kmom Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 This will be my first year to homeschool our daughter. She is 4.5 and already knows her letters and sounds with no problem. I have already started teaching her to blend...she is beginning to pick it up very easily. So my question is which phonics program to use!! I have narrowed it down(I think:confused:) to McRuffy, Sing Spell Read and Write or maybe Abeka k5. McRuffy was not at the homeschool fair so I have only seen the samples online. Really liked what I saw...looked like it was a good balance between the other two I am considering. I would love to hear thoughts from anyone that has used this!! Abeka looks very thorough but I don't want it to be so drill and kill that she loses interest. SSRW has lots of bells and whistles and is pricey. She would love the singing but I have read that the songs and games can be repetitive and get boring. Anyways, I am probably obsessing way too much over this decision but I would really appreciate your thoughts or opinoins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyAberlin Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I'm using McRuffy right now after using tons of different programs. I haven't used SSRW or Abeka though. I wanted SSRW at one point, but I just could never foot the cost. We love McRuffy. It has games that we enjoy playing. A little copywork, spelling,color, cutting and pasting activities and my ds enjoys the stories. My ds is 5 and will be officially Kindergarten age in the fall. I wish I had tried this sooner, but I didn't know enough people who had used it. The ones I did know of loved it though. I highly recommend it. He has really taken off on his reading with it. He already knew his sounds too. It is completely scripted, but you can paraphrase. I skip things if I know he already knows it. The lessons are short and sweet. They are perfect for him. If you have any specific questions I can try to answer them for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jg_puppy Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 How is she at writing? If she is okay with writing letters then I think SSRW or McRuffy would be great. I have not looked at Abeka so I don't know how much writing is included. My son loved the first book of SSRW, but was not ready for the second K book. I played the songs for him since he loves music. He didn't like them. I bought McRuffy, but it starts off right away with blending and also has quite a bit of writing. He was not ready so we put it away. We have recently started going through OPGTR and working very slowly. It doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of the other programs, but it gets the job done. He is finally starting to read CVC words. Jan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfatherslily Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 We did a combo of Word Mastery (in my sig) and A Beka's Letters and Sounds K. It worked out well (my daughter also picked it up easily). I'm not very familiar with the whole A Beka phonics curriculum, just the one book. There IS alot of drill. We skipped alot of pages that I didn't feel she needed. But still, I was very pleased with the book. There is a bit of writing, but it can be skipped and you wouldn't miss anything. I've really liked Word Mastery, too. And it's free! There's almost no teacher help. And it's just long lists of words to read. But we only do as much in a day as I can gently push her to do:) One page of words or just one row. I mix it up, too, by writing them on the chalkboard or making them with scrabble tiles. I'm personally a fan of all-in-one type books... I recently bought Phonics Pathways and have considered switching to it just cause it looks so good (DD said she wanted to stick with Word Mastery cause she liked the pictures better!). I've also had Ordinary Parent's Guide from the library and it looks really great too. Sorry, I know you didn't ask about these, but I had to through in my 2 cents anyway;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy2BeautifulGirls Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 My 5-year-old is bored with 1st grade, but that's just her, not the program. I actually think is does a good job covering the concepts. My 4-year-old is doing the kindergarten program along with Hooked on Phonics, and is doing quite nicely. (We go back and forth depending on her mood for the day!) There are fun games included and the workbooks are nice and colorful. There is a lot of writing involved, but I will sometimes write in the answers for them if it gets to be too much. There are also plenty of great resources like coloring pages, sliders, flash cards, etc. that you can use to reinforce your teaching. My 5-year-old likes to make the sliders for phonics/spelling, although she doesn't really need them. She really loves the games, too. As far as blending goes, the kindergarten program starts blending ba and ab in lesson 3. I have not used the other programs at all, but there is my opinion of McRuffy. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyAberlin Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I'll add that I also skip some of the writing in McRuffy or we do the lessons orally and I'll write in his answers. It depends on his mood. There are days that he wants to do the writing and other days where he wants me to. Or he wants to take turns LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmom Posted May 15, 2009 Author Share Posted May 15, 2009 Thank you for all the responses. Her writing is so-so. We are working on HWOT pre-k right now...will be waiting to start phonics and any math until this fall. I will probably skip some of the writing and do it orally or write it in for her. I am going to check out OPGTR...keep seeing really positive reviews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyAberlin Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 OPG didn't work for us. I would recommend checking it out at the library first and trying it out. There were just too many words on the page and my ds would take one look at it and get overwhelmed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muffinmom Posted May 15, 2009 Share Posted May 15, 2009 I can't speak to the other programs you mentioned, but we have used McRuffy's for first grade and have loved it. It's organized, thorough, and SO easy to use for the teacher. I'm so happy with it, I'm ordering it for 2nd grade too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evergreen State Sue Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 I used Sing, Spell, Read, Write with my kids. My ds was 5.5 and my dd was 4 when I started them at the same time. My dd loved SSRW, loved the songs, and loves to read. My ds turned out to have dyslexia and his tutor ended up buying the SSRW readers from me to use with her other students. She said they were great phonics based books. The only problem I had with SSRW was my kids needed more room to write in the workbooks. My kids are now 12 & 13. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 As far as blending goes, the kindergarten program starts blending ba and ab in lesson 3. Is ba the short a like for bat, or the long a, like for ba-by? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jg_puppy Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Is ba the short a like for bat, or the long a, like for ba-by? I have the McRuffy Kindergarten and it is ba with the short a sound like bat. Jan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Thanks! I am starting a new thread about McRuffy phonics in particular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy2BeautifulGirls Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Thanks! I am starting a new thread about McRuffy phonics in particular. I saw it, but since mine are only 4 and 5 years old, I figured you didn't want my response. I am eager to see what responses you get, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 It sounds like it is just the right combination of different elements, like what I have done with DD by combining several programs and making my own worksheets. I could use something done for me for DS when I teach him. I don't think I will want to do all of the planning and experimenting by then. kwim? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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