Actually they are 1 and 3 - so not older, but preschool aged. My older son goes to a church preschool co-op once a week, and he never stops talking about it, which is precisely the encouragement my husband needs to keep thinking that the school is the best way to go. ;) My personal preference would be to homeschool the early years, then perhaps that charger as of 6th for their upper school ... or even better a university model homeschool /school blend to get the best of both worlds.

Hmm fascinating stories, thank you all - keep them coming. I know from personal experience what it is not to be challenged properly. I was a girl, and so it came out by way of boredom and straight As. Later, at Yale, I discovered that I had never really learned to work, one of the many consequences of my PS upbringing. I would claim that most of the education I received was from the books I devoured at home. My brother on the other hand was an active boy, and his boredom came out in troubles at school and poor grades in anything he wasn't interested in. ... that is one of my big fears about schools.

I am in a similar situation, though my son has already begun. We have HOP levels 1-5, Teach your child to read in 100 EZ lessons, the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, and Phonics Pathways. As of now, my favorite is Phonics Pathways though I really appreciate the how tos and whys of OPGTR, and would recommend getting that from the library. The reason I love PP is that it emphasizes the process of moving from reading single words to phrases and sentences, and helps to work on eye tracking, with which my son (with eye coordination problems) has trouble. To add free stuff, use Starfall and Progressive Phonics, or the reading lists from Word Mastery or Blend Phonics from the Don Potter web site.

Here is the situation: we are blessed to have a whole bunch of fantastic classical charter schools in the Phoenix metropolitan area, but of course they are not Christian. (They are called Great Hearts Academies - greatheartsaz.org) They were founded by a devout Catholic man, and for instance the headmaster at the one we might send our boys to was for many years a Christian missionary. In addition, many families of a soon-to-be defunct classical Christian school will be sending their children there, so there will be a bit of a built-in friend group. My husband feels strongly that children, but especially boys, ought to be in a school rather than the home. He does not completely discount the possibility of homeschooling with co-ops, but he thinks it would be far simpler and more effective to be part of a school, and even better if it's tuition-free, as a public charter would be. I am sort of on opposing sides, meaning I would prefer to home educate, but I also have to acknowledge my own limitations and desires (esp. that to eventually complete my master's and go on to a PhD, while teaching an upper-level humanities course, possibly even in those high schools - they have a fantastic Humane Letters Seminar). Moreover, most of the curriculum they have chosen, especially in the younger years, fits exactly what I would have chosen, except that I don't need to pay for it or teach it. ;) Singapore Math, Riggs Phonics, Spelling + Vocabulary (a Spalding spin-off), the "good" and "great" books, and teaching Latin to all students. I wonder now what the best choice for our family would be, as I know I'd definitely be afterschooling - it's just part of who we are. Thinking through this, I would imagine I'd supplement with other math programs (Miquon, MEP, Math Mammoth, of which I already own grades 1-6). I would imagine that the history and science curricula would need to be supplemented with explicity Christian sources, as well as probably reading a ton of the awesome historical fiction that I had been planning to use in our home school - maybe just getting the books that Sonlight, for instance, would have as part of the same unit. Since we'd just be reading them as individual reading and read-alouds, they'd be even more "fun" and hopefully not feel like too much additional academics. We'd supplement a Bible curriculum. Hmmm perhaps all these families might even be interested in an "afterschooling co-op," ha! So. All that being said, nothing is in stone, but it does seem as though we might be headed towards the school path rather than homeschool path, and I feel okay about it, mostly, but also somewhat guilty because I worry that a classroom won't be able to meet all our needs and we'd wind up supplementing so much that it would be stressful. Back to the original question (please pardon the long digression): do you homeschool because you believe it is best, always, or best for your individual children (possibly having some in school, some at home), or just because there are no acceptable alternatives within your area or budget?

