Phonics vs Sight Reading??

[momof4]

Hello,
I'm probably going to show my ignorance here, BUT I've been looking over which phonics will work with my son next year. And have not really found something that has hit me to be "IT". My husband and I may have stumbled over why. My son got a disney Kindergarten computer game for his 5th b-day. It has some word games in it with easy words like bed, door, etc. He is really enjoying this. Later he was doing a coloring book and it had the words bed and door in it and he told me what the words were. Not using phonics - he just remembered the words. He has done it with some names also.

Before Christmas we started "100 easy lessons" because he was begging me to teach him to read. They had it at the library and I thought if he liked this style I'd get Reading Made Easy to continue. They seem similar and I've read some reviews saying they are, but that Reading Made Easy is better. So far it has been a real struggle. He WANTS to learn, but he's either not ready to piece sounds together or it's just not his style. He seems bored with dealing with individual sounds and just wants the words. I would be fine with just waiting with the learning to read, BUT he continues to insist he wants to learn it.

Everything I've read is that phonics is The Way to learn to read. Should I just teach him some of the common sight words and start phonics later? Would that be a huge mistake? If this seems like a good plan, how should I go about this? Just use flashcards with readers with the words in them?? I'm SO new to all this.

He loves "school" right now and I want it to stay fun at this point. I'm not trying to push him - just go at his speed.

Any suggestions and encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

Laurie

[Melanie]

LOL...in educator circles this (phonics vs. whole language) is known as "The Great Debate"!
Here is an article from one of my favorite sites. She has many great articles on her site and some printables.

http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/reading.html

Hope the link works...I'm not good at "computer stuff"! Also, FWIW, my kids (and I) couldn't take 100 EZ lessons at all!

[hippiechyck]

well, i'm a phonics person, but "sight words" aren't a bad way to go either! there should be a balance of both taught, because really as you get older and read more widely, you need to know HOW to phonetically break a word down.

one of the beefs that i have regarding my older kids (they went to christian schools) is that they weren't taught strong phonics, it was much more the sight words route...which worked fine with my oldest two, but not my other one (who had ADD issues as well) and as a result, he hates to read to this day...but i know he CAN now because we did remedial phonics with him when we brought him home finally

anyhow, like all things, balance is good

[Candice]

I have read that Rod&Staff teaches reading with a combination of sight words and phonics. Maybe this would be a good balance for your child.

[my2guys]

Hi. I am certainly no expert, but I'm kind of in the same spot as you, so I thought I'd share what we're doing. My ds is also 4, we're doing LHTH right now and I'm researching what I'm going to be using for phonics/math/handwriting next year too. DS has been reading some sight words for quite a while and in the last few months he's started sounding out words for himself. A lot of his knowledge about that has come from Leap Frog's "Letter Factory" and "Talking Words Factory" DVDs. I think the "Word Factory" has really helped things "click" for him because he's really taken off with it in the last month or so - since we've gotten that video. Because he was so interested in sounding out words, I ordered the "Get Ready", "Get Set" and "Go" For the Code books (consonants) and Book 1 (short vowels) from Explode the Code a few weeks ago. Since he already knows letter sounds, I'm just doing it as review/re-enforcement of the ideas, but I thought it would be a good intro to phonics instruction for him without being too "textbook-y". (How's that for a word? ) He is really enjoying it. I had taken a look at "100 Easy Lessons" at the bookstore and thought it looked too intense for what I wanted at this point. I'm really trying to keep things light and fun for him right now. He seems to be learning so much "on his own" that I didn't want to make things heavy and take the enjoyment out of it.
Like I said, I'm just a newbie too, but this is what's working for us right now. HTH.

(Edited to say that I agree with PPs - balance is the key.)

[my3sons]

I think phonics is a very necessary part of reading. It lays the foundation for all that is to come. I used to teach 3rd grade for 7 years before homeschooling. I do NOT believe that homeschool moms have to have taught or have a teaching degree to be AWESOME teachers for their children, so I usually don't share that. The ONLY reason I share this now is because there were always some children that still could not read when they came to my 3rd. grade classroom. They were always the children that had never had formal phonics. I know this because these children started to always be the ones from certain first grade and second grade classrooms that did not teach phonics. The principal and parents also noticed this trend. (I really loved the teachers I am thinking of - so, trust me, I'm not dishing on people I didn't like.)

