Need help choosing phonics?

[Tree House Academy]

My son is 5.5 and is starting Beyond in the fall. He is finishing up LLATL Blue right now and is halfway through Book 3 in Explode the Code. I really don't want to go on to LLATL Red with him...but I am having a hard time deciding what to do with him. He is reading really well...but we have not finished phonics instruction totally. Is there a good program that I can pick up in the middle and finish phonics with him? Is ETC enough?

[Mom2Monkeys]

We're using Reading Made Easy and just started up on the lesson that best fit my ds. There are also workbooks coming out in mid-may that will go along with the lessons. I've been using the workbooks, but I've never seen the ETC workbooks...someone that has seem the RME sample pages of the workbooks said they are very similar to the ETC workbooks. The benefit is that the RME workbooks go exactly with the phonics lessons We are really enjoying RME! It's really a great program!

[Tree House Academy]

I have never liked the approach used by Reading Made Easy or 100EL (they are similar, I think)...but I also don't like learning to read with a bunch of sight words.

Has anyone here used or tried CLE LA? Or Learning to Read? We would have to start in the middle of the LTR because my ds has finished over half of his phonics...but maybe it is better just to stay the course with ETC and read early readers?

[trustinghim]

Hi

I don't have any advice...but just wanted to pop in and congratulate Tamara on her pregnancy....Great news , very exciting

Love Deb

[jg_puppy]

I have never liked the approach used by Reading Made Easy or 100EL (they are similar, I think)...but I also don't like learning to read with a bunch of sight words.

How are Reading Made Easy and 100EL similar? I think I may need a different phonics program for my 6 year old. I was considering Reading Made Easy with the workbook since I really liked the workbook samples. I can't seem to look at the samples of Reading Made Easy website. I don't really like 100EL either so I am wondering how they are similar.

Janet

[RachelB]

I haven't seen this recommended on here, but I used (& loved!) A Beka's Phonics program. They introduce the short vowels, then the consonants, start blending the two together, and so on. My daughter did so well with the program and is reading way beyond her grade level now!

[DHT1999]

Hi, Rebecca! My six year old son is also reading even though he hasn't finished phonics completely. He's probably reading near a 3rd grade level. Obviously, he is doing some sight reading but he is also really good at picking out patterns in words. He finished ETC 3 today and I plan to just continue the series with him. That's all he will be doing for phonics. I think ETC is enough if you have them do all the writing and the spelling pages. Especially for a child that is already reading but you just want to make sure you have covered everything properly. If he were just starting out, I may consider one of Carrie's suggestions, but he is doing great with ETC.

So, next year, he will read through the Emerging Readers package but he'll also continue with ETC. I feel confident it will be enough. My oldest son learned to read with ETC though for him it was a supplement to his other phonics. In retrospect, I think ETC would have been enough. It's slower than some methods but it's very thorough and the kids like it.

[Jessi]

Have you thought of Ordinary Parents Guide to teaching Reading? We used 100 EZ lessons but it got extremely frustrating about halfway through. We got OPG and started in the middle of the guide and we are going great. It teaches how to sound out the words but keeps the skill family together. You work on one skill at a time and builds well. I give it a GREAT review!!!

[Tree House Academy]

My ds 5.5 sounds a lot like yours Donna. He is reading well above level even though we are only at long e sounds in LLATL Blue and silent e in ETC (he is also finishing book 3). We will stay the course with ETC...but I think we are also going to move along and start CLE "Learn to Read" in the middle (Light Unit 106 and up) as well as CLE LA 1. My older is using CLE LA and it is GREAT. That way, we can "finish" phonics, keep reinforcing with ETC, and hit the grammar with CLE LA. We will use elements of HOD LA suggestions as well with copywork and spelling coming from there. Reading will be done with the Emerging Readers when we finish "Learn to Read" for phonics.

Whew.

