Confused by HOD phonics & need reading help

[rumkimom]

1 - I am confused by the phonics that HOD uses. I read that you are supposed to 'finish' phonic instruction and then go on to Emergent Readers. The phonic program I have always used (Explode the Code) goes though 3rd grade (books 1-3 are for 1st grade, books 4-6 for 2nd grade and books 7-8 are for 3rd grade). Do you not continue to use phonics once the child is reading? My son (age 9) is struggling with book 4 in the Explode the code series (and will be using book 4 1/2 before going on to book 5), but he can read the Emergent Readers just fine. I had him read the first day's reading of "Frog and Toad All Year" and he needed help with reading only 1 word. He did struggle with answering the questions (he has some comprehension problems) and needed guidance with answering them. My question is: Do I continue with phonics instruction (it takes 5-10 min to do the 2 pages I assign him each day) or do we just do the Emergent readers?

2 - Steven (9 year old) struggled with learning to read and finally figured it out at age 8. We have been using Rod & Staff Reading for him (almost done with the 1st grade reader and workbook)....the workbook is so hard and he struggles with it, but it has been SO good for him this past year and he has made much progress with it. I just got unit 1 & 2 for the second grade reader and did not realize how much more work it has in it. Do we continue with it or just switch over to doing just the Emergent readers? I thought of doing them for the first half of this year with them and then maybe switching over to DITHOR if he was ready. Or should I continue with the Rod & Staff readers with the workbooks (since I already got the workbooks for units 1-2) and then switch to the emergent readers? I am planning on him using the 'Early Reading Comprehension' book series once a week as in them they have skills such as putting the story in order and vocab that he needs (things his speech teacher told me he needs to work on).

3 - Clarence (7 year old) had no desire to learn to read. He likes his phonics book (Before the Code), but promptly forgets what he learned (although when pushed, he can remember them). He can read a few pages in the first Bob book, but he has to sound out the word each time. Is he just not read to read yet? How can I encourage him? He was adopted from Haiti almost a year ago but does really well with English already (we focused on that this past school year). He does want to 'do' schoolwork with his brother. I have done a week of LHFHG and it seems too easy for him and he thinks the motions with the poems are silly (and does not want to do them). He loves music, but the memory work music is 'boring' and he does not like it. sigh He does like to art or 'projects'. He can listen to stories as long as they are not too long and get distracted easily. He can answer comprehension questions as well or better than his older brother (if he listens). He can do copywork and can do a good job if he is not in a hurry.

HOD level - I will be starting Beyond with both of my boys on Aug 3 and after 2-4 week of having them together, I will evaluate/decide if I need to switch the older one up to Bigger.

[MelInKansas]

Yes, once basic phonics instruction is completed, HOD just suggests you use the Emerging Readers as your continued phonics/reading instruction. This would be based on an average (or maybe even a little below average) child who can figure out the phonic patterns just by repeating them multiple times. Children with learning disabilities may need more help with this. I have seen it work great for 2 of my kids and #3 is in progress now. If you are sitting nearby to help them with words they don't know how to read yet, they pick up on the patterns really easily. I know some people supplement with Explode the Code or other phonics programs but I don't think that is necessary. Since your son can read the early ones in Emerging Readers really easily, you may want to skip ahead to books that are a little more challenging. If you want to spend more time just reading with him rather than doing DITHOR right after you finish Emerging Readers, you could just read through the DITHOR 2/3 level books and do some comprehension and discussion with him over them.

Your adopted 7 year old I would not push too hard in reading/phonics for a little while yet. Continue to encourage but don't push. The Reading Lesson is simple and fun and you can do it very slowly, just one page per day. It gets them into reading short stories pretty quickly. Even if that seems to be too much, I would back off on it and give him time. You have to take into consideration the fact that he just started learning English a year ago. That's a lot, even though kids can learn language more easily than adults, I would give him time.

It seems like you could do Beyond with them together, though if you end up having to adapt it too much for the 7 year old you may need to rethink it because he may not then be ready to move into Bigger once you finish. Yes there are things he may not "like" in LHFHG, or Beyond, artsy projects and Rhymes in Motion but I would encourage you to persevere in having him do them. Just as with some kids who don't like math or reading, we still need to help them see that it's important and they CAN do it and should do their best. I don't think we usually think we need to do that with art, if they don't like art just don't make them do it. But there are things developing in their brain when they do art that really help them to grow and help their thinking skills. I am not good at art (I guess I was told that or decided that on my own at a good age) but I see such a value in it with what my kids are doing in HOD, and I'm thankful for that. I feel like it helps them grow.

[Nealewill]

Also - one thing to remember that Carrie keeps on reminding me of is that when kids start reading independently, they won't get all of the words correct. That is okay You want them to get the meaning. With my oldest in CTC, she was struggling a bit with some of the bigger words. Julie suggested that I go over some of the challenging words with my dd before she reads. I did start doing that. I got this advice after my dd came down after week one and started telling me everything she learned about the epidermis....only she wasn't saying "epidermis." She was saying something else. It took me a good 5 minutes to figure out what it was! After that, I sought some help here on the boards and Julie made that suggestion to me. It works wonderfully.

