Phonics help

[lil' ladies]

I have ordered the Bigger program and it should be arriving any day now (YAY ), so we are planning to start right after easter.

My oldest dd is 9, almost 10, and although she can read she is quite slow and often mis-reads words. She did two years of school before we started homeschooling and was not taught phonics. Our first year of homeschooling we did a review of reading for her with 100 easy lessons. She knows all the basic sounds, and blends, but has not learnt how to completely decode or any of the 'rules'.

Do you think it would be worth doing a phonics program that is more advanced than 100 easy lessons (and what would you recommend)? Or should we just keep on reading, reading, reading with lots of practice and hope she will improve?

Thanks so much,

[inHistiming]

I believe reading OFTEN will definitely help. She needs the exposure to well written sentences/paragraphs. Choose stories that will catch her attention. Just hearing and seeing the words will help fine-tune her reading.

However, I would probably still use a phonics program. My daughter had some reading issues, due to an undiagnosed vision problem, and was having trouble sounding out words and recognizing her sight words, and some of the basic letter sounds. Even though she had been through a year of Pre-k and a year of K at that point, we still chose to use Reading Made Easy her first grade year, which was our first full year of homeschooling. Since she had learned all of her letters, and most of their sounds, we decided to start with lesson 9. You could always start with a later lesson, or an earlier one, depending on her ability. My daughter started the year with no confidence in her ability to read; by the end of that school year we had finished the program, and she was reading some of the books on the emerging reader's list in the Beyond...manual. She likes reading now, and is doing very well. Next year, she will begin DITHOR with Bigger...and I know she will do fine.

My recommendation would be to do the Phonics again. You could try using the one you already have, or try Reading Made Easy; it worked very well for us. It's one of the Phonics choices on the HOD website with the Beyond...packages. I'm sure others will be along to offer their suggestions, too. Also, the copy work in Beyond...did a great job in helping her learn to write well (letter formation) and become familiar with the spelling of some words. And of course, the way Carrie has the Spelling lists set up, and the various Spelling activities, really works. My daughter is able to spell many words and is not afraid to try and possibly fail. We just practice more in that case. I hope this helps some. Good luck in your decision.

[Tansy]

I can't help you but I'm giving you a free bump to the top of the board... Anyone else want to chime in?

[Carrie]

Annie,

Since your dd had very little to no phonics instruction in school and even after 100 Easy Lessons is still struggling a bit as a reader, I would continue with a phonics program to boost her confidence.

I would personally take a look at the Reading Lesson, as it is easy on you to teach and doesn't take much time each day. I would also think about using the CD that comes with it, as it can be really reinforcing to hear the words in another way/format. It works well as a second phonics program to finish what the first didn't get covered or cemented. Here's the link for it: http://www.heartofdakota.com/phonics-byd.php

If you don't mind gearing up to do phonics all over again, along with the more formal teaching that comes with it, "Reading Made Easy" is also an excellent program. You could always begin further along in either book if you wanted, rather than starting at the beginning.

Since your daughter is older, while doing phonics, whenever you think your daughter is at the Emerging Reader stage, you could begin the Emerging Reader Set at the same time. This will give her an additional boost of confidence (and additional daily short reading practice) as she'll be reading real books.

So, basically you'd be "double-dosing" her with 2 short reading sessions a day until she comes along. I would keep the phonics sessions short, 15 min. or less, and also stick to the short Emerging Reader lessons too (which are also about 15 min.).

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

I think that the pp's have already given you great advice, and have already said what I was going to say. I tutored reluctant readers for many years before homeschooling, and you cannot underestimate the power of phonics instruction!!! You are doing a great job of with her, and I think that to continue phonics and let her know she's going to be just a pro at reading in no time is a great idea. You can start the Emerging Reader's Set at any time, and a good way to know when she's ready is to have her practice reading the first few books in the set. If they're pretty easy and don't cause her frustration, she's ready. We started the Emerging Reader's Set in the middle of our HOD program, following the pace in the Beyond guide. It worked out great!
In Christ,
Julie

[water2wine]

Second what Carrie says about the reading lesson. It would be perfect I think. If it was a spelling or writing issue I could see doing something more written. I did that with one of my children after they knew how to read well actually but could not spell at all. But the reading lesson does really help them not to mix up words. I continue to use it with my dd that can read emerging reading level. Also agree with the tons of practice particularly reading aloud. I would say about 80% of the time I am typing on this board during the day I have a child reading to me on the side. Probably makes me sound like a horrible mom but you can easily tell by the content of what she is reading if she is off track and then I do stop to kind of speed read ahead of them. Also it sort of takes the pressure off dd when I do not have 100% focus on her. I can't do it if I am way into something but you all do keep me from pulling my hair out sometimes with all the reading I have her do for practice with her special needs. And she and I make a game out of it sometimes as well. Don't think I am a horrible mommy I just do a lot of muti tasking or else I go crazy. Ok confession over, whew!

[inHistiming]

It's okay, W2W! I think we all multi-task, whether we should be at certain times or not. My DD just asked me this week, "Mommy, how can you listen to me read if you're on the computer?" I feel sure that you are not a terrible Mommy! We all need to have some 'down' time once in a while, and the advice you give here is truly serving a good purpose.

[water2wine]

inHistiming- Thank you! You are so kind.