Can we talk Phonics Programs?

[jewel7123]

This is something I am currently researching and I would love to hear opinions from all you HOD'ers about the different programs you have used and your likes and dislikes about each of them. Of course I am looking at Reading Made Easy and The Reading Lesson, but also I've been researching Phonics Pathways as well. However, I'm open to all suggestions at this point! There are so many choices out there, it is very difficult for me to decide what I want to use, since this will be my first time teaching a child to read. I just don't want to screw it up, lol!

Also, my daughter is 3 1/2 so we are not using a handwriting program just yet, however I have been downloading free tracing worksheets off the internet for her to start tracing horizontal and vertical lines, circles, etc. What does everyone suggest I start with letting her use to trace.....a crayon, a pencil with a pencil grip, just a pencil? Is giving her a normal pencil at this age a bad thing?

Thanks!

[inHistiming]

Well, I'll chime in with my experiences. Hopefully something I say will be helpful.

I have only used one phonics program- Reading Made Easy -as my ds was already reading when we began homeschooling, and I have not begun with my youngest ds yet. However, I do have to say it worked well for my daughter. The way it is set up...with the letters shaded according to their sound, etc...was very helpful. She had had trouble with her vowel sounds especially, so this got us on the right track with those and got her reading well enough to move on into the emergent reader's schedule in Beyond...and now she reads on a 2nd grade level. She's in 3rd grade, so is still a year 'behind' in her reading level, but this is due to her personal struggles, not the program. I do plan to use RME with my youngest son, too. We are just getting the basic sounds of the letters down now...almost done...and we will begin RME sometime in January, I think. Another thing I used was http://www.starfall.com. It's a free site, with lots of activities for pre-readers, those just beginning reading, and those who can read short booklets. I believe they even have some printables. I used this with my daughter, and my son has enjoyed it on occasion, too. I'm sure others will be here to tell you about the other program(s) they have used.

As for your daughter and what to write with... I just let my ds 5 use a regular pencil. We have never used grips. He has done fine with pencils...he also uses crayons, colored pencils, and markers on occasion, but for tracing letters and shapes I always have him use a pencil. I also have always made sure to let him choose which hand to use when writing or drawing. That way, it is his choice about which is more comfortable and natural to him, not mine. I think that's very important! I guess you do need to make sure she is holding the pencil correctly...most handwriting books have a guide in them concerning position and the proper way to hold a pencil, so if you use a handwriting booklet (like ARFH) then it would help you know how to teach her that.

I hope some of that was what you were looking for. Others will be along shortly to help out too....though it seems participation on the boards is a bit sparse right now; must be due to the approaching holidays! Have a great week.

[ncmomof5]

I hesitate to suggest this, but All About Spelling is what I am using this year and I love it. The only reason I hesitate is because I know it is not your typical phonics/reading program, but it has really helped my ds improve in reading and spelling this year. In September, I tried to start him on the emerging readers, but he wasn't ready. We had to back up and use some lower level readers from the library. But just within the last couple of weeks, we have picked up the emerging reader schedule, and he is off and running.
All About Spelling starts from the beginning with letter sounds and then begins introducing phonics rules, capitalization rules, and more all in a very gentle non-threating way. There is a lot of reinforcement and review, but it is very clear and easy to understand for the student as well as the teacher.
Sorry to add more to the research hopper, but I was glad when someone pointed me in that direction. I hope you find a good fit for you and your family.

In His love,
RuthAnn

[Kathleen]

My oldest picked up reading just from curiosity as he was read to...and me helping him through some simple readers. (Things do come easily for him.) I was going to start some kind of phonics with him when we decided we were going to send him to a small Christian school in town for K. He went there for K and 1st and they used Saxon for phonics. We finished it for 2nd when we started homeschooling again. It was total overkill in my opinion. Saxon is VERY thorough...and quite time-consuming. You'd want to plan an hour a day to use it. I had a friend who loved it...but she was homeschooling one child.

