The HOD yahoo goup has notebooking pages in the files for Bigger and Beyond.

It's called Dictation Day by Day. I don't know the author.

You would be okay starting your son with Abeka grade 1 phonics because it starts at the beginning and reviews, for the first 30-40 lessons, everything learned previously.

The first 17-18 weeks in PR 3 review all of the spelling words and building codes from levels 1-2. You could feasibly go straight to PR 3, learning how to mark the words as you move through it.

Another vote for Phonics Road at least so far. Although, I did really like FLL, WWE & AAS when I used it for a year.

YOur lists sound similar to how the Grammar of Spelling by Logos is set up. http://www.logospressonline.com/index.php?p=product&id=72&parent=28

Have you looked at SWR? It's a Spalding spin off. The word lists in the Wise Guide are organized in a different order than Spalding. There are also enrichments with each list. So, you are working with the words in various different ways. http://www.swrtraining.com/

Abeka has an excellent LA program. I like their phonics much better than BJU.

I started out with 100 Easy Lessons. My dd hated the book. I think it was too busy for her. So I pretended like we weren't using the book and did the lessons with her on a white board, even the sentences. When the stories got to be a little longer, I typed them out and made a copy of the picture in the book. She cut the picture. colored and glued it in after reading the story. I never bothered with the special symbols and markings. I just used the dots and arrows for the words only. It worked well, but we switched programs at about lesson 50.

Classical Phonics in itself does not have writing in it. MP's First Start Reading is what has all the writing. That said, I've had Classical Phonics in my hand, and I don't think it's as comprehensive as OPGTR. You may just want to camp out a little longer on each page. Maybe copy the words onto cards for more practice, or have her spell a few words orally or with tiles from each list. I know this process helped to cement concepts for my dd.

I have to humbly disagree that most average children don't need intensive phonics. Quite the contrary, every child needs to have a good foundation in phonics/reading/spelling for future word study and composition. If I only offered light phonics practice along with the many wonderful books I have already exposed my dc to, they would not have learned to read. I just started using PR Level 1 with my K dd. It only takes a short amount of time to do, but it is already so rich. I really do think it is going to be a great fit for us. So it's well worth it, imo. I used A Beka K to teach her to read, so she is already reading well. But, so far, PR is fantastic. I almost wish I would have started it earlier. IMO, you cannot go wrong with PR especially if OPGTR has been a fight. PR is gentle in the first level but will give you the strong LA foundation you are looking for. Also, there are no boring lists of words to read through. I do, however, believe Abeka is top notch as well. Either program will lay a strong foundation. But, to me, PR is much more streamlined and easier to use. I've also been sold on the method for quite some time.

You may also want to check out Spell to Write and Read (SWR). It's very similar to WRTR, and Phonics Road. They all stem from O/G

I have my dd pronounce the u as "you", because she will automatically say "oo" when she comes upon a syllable/word pronounced that way. For example with duty, it's hard to say (dyou ty). We automatically say (doo ty).

Katrina, you and I must be on the same wave length. I've been pondering the syllabary all year, and have just started teaching it a few weeks ago. That said, I've also been teaching my k'er the phonograms all year. She knows all of them and we're working on mastery of the more difficult ones, ie ough, eigh, ti, ci, si, etc. The syllabary is a piece of cake to teach an already reading child, and after all the work with phonograms. I do think, though, if starting from scratch, I'd begin with teaching all the sounds of the first 26 phonograms PR, SWR, WRTR, way, then teach the syllabary, then work on introducing the rest of the phonograms as dc are progressing through the tables of Webster's which begin with cvc words, etc. After reading through the introduction of Webster's, I'm convinced that this is how dc were taught to read back then.

I totally understand. I, fortunately, just bought a copy from somebody who bought it new and never used it. I got a really good deal on it. It came to me still in the original packaging.

There is a PR 1 up for auction on ebay. It ends tomorrow. You could at least save a little money if you win it. BTW, I have PR 1 back in my hands.:D Boy! I sure do hope I have learned to sit on things longer the next time I get the urge to sell something. ;)

Well, I have a portable 100's chart from CLE. I love that I don't have to hang it on a wall and can just pull it out when we work with it daily. It's very plain and inexpensive. Maybe 8"x8" in size.

:lurk5: Hmmm, I'm interested in this, as well.

Two off hand from Preparing are Little Miriam of Galilee Fountain of Life

Letters and Sounds 1 is scheduled in the Writing and Seatwork TM. LS 1 has the lesson number on the bottom of the page, though. So you could easily figure out which page goes with which lesson.

I used both with my eldest dd. I used LHFHG for K while she learned to read with RME. We did MFW 1st the next year. It was a great review to solidify phonics and reading. My dd loved MFW 1st and her Bible notebook is a precious memory.

I used Abeka K this year with PP. I had the TM, but used it only as a guideline. I mainly used the Phonics for K workbook and readers combined with PP. We finished in Jan. Abeka and PP differ in sequence after long vowels sounds have been introduced. So, I followed Abeka's sequence introducing "special sounds" and used PP as the word lists. To finish out the year, we have been using MFW 1. We are using the Bible lessons, Bible Reader and notebook portion and continuing with PP using Abeka's markings when spelling words. IMO, PP covers more ground than The Hanbook for Reading and compliments Abeka nicely. I'm planning on continuing with Abeka for Phonics and LA for 1st grade possibly adding in Webster's speller for more mulitsyllable work. I want to really make sure Phonics is overlearned. With all that said, you could use both ;)

HOD actually uses Dictation Day by Day for the spelling portion.

I think it's important to incorporate the phonograms with Webster's. From reading through the introduction, I'm pretty sure all the sounds of a phonogram were taught at the same time during Webster's day anyway. With the phonogram knowledge and syllabary knowledge together, one will have a very strong, well-rounded phonics foundation, imo.:) This is actually what I'm planning for my dd after we finish up what we are doing this year. She already knows and can spell most of the phonograms.

Are you thinking about the grade 1 phonics? Or k. Either way, I would suggest the Basic Phonics Flashcards. They have the sound on the front, and on the back there are a handful of words to practice. I used K this year with just the TM, Phonics Workbook, Handbook for Reading and Basic Phonics Flashcards. I hardly used the TM, but it was helpful at times.