alisoncooks Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 We've been using Phonics Pathways as our phonics program... but it's going pretty slowly because DD6 does not have the stamina to do an entire page in a day. There are SO many words on those pages! We also do 1-2 pages of ETC afterward (because DD likes it and I think she retains from it.) Anyway, I'm considering dropping PP and just plugging along with ETC for a while. DD is not a strong reader, but she's gaining confidence (she can read most CVC, CVCC and some CCVC words.... albeit slowly). But PP is so visually overwhelming and ETC is more ... tolerable for her. I don't think I'd have a problem teaching from ETC (honestly, I didn't see a huge amount of "teaching" in Phonics Pathways....it's mainly pages of word lists and sometimes a brief blurb about a phonics rule). Anyone do this? Anyone use JUST ETC for phonics instruction (nothing else, no other supplements or programs... other than things like Starfall/Reading Eggs and books)? I just feel we're bogged down by all we're trying to do and we'd make more progress using just ETC. We'll be picking up BJU's Language Arts in the fall and I'm anxious to get DD through ETC 3 (long vowels) before then... wondering if dropping PP would hurt or help her... THOUGHTS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sueh16 Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I do this with my six year old first grader. My ds does 1-2 pages of ETC per day. He doesn't use any other phonics or spelling book, but he does read out of a phonics-based reader every day. Sue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingMOm Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I did this with my 8yo son- two pages a day through book 5 and he was beyond the books- he's a great reader! I also tried it with my dyslexic 9yo (who I did not know was dyslexic at the time, I just knew she wasn't catching on to reading very quickly)- didn't work well for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessieC Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 I think it would be OK, but how about trying to supplement the phonics pattern in ETC with the pattern in the lessons at progressivephonics.com? They are free and the stories are fun and silly. SO different from Phonics Pathways--I think she might enjoy them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspasia Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 We use and love ETC in addition to OPGTR. This doesn't directly answer your question, but my dd was also very overwhelmed by all the text on that big page. I started just writing the lesson (a few words or sentences at a time) on the whiteboard and it changed everything. I let her choose the colors and she gets to erase words after she reads them. Funny the things that thrill little kids! Anyway, just another option in case you decide to stick with PP. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T'smom Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 We use and love ETC in addition to OPGTR. This doesn't directly answer your question, but my dd was also very overwhelmed by all the text on that big page. I started just writing the lesson (a few words or sentences at a time) on the whiteboard and it changed everything. I let her choose the colors and she gets to erase words after she reads them. Funny the things that thrill little kids! Anyway, just another option in case you decide to stick with PP. :) This is exactly what we do! If phonics pathways is overwhelming, I highly suggest writing out a few words at a time on a whiteboard. We use little ones that we hold, not a big one on the wall. I'm going to have to try letting ds pick out the colors I use! I bet he would like that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted March 16, 2013 Author Share Posted March 16, 2013 Thanks for the feedback. I think we're going to give ETC-only a go. I went ahead and ordered the teacher's guide, since it looks like they give some more ideas for teaching (instead of just doing the pages). As far as Phonics Pathways goes, we've been using it different ways (whiteboard, etc), but still..... I'll definitely hold on to it for DD2 (and as a reference for DD1) but we'll probably put it away for the time being... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysticmomma Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 This has worked well for us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceFairy Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 My 5 year old learned solely from ETC, Starfall, and BOB Books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 We use ETC and McGuffey readers. I do throw in some phonics games when they are just starting, but they are pretty informal. Mostly we built words with flashcards or play alphabet Bingo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lugrita Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Yes! My youngest is 5 and I recently dropped Saxon Phonics 1 because we hated it. I think I've grown to dislike almost all things Saxon, but that's another story. Saxon Phonics took 3 pages to teach what could easily be taught in a 1-2 word sentence, and my dd (4th child, so I've been doing this for quite awhile) is a super-fast learner who was bored stiff with the droning and repetition. She is a fairly strong reader and Saxon seemed like overkill. And honestly, I grew to hate the gigantic Saxon teacher manuals. True story. ETC uses the same orton-gillingham approach to phonics that Saxon uses, but my dd doesn't find it boring and dreadful and tedious. She does 2-4 pages per day and that works quite well for her. I'm going to throw in McGuffey readers for fun, and she has another vintage reader that she loves as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmc1970 Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Yes. My almost 5 year old does ETC and we just read, read, read books :) We did start with HOP, but he didn't like that very much with the word lists, so ETC it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted March 17, 2013 Author Share Posted March 17, 2013 Yay, glad to hear others have done this successfully! Do you guys who use ETC exclusively use the teacher's guides or just teach from the workbook? (I've already said I've ordered the guides -- I'm just curious what others have done.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfeusse Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 I have also only used ETC books for my kids. 2 of them lerned to read in PS before we pulled them...but my 3rd child I taught him using ETC and the I See SAm Books and then the AAS reading books when we wanted a "big kid book" like his siblings. My one piece of advice using just ETC is to make sure your child reads each and every word on each and every page to you. It would be very easy to let them do the wrok on their own, but I learned the hard way that isn't a good plan. Also, we did each and every book...even the 1/2 books....and my kids do 1 page (back and front) each day. I think its a good program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lugrita Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I use just the workbooks, and not the teacher guidebooks. I agree with what NEprairiemom said - I have my dd read each and every word to me, and I go through it with her (or every once in awhile one of my older kids does it with her, because they love to do it and she thinks it's a big deal to let one of them "teach" her). She could easily do it on her own, but she IMO she wouldn't get as much out of it if I didn't do it with her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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