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Hi,

Let's see if I can make sense of this. With my oldest daughter, she completed R&S phonics 1st and 2nd grade. I thought it was a very thorough program.

Now for the next two. The younger one just turned 6 and the older one is going to be 7 in the fall. According to the state, they should be starting 1st grade this year. When they did LHFHG last year, I had them work through Explode the Code books and they got up to Level 3 or 3 1/2. They had fun with ETC, and we didn't stress over it. Now, I originally planned on putting them on the same track as their older sister. R&S recommends starting 1st grade when the child reaches age six, so since this was my program of choice, I decided to wait until this fall when the youngest turned 6, and have them do the program together.

Now the Beyond manuel says to choose one of the following:

[*] A phonics program
[*] Scheduled Books for Emerging Readers
[*] Drawn into the Heart of Reading 2/3

WHAT???????????????? This is like a case of "Pinch me, I must be dreaming". I could just pick the Scheduled Books for Emerging Readers and that would be enough? Are you serious? That would mean no phonics workbooks, just real books and comprehension questions?

Both of my girls are pretty good readers. Last year, I think they both went through the Pathway set of readers for First grade without a problem. The younger one likes to read more than the older one, but that's ok.

I can't get over the fact that they don't or won't need a phonics program if I choose the readers. Are the phonics rules just covered in spelling or what? Can anyone explain this to me?

Thanks,

Joy

The Emerging Reader set assumes the children have already completed a phonics program. That said, sounds like your girls can already read well. Maybe supplement with R&S 1 or 2 depending on where they need to begin. If they read the Pathways reader for 1st, then they obviously know short vowel sounds, probably silent e, consonant blends, etc. How about other long vowel sounds--oa, ai, ay, igh, etc.? What about ough, ei, ou, ow, etc., etc., etc. and all the different sounds they can make? I think if I were in your situation, I would flip through a phonics program (we use Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading because i had already started that before finding HOD) until I reached a point where I knew the kids didn't know the rules/sounds. Start there. Meanwhile, I might supplement with easy readers from the library which aren't on the emerging reader set until they had more of a phonics base. With ETC you have given them early phonics lessons fairly painlessly. I don't have my level 3 ETC, but did pull out 4 through 6--4 covers compound words, endings like ful, est, ing, etc., syllable division, vowel diagraphs: ai, ay, ea, ee, oa, ow. ETC 5 covers -ed words, all, alk, old, olt, oll, ild, ind, qu, thr, shr, scr, str, spr, spl, -ey. ETC 6 covers ar, or, er, ir, ur, wor, war, igh, oo, ea, ie, oi, oy, ou, ow, au, aw, ew, ui, ue, and ou. I've always used ETC as a review of sounds covered in our formal phonics program. We hop in and out of ETC 4, 5, 6 depending on what we've covered in phonics, or what I feel like needs shoring up.

Rules are not covered with the spelling in Beyond--there is a pattern to the words on each list, but no rules specifically addressed.

Hope I didn't muddy the waters for you.

Jen in Va,

Thank you for your indepth response to my post You told me exactly what I needed to hear. I'll have them do R&S 1st grade this year because it cover all the digraphs and rules they need to know. I would feel much better if they got of full year of phonics under their belts.

You were so helpful! Thanks!

Joy