My daughter turned 4 in May. She was showing all the reading readiness signs. Could identify sounds (beginning, middle, end) in words, can recognize all letters and sounds easily etc. We bought the Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading and she has had no problem sounding out CVC words and sentences comprised of those words. However, about 3 weeks ago we got to the section on 4 letter words and it's really been a struggle. We did okay at first because the book has you start with double consonants and "ck" words. She also did okay with "st" words because we learned to recognize that as a single sounds. But then it moved on to more complex words. When she sounds them out she always puts the emphasis on the 3rd letter. So for sand she goes "ssssssss-aaaaaaaaaaa-NUH-duh" dragging out the "s" and the "a" just like that and then quickly emphasizing the "N" to the "D" sounds. Since she can't seem to emphasize or read the words correctly she can't blend them. I'm a problem solver so I tried to start with easier words like "st" "sh" and "sk" ending words because I could teach her to blend them as a single sounds with relative ease but we still can't seem to get down words with "mp" "nd" or similar sounds. I also tried to teach her to take the root "and" and add various letters to the beginning to make "s-and" "h-and" but it's just not clicking. She can read them out of context with help but not in a sentence and half the time I have to point out "see the word and after the s?" so it's really just handholding. I feel like it's just beyond her level at this time. Do I just stick with CVC words for now? She manages those so easily I feel like it's not challenging enough but after almost a month on the same handful of words I'm not sure what to do anymore. The book was excellent for us up until the 4 letter words and now we just can't seem to grasp them.

Background: My daughter will be 4 in May. I bought her a preschool book and we have finished it, she has already met all the objectives for preschool and I was hoping to start homeschooling 5 year Kindergarten in August. I figure if she doesn't do as well as I would like her to that I can always repeat it a second year. She knows how to count 1-20, recognizes number 1-10, knows all shapes, colors, can count items and sort. She knows all her letters and sounds and can write most of them fairly well (aside from some toughies we're still working on) and is doing basic pre-reading and sounding out letters. She can tell me what words begin with, spell certain sight words, etc. I really think she's ready but I'm struggling with curriculum. Electives I've got, I have science, art and unit studies all figured out but the writing, reading, phonics, math- the core stuff is my problem. I looked into the "Confessions of a Homeschooler" K4 program and it seemed pretty good but I didn't know if it would be too basic and I read mixed reviews. I've looked into abeka but got overwhelmed because I wasn't sure what all I needed, their website isn't very easy to navigate. Can anyone recommend a good phonics, writing, reading, grammar, and math curriculum? Or multiple curriculum's. I'm brand new to this and I have a baby due in August so I need something really straight forward and easy but still challenging enough to set her up for a strong first grade program the following year.