Amazon has failed me, for the first time. :(

It's funny I've seen that Tot School blog before, but never really dug around. I didn't mean to make it sound that he is severely behind, he's just always been on the slowest side of normal... walking at just under 15 months, jumping a full year later than his cousin did, etc. ;)

My wee man is so very smart (he's begun reading, and gives himself reading lessons if I don't), and he's got awesome counting skills, but he's always lagged in the motor skills department. I don't want him eventually entering school age reading at whatever advanced level, but without knowing how to hold a pencil - what can I do to encourage him now?

As to pricing, I agree that it should be a more marked difference, considering you can't resell, but the page layout shouldn't be a major problem, as it wouldn't just be a .pdf, but an edition made for the Kindle or Nook or iPad - meaning the pagination would be different, and there'd be less text per page.

I love a "real" book as much as the next person, but after having two IKEA 5x5 Expedits filled to the brim with books, many cubbies double-stacked, and my older son is only 3, I've started to consider getting some of my "texts" for the Kindle. I bought BFSU for Kindle, knowing that if I wanted a larger screen, I can always read them on my laptop's Kindle app. I've just placed a request for an interlibrary loan for Phonics Pathways and Reading Pathways, because I can't afford to just keep buying books every time I feel the urge to own all manner of curricular choices, but part of me still wants to own them, and I figured a Kindle edition would solve that - but neither PP nor OPGTR or anything of interest is available for the Kindle. Boo. I wonder how many more of us would own multiple curricula if it became THAT much cheaper to get them? I know there are certainly collectors among the members of this board. ;) Surely there's something "in it" for the publishers?

I don't own PP .. yet, though I'm considering buying it next month when the new edition comes out. I want to get Reading Pathways to use alongside it. I own OPGTR, and I love the non-program bits, especially about how to encourage early literacy skills and such, but the program itself bores me to tears, and I don't like the set up. I wind up transferring the words to be read to a separate document in larger font, then uploading that to my Kindle and having my son read them from there. It's less confusing for him, but then what I am left with is very basic simple word lists, which I could have gotten for free from Blend Phonics or Word Mastery or one of the other old, free programs online. Ironically, the primers like OPGTR or even PP, which as I said I do still want to buy, teach me about how to teach and why things are introduced in certain orders... which then empowers me to use the words lists I mentioned earlier. ;) If I had it all to do over again, I'd see about checking out PP and OPGTR from the library, take extensive notes on the how tos and wherefores, and then use something like Rebecca Pollard's series (free on Google books).

Thank you for all these recommendations! I will look through them. I feel guilty because my son at 2 was counting objects up to 20 or so, and it seems as though he was able to do so much more, mathematically, than he can now at just over 3. Granted, my strength is reading, and he IS only 3, but I really don't want to let his mathematical thinking waste away either.

Thanks, JudoMom!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118022432/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0AAZBFHACGGST5070XWV&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

I searched for it on Amazon, and it said that the 10th edition will be published in May of 2011. It's available for pre-order.

Does anyone know if there are truly important differences between Reading Pathways and its precursor, Pyramid? I could get a used copy of the latter very cheaply ... ditto for older editions of Phonics Pathways vs. the new one coming out this coming month. I can't find information on the new edition anywhere, even their own web site!

Thank you!

If my son is already reading CVC and CVCC words (just starting the latter,) is there any reason to buy Plaid Phonics K?

Is there such a thing as the math equivalent to a phonics primer that you could work through with your child?

