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We are on Lesson 6 of TRL and this is where they start to introduce the long "e" sound along with the sound of "ee" and "ea". The only explanation is that sometimes the "e" says "e" like in "eagle". How do I explain when this happens? My ds isn't having a problem with it in the lesson because they put a little sign on top of the long "e" words, but in other books he doesn't know which ones say which sound. Today I just used the explanation from the Leap frog dvd about when two vowel friends are together the first one says its name and the second is silent, but what about words where there is only one owel (be, me, he). Also their are words like "head" that don't have a long sound. The other problem we are having is when the "s" say the "z" sound (has, is, eggs). I just don't want to confuse him. I really like the ease of TRL but I am beginning to wonder if it is lacking in the explanations. HELP!!

I haven't use the TRL, so I can't comment on it, but I'll try to help you with explaining how I helped my son read them...

With my son, we used another resource for his reading and the sight words/exceptions were taught separately. It worked for him to see them separately and learn them apart from the "rules." The resource we used would incorporate them into a short story so he was reading them several times that day. By the 3rd, 4th and 5th reading of the word, he knew it, he was reading it correctly.

Now when he comes to new words in various books, he'll try to sound it out using the "rules" he's learned or I'll stop him and say "it's an exception" and tell him the word. He always will say "this word broke the rule!" Reading the exceptions correctly will come with practice as he reads more & more!

This is a very good question I've kind of been wondering the same thing (we're on lessson 8 of TRL). I'm hoping Carrie will chime in.

Starfall explains this rule like this, when 2 vowels go walking then the first one does the talking. Worked great for my dd.

rni's mommy,

My response in this past thread should help with your questions: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4951

Blessings,
Carrie

Is there a rule for when "s" makes the "Z" sound, or is this just a memorization thing? What confuses me is that I don't remember the rules, so I don't know how to explain to my ds why the letters make different sounds at different times and the book doesn't really say which one is the rule and which is the exception.

I just noticed that the thread I linked above was written to you back in September! So, if you're still having similar questions about The Reading Lesson, you may wish to contact the author of the program to get your specific questions answered more clearly. Since we know that phonics instruction is a very personal decision, at HOD we allow you to use any phonics program that you choose along with our guides.

While we have had many parents successfully use The Reading Lesson and Reading Made Easy to teach their children to read well, there are also many other moms who love and choose other programs instead. Here's a link to The Reading Lesson website and their contact information: http://www.readinglesson.com/support.html

Blessings,
Carrie

I knew I had asked a simmiliar question a while back but I couldn't get it to come up in the search results .

Sounds good! It can be tough to find an older thread sometimes. I just didn't want you to think I wasn't answering your questions.

Blessings,
Carrie

You might try the book The ABCs and All Their Tricks...it was around $10 on Amazon. I've had similar questions as we move through TRL, and it has helped to teach *me* when there is a rule I can teach and when we learn "this doesn't follow the rules." HTH