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I've been considering posting about this for a few weeks, but kept hoping it would resolve. It hasn't so here's the scoop...
DS 6 1/2 started off SO well with LHFHG this fall, and was really doing well with Reading Made Easy. He was already reading CVC words fairly well, and was highly motivated by the thought that he was working toward reading REAL books. It's tough to be the only non-reader in the family. He loves to be read to, and will listen to books for hours, literally.

OK, so the first two months of phonics were great. But as the stories in RME got longer, he started to struggle. First a little dragging of the feet, then a little complaining, and now we find ourselves dealing with a really bad attitude about the phonics lessons. We've talked about perseverence, prayed, made a little incentive chart, set the timer for 20 minutes...just not working.

He actually does OK with the word lists. He is on Lesson 62 and can read the words and stories, but real fluency has not come yet. He just really hates the stories. Dreads them. Whines. Makes life miserable. Now his whole attitude toward school is getting worse and worse.

We do phonics Mon, Tues and Wednesday and then on Thursday review with a RME workbook page or two, followed by having him read a book, either a small phonics reader or a Dr. Seus book or something. (Friday is co-op.) He LOVES Thursdays!!! Loves reading "real" books!!!! Longs for pages to turn, pictures, color. He read Green Eggs and Ham last Thursday for 35 minutes, and I finally had to insist on moving to another subject.

I like RME better than any of the phonics programs we've used in the past, but I hate to see his love of learning diminishing. Any ideas for finishing this phase of learning well? Is there any way to do the last part of phonics instruction with "real" books and still fill in the holes?

My girls learned to read with almost no effort when they were 4/5. We did phonics and had an occasonal bad day, but nothing like this.

Help! I welcome any ideas, from changing programs to ways to handle character issues.

I have a 6yo boy who loves to read REAL books, too, especially Nate the Great. It's great your little guy is loving REAL books since the purpose of Phonics instruction is meant to teach children to read/sound out new words so they can read REAL books the rest of their lives and not word lists.

I haven't used RME so I'm sorry I can't help you with anything specific to that book. We used 100 Easy Lessons (my son did enjoy it) and completed it in the fall. We then began working through Phonics Pathways (we began around pg 60) - reading a page a day. It's not a workbook - just a book designed to teach the phonics rules & exceptions with word lists related to the specific rule being taught on the page.

I also had him read one easy reader book each day when he was done reading the word lists from the page in Phonics Pathways. This helped his attitude with Phonics! We used our books from home, the library and most recently began with the first emerging reader's book, The Beginner's Bible. He looks forward to reading the REAL books each day. I think our long days of Phonics/reading take only 20 minutes. It also helps that all the real books he reads counts toward his Book-It certificates each month - he'll do anything for pizza!

Occasionally, the Phonics Pathways book will use special wording talking about a "magic e" or something else that sounds intriguing. My son LOVES this and actually asks to do Phonics first those days when he knows we're going to talk about something "cool!"

Maybe you could do this with the days of RME that your son dislikes so much...look ahead and call something a unique name when you explain it to him!? Or make up an intriguing story related to something he's interested in?!

You could also have him read the Phonics lesson in different voices just for fun - whisper, southern accent, loud voice, singing voice, girl's voice, etc. I know my son loves it when we're somewhat goofy-sounding as we read the word lists.

I'm sorry I can help you with anything more specific to the RME book, hopefully others can!

creativemommy,

Thanks so much for your encouragement and creative ideas...you really are a creative mommy Yesterday was a discouraging day, so it was helpful to be reminded that it is great that he is excited about real books!

I had a heart to heart chat with ds and asked him why phonics has been such a struggle recently. He said it's because it has gotten so hard. Good piece of info to know.

My short-term solution, after praying and chatting with dh, is to set aside the phonics manual for two weeks. We have loads of colorful little phonics readers, so we will write a few words on the white board each day for him to read and then just read some little books. I'm wondering if he just needs a bit of time for all the new homophones to sink in before moving on.

Long-term...I'm still looking for suggestions. We have a basket of phonics games and readers in the homeschool closet, The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading, Sonlight's I Can Read program, MFW 1st, parts of the reading program from Winter Promise, 4 sets of MCP phonics readers with manuals. The problem is certainly not a lack of materials! The question is whether to plow ahead with RME in a couple of weeks or to try another approach.

If you'd like to stick with RME but it's getting difficult, maybe you could slow down a bit with the lessons and do more review in between. We've used RME for 2 (ds 6 is our 2nd) and we really like it. My dd was able to move through the lessons quickly, but for various reasons we've gone much more slowly with my son. On days we don't do a lesson we use the index cards to make up sentences. Sometimes I do it and other times he'll put them together. It helps re-enforce the capital letter at the beginning of a sentence, the periods, where words go within the sentences. He really seems to enjoy it too. We've also just begun to use the Bob books, and he's so proud of himself for reading these books. Your son is further in the manual than mine so he may be beyond this first set of Bob books, but I wanted to mention them anyway. Also, did you get the workbook that is now available with RME? That could be useful for you too. Just my thoughts.