I also tutored for 3 years after that. The only reason I share that is because basically all of the children I tutored in reading had parents that shared their children had never been taught phonics. Once they learned their phonics, they tested right on reading level after 1-2 years of instruction.

When I finally got to homeschool my own first child and teach him to read, I was very worried about "mucking it up"!javascript:emoticon('')
He had a speech problem (was born about 2 months premature), and anything auditory was tough for him. He ended up being frustrated at first with phonics, so I backed off and just did phonics lessons in very short increments. I also made a sticker chart for him and gave him snacks for anything and everything related to phonics. He is a great reader today, but I know he wouldn't have been if I hadn't stuck with it through the frustration and somewhat boredom that you are describing. Just stick with phonics... and make it as fun as you can. One day, when you least expect it, all of that hard work will pay off, and your child will just be reading! Something clicks after awhile... it just happened with our 2nd. son, and I could have sworn it would be an age before he really got it, the way it had been going.

After reading what you've said, I think that maybe The Reading Lesson would be a great one for you to do. The lessons are very short, and it also has a computer game that goes with it. That sounds like something your child would enjoy! If you finish that program, and feel that your child still needs a little more phonics instruction, you can always do Reading Made Easy. Or, you could always just spread Reading Made Easy out over 2 years. I know some moms that swear by that program and wouldn't do it any other way.

I agree that the Leap Frog videos are also an awesome thing to do. I bought them on sale at Target right before Christmas. They're funny and memorable! So that's a piece of great advice too!

O.k. I'm off my "phonics soapbox"! Hope some it helps a little! Have a great day!

[Tansy]

I used 100 ez lessons.. it does teach sight words i think "said" is the first one they teach.

I came from a whole word background. That is how i was taught to read. With my dislexia it was actually good for me. tho i did read saw as was and so forth... i bet they have Dick and Jane books at your library. Why not add those in as reward lessons. its not going to hurt him. but i really think he needs both.

I have a terrrible time sounding out words, I learned so much from ez lessons.... like the e on the end means the vowel b4 it makes its letter name sound not phonics sound!!!! and ea is pronounced eeee...

my dad who is in the teaching industry told me once in simple terms
sight reading is what a child aquires after much practice sounding it out.
Your brain makes the transition, stops sounding it out and makes a smooth path to sigh reading. sounding it out dissappears, as the path way gets smoother and smoother so some one though "hey lets just do the sight reading thing and skip the middle step."

It does work I can read... but I mispronounce lots of words that I have to sound out.

[momof4]

Hi Ladies,
Thanks for your input. I did some checking on the Rod & Staff and they do teach reading by both sight and phonics. It looked good to me, but the program was for 1st grade and it looked alittle too much for him right now. I've also heard alot about the Leap Frog DVD's and would like to get them. We'll see how the tax refund funds the homeschool budget.

I THINK we're going to continue teaching the phonics now - slowly - and add SOME sight words. Just so he can feel some accomplishment. I didn't want to lose the phonics all together just maybe put it on the back burner until Fall. He keeps asking me to teach him from his reading book, so I think we'll keep trying as long as he wants this year. If he gets too frustrated, we'll drop it and try again in the Fall.

We'll also keep reading book after book from the library. We go all the time and I love it! Our favorite right now is "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". It was a favorite of my 18 year when she was little. She sat down and listened to me read it a couple of nights ago. Now, how often does that happen nowadays?

Again, thanks for your input!! I'm still pondering this phonics thing....
Laurie

[my3sons]

Hi Laurie!

We LOVE Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs too! Did you know there's also "Pickles to Pittsburg" by the same author and illustrator? It's the same as the other one, and just as "delicious"!

My3sons

[blessedmomof4]

Hi-for a sense of accomplishment, you might try Bob Books. They are tiny-hand sized readers with a few pages each, that have funny stick-type cartoon drawings and very simple, phonetic text with a few sight words. They were really great for one of my daughters, who your son reminds me of.
Lourdes
http://www.bobbooks.com/