I just got The Reading Lesson to use with my dd who's 4. I love the looks of it. We're into Lesson 2 now and she is so proud of herself! I haven't read it thoroughly yet, but it's going well. I seriously considered some others, but I had heard many good things about THe Reading Lesson as well as some of the others. The difference was I could get TRL and CD for less than $50 and the others were more in the $100-$160 range. So, I decided, why not give it a try 1st.

I love that we'll get to follow up with the emerging readers in HOD, too!
Kathleen

[SoaringEagle]

I'm using The Reading Lesson with my 5 yr old daughter. I love that the program is really open and start reading. I can see my daughter gain confidence while reading the words and short sentences. At first she'd whisper the letter sounds/words but not she's using a pretty normal voice. For some reason she doesn't like saying the names of the people: ex: Tom and I have to say it. She also finds man pretty funny word too.
We used the cd once but I think I may have her use it again once we finish Lesson 5. We only do 2 pages a day and works out great. I would recommend this program to anyone.

[jewel7123]

If you use or have used The Reading Lesson and bought the cd-rom to go with it, would you say it was worth the extra money? I assume that if your child has never been on a computer (like mine) and has no idea how to operate one then the parent would need to sit with the child to help navigate or click through the slides, correct? It's not something that you just push play and away it goes like a movie, right?

[SoaringEagle]

If you use or have used The Reading Lesson and bought the cd-rom to go with it, would you say it was worth the extra money? I assume that if your child has never been on a computer (like mine) and has no idea how to operate one then the parent would need to sit with the child to help navigate or click through the slides, correct? It's not something that you just push play and away it goes like a movie, right?

In TRL, it does say that the parent needs to stay with the child while he/she works on the lessons from the cd. My daughter is quite familiar with the computer but I had to stay with her to help her with the cd. I think if I had to start over, I would have not bought the book with the cd. I'd go to places like startfall.com which is free and have my child play on that instead.

[netpea]

If you use or have used The Reading Lesson and bought the cd-rom to go with it, would you say it was worth the extra money? I assume that if your child has never been on a computer (like mine) and has no idea how to operate one then the parent would need to sit with the child to help navigate or click through the slides, correct? It's not something that you just push play and away it goes like a movie, right?

We use The Reading Lesson, but I bought mine used on Ebay and the CD never seemed to work. My son loved The Reading Lesson and is a fluent reader, he is 8yo and probably reads at a 4th or 5th grade level. My daughter is using the book now, it doesn't come as easily for her, but she loves The Reading Lesson and is halfway through it already.

The CD is nice to have but you'll do just fine without if you don't get it. Once nice thing I found is the printouts available at http://www.readinglesson.com/dnlds.htm

For those who would like to try it, you can download Lessons 1 & 2 and see how your child does. They also have certificates you can print out where they put a sticker on for each lesson they complete, my kids liked that. And their is a Wordbook you can print which reviews some of the sight words they learn.

[Carrie]

jewel123,

I'm going to repost my response to you here (from the other thread when you asked why we chose to carry The Reading Lesson and Reading Made Easy) because many moms search the board for posts on this topic and my original post to you is buried within another thread by a different name.

This will help other moms later as they're pondering what to do for phonic as well.

When choosing Reading Made Easy and The Reading Lesson we looked at SO many factors that affect how well a phonics program works. We also sorted through the many methodologies out there, although I'd seen and read much already about the various methodologies during my 11 years of being doused in a big variety of phonics programs during my public school teaching days!

I'll be very up front in saying that if you are of the "writing as a way to learn to read" methodology or the "learn every phonics rule and drill it" methodology, then the two programs we carry will NOT suit you well. Then, you'd want to look at something like the Writing Road to Reading or the Orton-Gillingham method of phonics instruction instead.

Our philosophy is that writing can actually come much later than reading and that demanding a child's fine motor skills to keep up with the decoding skills needed to read can cause much frustration. Our own boys each read very early and wrote much later. Had I held them back waiting for them to write each word as it was read (or learned) would have made reading an overwhelming task at an early age.