If you are looking for something free, I found Spelling Connections worksheets online for free - you can download eight entire years. They contain the lists, which also appear to be a sort of top 1000, with phonetic groupings at first and also subject groupings later. http://www.zaner-bloser.com/spellingconnections/practice-pages.html

I agree, it's precisely that aspect of the HOP books, in addition to the sight words, that frustrates me with the Hooked on Phonics system. However, having little individually bound books with pictures on the cover (esp. in color) is nice. I think it has taken my reading several phonics books and web sites, including yours, to get to the point where I realize that yes, the Blend Phonics page would have been all I needed. However, my son really loves the incentive charts and stickers, and having his own little books... and I'm sorry, but Mr. Potter's "Readers," even the "lite" edition, are far, far too cluttered for my little 3-year old's eyes. The layout of the Hooked on Phonics book is much easier, even compared to the OPGTR, which I find very hard to work with for him, too. I have created my own little "workbook" with just the student text in large print, separated by white space. I would really like to use the free (Blend Phonics) materials to create a downloadable and printable system that parents can use (just as they do Progressive Phonics) which makes it easier and less intimidating to implement. When I first saw the Blend Phonics documents, I downloaded them and read through them, but found page after page of word lists far too intimidating.

Elizabeth, on a side note, I've been checking out your recommended resources, and I've noticed that the Rebecca Smith Pollard books (esp. the primer) combine simple regular words (aka the words that have been taught phonetically) with images in order to create more diversity in the sample sentences. So for example, something like "Had Dan a (picture of a ball)?" What do you think of this method of "spicing up" sample sentences in order to avoid having to introduce sight words? I'd love to work with someone to use a method like this or even the Blend Phonics pages to create sample mini books or readers, to be distributed for free (like the Progressive Phonics books). I have a bit of graphic design knowledge, and it would be fun to create something like that, downloadable in .pdf format for homeschooling parents.

Elizabeth, I was at a loss to figure out how to teach the HOP sight words phonetically, even with your page... do I introduce the rule, or just sound it out phonetically and then pass over it, hoping he won't notice. Then I remembered what you said about LeapFrog - "better a talking frog than me!" I ordered the Talking Word Factory 2/ Code Word Caper DVD from Amazon, and let him watch it. All the things discussed (th/ch/sh, silent e making the previous vowel long, two vowels going walking, etc) is still beyond him. He doesn't even know what vowels are, he just knows all the letter sounds... BUT now when I go back and re-introduce the word "the," which is even in OPGTR, I can mention the "baby frog" movie where the machine smooshed the t and the h together. Perhaps it will help him if the weird new rule doesn't come from me first. ;)

Ahem, yes. Amen. My son is barely 3 and is beginning to read, but can't even hold a pencil or crayon properly - so forget about writing for a LONG time. All the other children in his preschool co-op (which meets once a week) have done that for over a year. Sigh.

StartingOver, I think that's exactly what we'll wind up doing. I'll just sound out those words, and I'll only focus on him remembering the sight words that OPGTR uses. We have the Sonlight readers, too, I forgot all about those.

I got a fantastic deal on an unused Hooked on Phonics Levels 1-5 a while back at a kids resale store, so I pounced - but since then I've learned a bit more of how I'd like to teach reading, and I would prefer my son (who just turned three and is rocking the CVC words) would have fewer sight words. That being said, he LOVES the silly HOP books and even the sticker chart. ("May I read another book so I can get a red sticker?") Having read a while back that it's best to over-teach phonics rather than under-teach, we have several resources that we're using: "Baby Frog," aka LeapFrog DVDs and fridge magnets Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading (100 EZ Lessons - bought but not using) Explode the Code books 1 and 1 1/2 - we do these orally because he lacks the fine motor finesse to write, though I just got him some letter stamps yesterday and we'll experiment with that Starfall, iPhone apps, Progressive Phonics Books, BOB Books. So basically, there are TONS of things he does, and he keeps asking to do more. I am trying to slow him down, if anything, by doing so many different methods, so that we can stay in CVC territory a while longer and cement it. (He starts to get cocky and guesses at words when he thinks he knows what it'll be.) SO. All that being said, how do I best deal with the gadzooks of "helper" words in HOP? Do I teach them as the program teaches them, and just not worry about it? Do I just read them for him, knowing that it would take the satisfaction out of reading the whole book by himself? What have you done, if you've used HOP?