[Tree House Academy]

How are Reading Made Easy and 100EL similar? I think I may need a different phonics program for my 6 year old. I was considering Reading Made Easy with the workbook since I really liked the workbook samples. I can't seem to look at the samples of Reading Made Easy website. I don't really like 100EL either so I am wondering how they are similar.

Janet

They both use that same method where the words look all funny with some letters in bold (like long vowels), others are circled to indicate blends, and so on. When we tried 100EL, it was frustrating.

[MamaBear23Cubs]

I will second Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading. I used it when my daughter came home from 1st. Silly me thought I would try 100 EZ with my son and I switched him to Ordinary Parnet's Guide to Reading. I started it but am going to wait until we finish Little Hands and then go back to it. That way I can add my youngest to the reading program.

[1GirlTwinBoys]

I taught my 4 year old twin boys and 5 year old daughter to read using the following methods and it worked WONDERFUL!
They would watch these videos during their lunch
Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD
Leap Frog Word Factory DVD
Abeka K4 Phonics workbook only (I did not use the teachers guide or anything else but the workbooks)
After we completed the Abeka workbook, I starting using Phonics Pathways & the whiteboard.

[jg_puppy]

How are Reading Made Easy and 100EL similar? I think I may need a different phonics program for my 6 year old. I was considering Reading Made Easy with the workbook since I really liked the workbook samples. I can't seem to look at the samples of Reading Made Easy website. I don't really like 100EL either so I am wondering how they are similar.

Janet

They both use that same method where the words look all funny with some letters in bold (like long vowels), others are circled to indicate blends, and so on. When we tried 100EL, it was frustrating.

Thank you. That helps. I can't see the samples of Reading Made Easy, but I have looked at 100EL. I didn't like the way the words looked different.

Janet

[Jen in Va]

I'll third Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. My son is 3/4 of the way through the guide (he just finished r-controlled vowels), and we are taking a break to work through some of the emergent reader schedule. I may add the rest of the guide in a couple of lessons at a time. His reading has really, really taken off--he tries to read anything he gets his hands on now. My understanding is that OPG will take the student all the way through a 4th grade reading level. I've been very pleased with the guide. I have supplemented the guide with Little Patriot's readers, and the Sing, Spell, Read, and Write readers before that--both sets I picked up for song at a used curriculum sale. We also used the ETC books. He worked straight through books 1-3, and now we are skipping around in books 4-6 depending on what he is doing in his phonics lesson. In the past I used Alphaphonics with both my older children. Much prefer OPG.

[Carrie]

Ladies,

It's wonderful that there are many good phonics programs available, using a wide variety of methods, isn't it! Through over 20 years of teaching kiddos to read, I know that there are many different ways to get kiddos reading successfully, so it's wonderful to see the many different ways to do that. Since we carry Reading Made Easy, I'll just address a question that was asked when comparing it to Teach Your Child to Read...

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 EZ Lessons and Reading Made Easy are two quite different programs. They do both use coding within the words to aid in reading, however Teach Your Child to Read's.... coding gets pretty technical to the point of being confusing and cluttering the pages. Reading Made Easy's coding is less overwhelming and more purposeful.

Teach Your Child to Read... leaves kiddos off at the end of the book without really "finishing" phonics. So, often moms who use the program are left finding a gap filler for phonics. Reading Made Easy goes further and is more complete.

Reading Made Easy uses a building words approach with index cards that is integral to its methods. It also uses a sentence building approach with the words written on the cards. This a big difference in lesson presentation from Teach Your Child to Read's lessons.

Reading Made Easy utilizes a hands-on approach to teaching phonics through word cards, tracing pictures and dictating, adding sight words in segments to a word worm's body, etc. Teach Your Child to Read is a sit down open the book and read approach.

Both programs are teacher text and student text in one.

I pray each of you finds the fit you're seeking in phonics. It can be a bit of a search to find the right "fit" and often the second or third program people try becomes the "fit" (not because it's the best, but just because the kiddos have matured and have taken something from each of the previous programs that blended together to get them reading).

Blessings,
Carrie