primers and books 1&2 for Kindergarten and now we use CLE's Learning To Read and are really enjoying it. (I wanted something step by step that had beginning readers included to match the phonics we were learning) our spelling words also come from the blends we are working on, so it's a very integrated approach.