How long did it take you to finish OPGTTR?

[weddell]

I'm new here and didn't find out about OPGTTR until lurking here! I'm planning on integrating OPGTTR into what we are currently doing and was wondering how long it usually takes to go through it start to finish.

 

My dd is 4 and we have been learning to read since her 4th birthday this fall. I have been using BOB books and the Now I'm Reading Books by Nora Gaydos. They each seem to fill in gaps that the other has. I have a phonics reference book that I read to learn all the proper rules and get help with good words lists. So a reading lesson for us is me explaing the new rule the book (bob or NIR) is going to cover, then sounding out a list of words that use that rule, then reading the book. We read each book at least twice, usually a few days apart so that dd has time to absorb the information. I think we'll finish both sets of books in the fall. DD can currently read Go Dog Go, Green Eggs and Ham, and some level 1 easy readers largely--although not entirely--by herself.

 

Now that I have OPGTTR, I'm going to wait until we have finished the boxes sets we are using and then go through and do any lessons that weren't covered by the sets. I have noticed that there are a few early lessons that we'll do, but mostly we will need to cover the last 1/3 of the book. I am thinking that we'll do the lessons and then read an easy reader type book since she doesn't like lessons that don't involve reading a separate story. She just wants to read, not learn to read.

 

How long does it usually take to finish OPGTTR from start to finish? Or integrated with other books like I have done? How many lessons do people like to do a week? From where we are to where I'd like to finish, it seems like it will take us 1.5-2 years to get through all the material. Is that normal?

 

Thanks for your insights!

[Jayne J]

We used OPGTR after we covered the basic alphabet (so we picked up somewhere about the 27 th lesson). We've done one lesson per day, give or take and we will be finishing up at the end of this year, so it has taken us nearly 2 years. We did do additional reading as well--BOB, Dr. Suess and readers like Frog and Toad, etc. Ds could probably be finished with it now--the last lessons are almost all words he can read already, but we'll finish up in about 2 weeks anyway, so we'll keep at it.

[pageta]

We do a lesson a day. We started and then stopped for a while until ds learned to read (it was a real drag when he was figuring things out) but now we fly through one lesson a day. I just want him to be exposed to all of the rules of phonics so he has the "tools" when he needs them.

[alpidarkomama]

1.5-2 years sounds about right! Should take us about that long, I think. We're about 75% done.

[Hedgehogs4]

we started somewhere in the 20's also (and have been working all this pre K year) and are now on lesson 70. we accomplish about three full lessons a week (we don't always finish some of the longer ones in one day). i'm expecting it to take two years to get through.

[StartingOver]

We are half way through, skipped the letter sounds as we already knew them. We are doing a lesson a day ( On days we do school work, we do not work every day. )

[skueppers]

It seems to me that this is one of those things that depends on the child. We usually do about 4 lessons a week, and we started on lesson 27 although the first 15-20 lessons were mostly review. I think it likely that we will finish in about a year.

 

We didn't start using the OPGTR until my daughter was past 5 and had reached a stage when she was asking for academic work and able to grasp it with relative ease.

 

If we'd started it when she was 4 or 4.5, it would have taken longer, because she just wasn't at the same stage of readiness.

[Classically Minded]

From what I remember reading, it should take 2 years if you do just one lesson a day. My dd started this past October and we will finish by the end of August. We do anywhere from 2-4 lessons a day at her pace.

[Susie in CA]

Yes, that's about right. I had one who took 2 1/2 years and one who took 1 1/2 years. Once they were done they could read anything!

 

Susie

[CarynB]

It took 1 year for my oldest DD but she started it after already working with R&S Phonics and Reading for about 4 months.

 

My 2nd is working through at a pace that will take about 1 1/2 years.

 

I think the estimate of 2 years is a good one to follow and then you'll be really happy if it goes faster! :001_smile:

[mommy4ever]

We are working through it right now. We only started in mid April. My dd is 6, and was in school for K - did fantastic, and 7 months of grade 1, which was a huge waste of time. We are currently on lesson 48. We did the vowel section as a review and she wasn't that confident with them, but we skipped the consonants as we covered that in K, and she still know her sounds well.

 

We average 2-4 lessons a day, however as it is getting a little more complex, we are slowing down more, and letting her absorb it. We are working with AAS as well, as they are teaching the spelling in a very similar order. So it re-affirms what OPGTR.

 

We will work through summer, and be approx 1/2 way through and 'caught up'. May be we will be further, but the goal is to complete it around Christmas time.... imagine the fun books under the tree if she is reading well! She will be so excited.

[weddell]

Thanks for all the replies! Next week we should finish Level 4 (last box!) of the Nora Gaydos Now I'm Reading series (phonics based books). Then we'll do the last two boxes of Bob Books. I'll have to flip through them to get an estimate of how long that will take. I'm pretty sure we'll have covered most of it already, but they'll be a good reinforcement.

 

After that I'll flip through OPGTTR and mark each lesson that we haven't covered, that has an interesting point, or that I want to reinforce. We'll probably do one or two lessons a day depending on the material. I don't think it will be very many lessons, just a few less-used vowel combinations. Then I'll have her read a book out loud to me after the lesson.

 

Then I'll have to think about what to do for spelling next year. I really want to keep reinforcing the phonics, so I'm thinking AAS or Phonics Road.