Also, when teaching early readers we've discovered that knowing some rules in beneficial and using an eclectic approach to covering them works fine. Our experience is that not all children need to be able to recite every phonics rule in order to apply it. Many rules are just too tedious and have too many exceptions to be worth memorizing. For example, we used Alphabet Island for phonics/spelling with my first son, and while the rule coverage was amazingly complete, little of the rules were retained and his learning to actually read didn't come out of that experience. We had to use yet another program to teach that! However, we do believe in giving a thorough treatment to phonics, rather than stopping as soon as kiddos are reading quite well. Programs such as 100 Easy Lessons drop kiddos off before phonics is finished, leaving a parent to fill a gap by finishing out phonics on their own (which can be done easily but requires some creativity).

We chose Reading Made Easy and The Reading Lesson because we find the phonics coverage to be complete enough without being tedious. We find the combination of gentle introductions to the various rules applied right within the reading material gives kiddos an "I can do this" feeling. It gets them reading early in the lessons and keeps it entertaining without being overly flashly.

Both programs also work well with a Charlotte-Mason approach to short lessons that capitalize on kiddo's short attention spans. Both programs provide stories right within the guide, having Teacher's Guide and Student Book in one. This feature saves much time searching for developmentally appropriate books, since the reading material is already there.

It is also wonderful that each guide is just purely for phonics rather than throwing in all sorts of other language arts skills along with phonics. This keeps the focus on learning to read and allows the parent to move more quickly or slowly through the program without feeling like they may be missing other skills if they change the pace. We had used the Blue Book for LLATL with my oldest son early on and felt tied to its slow pace of learning to read due to the multiple other skills woven in the lessons. We had to abandon it for that reason.

Reading Made Easy and The Reading Lesson also transition very well into our Emerging Reader's Set, solving another difficult problem for parents. The question about what to do after phonics is easily answered by the HOD sequence from phonics program to Emerging Reader's Set to independent reading using Drawn into the Heart of Reading.

Reading Made Easy is more teacher intensive and The Reading Lesson is more open and go. Both make teaching your child to read something anyone can do, rather than requiring the parent to take a course first or wade through how much to do each day or how to pace the program.

Last. both of these programs come highly recommended by other homeschoolers and reviewers alike. Reading Made Easy is currently in Cathy Duffy's Top 100 Curriculum Picks. The Reading Lesson has won many awards as well. Both have been used to teach thousands of children to be good readers. My own mother (who was a first grade teacher for 25 years) really likes The Reading Lesson. She's read it cover to cover and was surprised at how well laid out it is. She's a tough critic! She also like Reading Made Easy, but thinks The Reading Lesson could easily be used by anyone!

With all that being said, there are other good programs out there that work equally as well. The teaching style of the parent is just as important as the learning style of the child, when choosing a phonics program. If the parent is not inspired or doesn't feel confident with their choice, then the phonics program most likely won't get done.

In the end, we've discovered that the best program is one that consistently gets done in the day-to-day. The two phonics options we offer make that possible. While many phonics programs are wonderfully in depth or very full content-wise, if they just sit on the shelf because they're too overwhelming, the benefit is lost.

I hope this gives you some good areas to ponder when choosing a phonics program for your situation. Interestingly enough, most parents find that their second or third phonics option worked best, after struggling with their first option. In truth this is largely due to the child just being more mature and more ready to read by then, and also due to the fact that the child has some phonics instruction under their belt to draw on when heading it a second or third round of phonics! For those parents who only used one phonics option, celebrate!! You are VERY blessed!

Blessings,
Carrie

[deltagal]

In the end, we've discovered that the best program is one that consistently gets done in the day-to-day. The two phonics options we offer make that possible. While many phonics programs are wonderfully in depth or very full content-wise, if they just sit on the shelf because they're too overwhelming, the benefit is lost.

Hi there -

I'll spare you the history of ALL the phonics programs we've used I think these are wise words - something simple, that you can stick with , without a lot of razzle dazzle is a marvelous bit of truth to hold on to. I'll also add this - be sensitive to when your child is truly ready - for some it comes sooner, others later. It's not the phonics program it's just a matter of when they are ready. I have 3 boys and the oldest 2 have made their best progress with phonics instruction in 4th grade and not a day before.