Also - I do think the ER are great and definitely help kids get up to par on their reading. My youngest has had very little phonics instruction actually - mainly Bob Books. She is a natural reader. But, she did go through the Early Readers and she reads beautifully now. My son was special needs but he actually did the ER to get him up to par. That worked great as well. My oldest came from another program but she struggled with reading. She has a lot of dyslexic tendencies. Honestly, her reading improved significantly since starting HOD because all of the books are set to a certain level. She was challenged in a very balanced way and she moved up consistently and steadily. She was pushed but gently. It was a great fit.

As for switching, I would pray about it. With your oldest son, if you feel like R&S is a great fit for him, then I would stick with it. I used level 3 with them and I don't remember there being much phonics in it. I think it was more sight word driven but I can't remember. I would not jump around. You could definitely add in the ERs if you want though. Many of those books are excellent and fun to read. R&S is all Bible from what I remember. MY oldest dd did like the R&S when she did it and I did it to help find something that was her level for her to continue practicing her reading. It was helpful for her. She read a lot of books that year. The more reading practice you can get into your son, the better he will read. So if you wanted to do both, you could. He might like having something easier to read anyway. However, if you hate the R&S, then I would drop it and just try the ERs.

As for your younger son, I would give one of the HOD recommendations a try. If he isn't remembering the words in the Bob Books, then he probably needs a little bit more instruction. In addition, my guess is that he may not be ready for reading instruction or things may be delayed. I don't know about his past but there could be handicaps in it that prevent him from being age ready for some skills.

As for jumping your oldest up to Bigger, I would probably keep him in Beyond. Preparing (the level after Bigger) has the kids reading a lot of books on their own. If your son is struggling with reading, he would probably be better served focusing those skills more heavily this year. The information in Beyond is very interesting! My kids absolutely loved it. And when I did Beyond with my younger 2 kids, my oldest was constantly begging to sit in and listen. It is very different from Little Hearts and quite a step up. It includes spelling a lot of copy work. You can easily adapt it to each child's level. That guide was probably one of my absolutely favorites. I guess I should add....I could probably say every guide is my favorite! But the year I came to HOD, I used Preparing and Beyond that year. I think those guides will always hold a special place my heart because it was the first time in this household that I felt like my kids actually have a balanced year with a ton of fun filled learning activities and significant educational growth.

[shellbell]

Just wanted to say that if you continue with the Rod and Staff, one thing that helped my children when I used it, was to do most of it orally. That helped them a lot. I would choose what questions they would answer in the work book, the others we would do orally. (Kind of like how HOD recommends doing a lot of Rod and Staff English orally). It made it much more enjoyable. Even in the Rod and Staff teacher's manual, I remember it saying to tailor it to your students.

[rumkimom]

Thanks all for your suggestions. I struggle with the fact that he should be in 4th grade but we are still doing 1st/2nd grade work...and he struggles with it. About 9 months ago I 'caught' him sneaking a flashlight and reading under the blankets when he was supposed to be going to sleep...I was so happy to see him want to read that I let him do it (I told him he could read for about 15 min or so and then he had to turn the light off).

As far as R&S, he did well on it this past year, but I do not need to stick to it. If the ER are better for him and give him more confidence with reading, I would rather use them instead and stick with the program that HOD uses. He does not mind writing but too much is too much....and HOD does the writing elsewhere, so he should be getting enough with HOD and not have to add on more.

As far as the younger one....I believe that he is capable to doing the reading, he just does not want to do it. I will have to check out the learning to reading book HOD recommends. The one that I have is 100 Easy Lessons. This book worked for my mildly autistic daughter, but did not work for Steven (my oldest was a natural reader and went from not knowing anything to reading at about 4th grade level in one year). Each of my children has been very different in how they have learned how to read.

Thanks again!!

[TrueGRIT]

I wanted to mention something we added onto The Reading Lesson for two of mine - although all loved it. TRL has sight words and review words in it that we made into "flash card pages". Occasionally adding a word they asked about or struggled with in a simple reader. We reviewed these daily. It only added 5-15 minutes depending on how we reviewed them. Sometimes we did it flashcard style, other times they "taught" each other, sometimes we made up a game. This is not necessary, but my children needed extra "work" and they felt this time was more a game. They also loved having a few minutes together.

[twolittlebears]

I wanted to add in to the discussion: my 9 yo has been doing R&S grade 2 this past year for 3rd grade. He is a good reader, but I felt that we needed to brush up on and make sure we'd covered all our bases. R & S is a bit advanced IMHO, so grade 2 was a perfect fit! It also really helped my son's handwriting improve as well. I mention all this because you'd felt having your son in grade 1/2 book in 4th was a struggle for you. But my son is right there too! I will have my son pick back up with grade 2 R&S and he will start the grade 2 grammar with Bigger this year, as well DITHOR level 2 for 4th. I personally feel for my own children that they need to continue some phonics along with the ER set, then move them on to grammar like Carrie has the children do with the R&S grammar books. For my own sons, I was seeing gaps when we weren't doing phonics and that's why I went with the R&S phonics. We've used explode the code too, and at times we switch around to break up the monotony or if they get stumped and need it taught from a different perspective. Anyway, hope it helps hearing one more mama's walk along the same road.

[Motherjoy]

We did The Reading Lesson with our three middle boys. For natural readers, its just fine. But, for my struggling readers, I really, really like All About Reading. Its so much more than just a phonics program. It helps with fluency, speed, high-frequency words, and literature analysis. Its so, so awesome!!! It's pricey, but really worth it. We are doing all five levels right now with various kiddos, and its my main priority right now.