My dd took off reading "real" books before we ever finished phonics instruction. She was also tired of the phonic manual "stories" (we used Phonics Pathways at that time) Instead, we would read books together (ones that SHE picked out--mostly Step Into Reading type books), and when she would come to a difficult word, I would explain the phonics rule. Like "ight" says "ite" for example. We never went back to the formal phonics instruction after that, but would just "wing it" and cover rules as we came to them. She's a great reader, and I don't think it's hurt her.

I remember hitting a wall with both of my dc in phonics. For them, it was blending, especially when the length of reading got longer. We got the BOB books and loved those at that point, and we also slowed down our phonics program then. So, first, I'd suggest the BOB books too. They are inexpensive and available at most book stores. If the BOB books don't appeal to you, any Level 1 type readers could be used.

We also began using the marker board at that point. Here's part of a past post where I described what we did:
When my ds was struggling, I spent more time modeling than he did reading. Then, he just had to repeat after me for awhile. That worked well and took the pressure off him at first. One other thing that helped was to write the word he was sounding out in black on a markerboard. If the word was "mat", I'd write the letter "m" in black quite large and I'd say the sound for it, then I'd write the "a" and say the sound for that, and then I'd write the "t' and say the sound for that. Then, I'd put a black line under it all and say it blended, "mat". Then, he'd do it that way with me writing as he did it. Another trick is to pronounce the first sound the loudest. One more idea that worked for our dc was to use a rubberband to stretch as we were saying each sound and then snap it back when we blended it.

It sounds to me like the phonics program has gone very well and is doing its job, but that he's at a tough patch in it now. So, I think I'd get the BOB books and do some markeboard work to prep him for the Reading Made Easy selections. Maybe just practice the tougher words from the RME story to come, and then have him read just a few sentences after he's practiced the words on marker board with you. Then, you can gradually pick up the pace again. But, I would keep slowly moving forward with RME, and let him know that this is VERY normal and just a part of learning to read. You can tell him a ton of moms on this board had this same thing with their dc and now their dc are reading wonderfully well. He will too, it'll just take a little of time which is just fine.

In Christ,
Julie

My first child hated 100 easy lessons but it was our 3rd phonics program and it was *actually* teaching her to read. So I bribed her. I bought 2 toys she had been begging for. At lesson 75 I put a picture of one and at lesson 100 a picture of the other one. I did my best not to push her and not go over 20 min of phonics teaching per day unless she wanted to... any bad attitude and no lesson to day... sorry that toy will stay on the shelf longer. It motived her.

She liked the stories but some days I would make up stories about her, using the words from that days lesson. I put them in a book form with simple illustrations. She loved it and kept them for a long time. I know now looking back my first dd has some major delays. but it was hard to tell what was confusion and what was obstinacy I know when ever I Pushed DD1 to finish the lesson and went over the recommended 20 min mark it usually ended in tears.

My Second daughter came from China and phonics was not how their pictographic language works. Phonics totally confused her.

For her, reading real books was a huge deal (my made up ones did not fly) So out came Dick and Jane. See spot run.. etc. She loved that she was reading a real book it did not matter that had only 5 words in it. For a while we would do 10 min of phonics and 10 min of "reading a real book" as a compromise. Then we had a epiphany moment when "see" was in the phonics book and she sounded it out and realized!!! it was a word she knew then every thing clicked. We just finished the lessons in 100 in December, And are doing all the books in the back with the word lists. She loves reading real books and oddly enough she hates Bob Books. She's says "I know we got them out of the library but they are not 'real' mom."

When ever she runs into a word that has not yet been covered in her phonics instruction to date, out comes the white board. And we cover the rule. like: ai the I pinches the A and hides... then the A says his name. A! She loves that stuff.

Try one thing than an other till you find what works.

*edited for spelling as per usual... lol

Maybe while you take a bit of a break from the actual "phonics book" you can just have some fun playing around with "sounds." Cut up some 2x2 cards with the different "sounds" (letters) on them and let him make up his own words. He can combine 3-4 sounds together in anyway he wants, just make sure that he "sounds out" his word correctly. You can each take turns making silly words. Also, for some basic sight words you could put together a memory game. Start with just a few words such as the, one, there, says, friend, where, etc. You could make cards that have each of the words written on them (you will need 2 cards for each word). Then, put them all face down and try to find a match. Of course each time he flips a word over he has to say the word correctly. My dd really enjoys playing these kinds of games. Another fun thing to do. grab some paper and make your own books. Write down a simple sentence or two on each page. Use mostly words that are fairly easy for him, but sneak in a few tough ones as well. Maybe start out with a book that is just 4-6 pages long. Let him read each page and then illustrate the picture. This is something you can do while continuing your phonics lessons as well. Maybe do a lesson in phonics one day, and then put together a book the next day that reinforces the lesson that he learned the previous day. OR, one day each week could be "create your own book" day where you make a book based on the lessons of the week. This would slow down the pace of the phonics instruction a little bit, but really help cement what has been learned.