[Mommamo]

You said that your child is only 3 1/2, correct? If I'm wrong, then just ignore this. Even if she is 3, you can ignore this anyway if it's not what you're looking for! When my dd was 3 1/2 we just did a lot of reading alphabet books, making words on the bathtub with those foam letters you can buy, making words or letters in the sand, making words with magnets on the fridge, etc. She was reading CVC words at around 3 1/2 to 4. When she was 4 I started her with RME and she just wasn't ready. At all. And she was already reading simple words! I didn't understand how that was. Especially since when we had her IQ tested as part of her ADHD screening we discovered that she is definitely a very gifted kiddo. But as time has gone by (she's 5 now) I have come to realize that although she had the capability to begin reading, she wasn't ready for formal lessons, if that makes sense. In fact, the formal lessons sort of turned her off of reading for a while. My son now is almost 3 and he is "reading" family members names and simple words that he sees often. I am going to hold off beginning him with a formal phonics program until he's probably around 5 just because of this experience. In the meantime we are going to continue reading, labling things in the house if he has an interest, playing with letter puzzles, magnet letters, etc. I think it's wonderful to go ahead and start researching. I really do. That way you can start collecting things and it won't be such an expense when the time comes. Anyway, I thought I'd just give you something else to think about. Again, if this wasn't at all what you were looking for, then again, just ignore me. It won't hurt my feelings at all!

[water2wine]

Of the programs I have used, The Reading Lesson and Alpha Phonics have been the best. But Alpha Phonics lacks the reading practice and the simple notation on sounds that really does help them. We have also found the CD helps a lot. I use it as a reward. I have been using it with a 5/6 and a 4 year old. For both of them it has been like magic. Sometimes my littlest one gets stuck so on that day we just do the CD then the next day she is fine. I move very slow with her and my older child is moving pretty fast. I have also liked First Reader as a tool but not on it's own. Of all the things I have tried hands down The Reading Lesson has been the best. I wish I had found it a long time ago.

[anointedhsmom]

I have to second the recommendation of All About Spelling as a phonics program too. I am big on Orten Gillingham based phonics and AAS is OG based. There is not too much writing like in Writing Road to Reading or Spell to Write & Read.

Now I will say this. After reading Carrie's response on why they chose the phonics that they recommend I see that it might be very likely that I will use The Reading Lesson with my 2 year old son in future years. He's advanced in language abilities (has been talking since before 1 year old and speaks in full sentences much of the time now at 38 months. Also knows many of his letter names and can count to 10 and 15 on a good day) but doesn't seem to be advanced in motor skills. I can see it being very necessary to teach him to read early and we will need something without writing and not so in depth as an OG based phonics program. It's a while off but my thoughts are that I will use The Reading Lesson with him first and then move him into AAS after that because again there is not too much writing in AAS and if you don't want to write at all in AAS it's very possible to do that.

There is an AAS yahoo group that is great and has some great files on it from people who have used AAS to teach to read too. You can learn more about AAS here: http://www.allaboutspelling.com/miracle and the yahoo group for AAS here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/all_about_spelling_group/

So if your child is young or very young I recommend The Reading Lesson but if your child is a bit older (6 plus) I would consider AAS.

Hope this helps!

[jewel7123]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to share with me what they use. Carrie, your thorough response was especially appreciated, considering the problems you have right now with your hand. I hope you are doing better!

I would love to hear from anyone who uses Phonics Pathways, as I'm seriously considering it as well. I do have a few questions as to how it compares to the Reading Lesson, as I've been searching threads and found some people to say the two are similar?

Does it work with HOD's approach to short lessons?
Does it have short stories within the guide to read?
Does it focus purely on phonics or teach multiple language art skills?
It is easy to teach?

Thanks for your time!

[Carrie]

jewel7123,

You may want to search the boards for "Phonics Pathways". I know Melanie used it quite a bit and enjoyed it. She has had to head back to work full-time this past year, so isn't on the boards anymore (and we really miss her)! But, she is a sweetheart and a teacher by profession, so her posts are full of wisdom. Any posts you read by her on the boards are very helpful.

Blessings,
Carrie