But does the g say /g/ or /j/ ? I assumed /g/ so we pronounce it King-ee.

That is the way I learned to read. It wasn't until I was an adult, researching how I was going to teach my son, that I discovered phonics and retaught myself. I'm SO glad I found phonics. I hate the whole language method. I thought I was dyslexic before I learned phonics.

My Father's World Kindergarten got my son reading in no time but if you don't want to buy that...try this method. Write the vowels one under another and then take a beginning sound (you can use letter magnets) and hold it in front of the first vowel and have her sound it out using the short vowel sound. Then move down to the next vowel using the same beginning sound. Repeat until she has done all of them. Pick a new beginning sound and do it again. After she gets the hang of this, add an end sound. Example. a e i o u ba be bi bo bu bat bet bit bot but I did this for a couple of months with my son and it got him reading CVC words easily. Once she gets CVC maybe consider buying My Father's World first grade student workbook. It will get her reading beginning books in no time. It teaches the basic vowel teams and consonant teams. The whole program is wonderful but it is religious and if you don't want that you can just buy the workbook (I don't think it had much or any religion in it...although it's been 2 years since I used it...).

Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading has a wonderful cd that puts the spelling rules to music. The program is very teacher intensive but the cd can obviously be listened to alone. There is a second CD with the grammar rules.

We used Singapore but bought it through My Father's World so that it came with the schedule and never even bought the teacher guide. I don't know how long that would have worked but it worked 1b-2a However, Singapore wasn't quite the right fit so we are using Math Mammoth this year. We really love it. It does not come with a schedule or teacher manual so you decide how many pages to do each day and everything is taught on the page.

We are going through Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading. It is a full LA program. I love it!

We are 7 weeks into Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading level 2. My 7 year old son knows all of the "teams" and has a good grasp of the rules so far. He is very good at spelling words that can be sounded out and use the most common sound. However, he definitely is not remembering the words that use less common sounds or are sight words (true sight words, such as "eye"). He needs LOTS of repetition to memorize anything and even then, he usually forgets if he doesn't continue to use it a lot. Should I add more "study time" to memorize the words? I don't want to use any form of whole word but I'm afraid he can't spell common words such as there, were, was, etc... Also, he HATES reading but is slowly becoming less resistant to it as long as it is easy. Dr. Seuss books are the only ones he doesn't completely fight me about. He wants to be able to read well but he doesn't feel like he's good at it so he'd rather just hate it.

Nevermind! The seller had another copy and is going to send me the pages. I'm not sure how to delete this post.

Math Mammoth has been a great fit for us this year.

My son (almost 7) reverses a lot. b and d. p, and q. Even b and p sometimes. m and w. He mixes up 2 and 5. He also writes his 7s backward about 50% of the time. He knows what they are and he knows the sound or value so I'm not worried. I don't know many 15 year olds that don't know their b from d. Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading helped a bit because they make sure that you teach how to write the letter correctly. When you write a d you draw the hump first and then the line and with b you draw the line first and the hump after. Usually it helps my son for me to say hump or line first? It's frustrating to repeat a thousand times but when I tried the "make a bed with your hands" he gets very irritated for whatever reason. Ugh.

I bought an old copy on eBay (2000-2001) and it is missing pages 17-24. Does anyone have the program and could maybe email me those pages? I'm so sad because I really love what I've gone over so far. I can send pictures to whoever to prove that I have the program if you are worried about copyright issues. Thank you!

I hated, HATED reading until I was about 12. It was a battle to get me to pick a book up, much less read it. Then one time my brother was suppose to read The Outsiders and do a book report. He didn't want to and I was a people pleaser so I decided I would read it and tell him what it was about. I read it in less than a day and wrote a book report that he got an A on (ethics aside...). I haven't stopped reading since. It just took finding the book that sparked my interest. My son also hates reading. I am still searching for that book...but it's ok because I know it'll come.

For us, Language arts (we use Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading. includes spelling, phonics, reading, writing, handwriting, grammar, etc) Math (switching to Math Mammoth this next year...was using Singapore) History (My Father's World, it includes Bible) Science (Next year we are using the science included in MFW, the last two years we have just read books, watched documentary, watched Magic School Bus, talked about nature as we explored it) PE (karate, gymnastics, and we take lots of walks, hikes, kayaking, park trips, backyard sports. I am a firm believer in children trying all sports so I teach him a bit of everything..except golf...because well the one time I golfed I flipped the golf cart.) Art and music (We've done a few art classes but art and music are also included in MFW. I'm also an artist so I teach him a bit here and there) I tend to be a bit relaxed on science and history. To me, it's not about memorizing a bunch of facts but instead learning to love the world, how it works and where it came from. He naturally seems to soak it in as we've read this and that. He'll learn the facts in middle and high school. Language Arts and Math are the only subjects I'm a bit strict about because you can't do anything without them.

Are you religious at all? My son hated listening to anything without seeing pictures until he started listening to Adventures in Odyssey. He will sit for hours and listen now. We read the Harry Potter books last year and now we're reading the Hobbit. But I owe it all to AIO because that got him to where he liked listening to stories and not just looking at pictures.

I don't know if I am too late but I'd like to recommend Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading.

Is Number the Stars by Lois Lowry too hard? I think I was in 4th or 5th when I read it. Turn Homeward, Hannalee was one of my favorites around 4-5th grade. I hated reading until I was about 12 but I enjoyed fiction books that had real historical value.

Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading has helped my son so much. It is very phonics and rules intensive but that is what I wanted and what my son needed.

We're loving My Father's World Adventures in US History (so much love for MFW), Phonics Road the spelling and reading (my son is actually spelling words without saying "But I don't know how!!!", Singapore math (it just makes so much sense to our minds and my son keeps saying "Man, I'm good at this."), and AIG God's design for science (It's so bright and informative without making me want to bang my head against the wall).

Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading. They have a "quick start" option for older students who need to catch up. It's not a flashy program so it doesn't feel babyish.

I just noticed the other person said pretty much the same thing...

Also a good trick for b and d is to make sure she is writing them correctly. d should start at the top of the circle, make the circle (counterclockwise) and then up to form the line and back down. The b should start at the top of the line and go down then back up a little to form the circle. By teaching them to write the b and d correctly, their mind can see them as a different type of letter...b is a tall letter with a short part and d is a short letter with a tall part. That is one of the tips that is given in Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading. It has helped my son a lot (he mixes up d and b all the time and I remind him to think about what type of letter he is looking at).

Maybe look into Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading. We are using level one this year and my son is learning so much and is gaining a lot of confidence from it. It is a program that each level builds off the one before it so you have to start with level 1 but there is a "fast track" for older children.

I have never been the parent in that situation but I was the kid in that situation. I was 13 when I was adopted. Honestly, there will probably never be hugs from the birth parents. It took my birth mom many, many years to grow up and realize that it was her mistakes that lead to my being adopted by another family. You will probably be hurt a lot in the process of giving your child a loving home and life. It's worth it and you are amazing for doing it! But until the birth parents grow up, you have to be the adult and sit them down and have a talk (without the child). Explain to them that you want to have an open relationship with them so that you can all enjoy the child that you ALL love. Tell them that you understand that this situation is hard for them, but that it is also hard for you. Tell them that you need their help to make sure that "child's name" is happy and healthy. And that you don't want the stress between you and the birth parents to cause the child stress (believe me, it does. I've been in the middle before). Set boundaries. Let them know that while around the children, there will be only positive talk and behavior. They need to understand that making a child feel guilty or like they need to choose between two sets of parents they love is wrong and hurtful. An older adopted child will struggle with guilt over feeling disloyal to their birth family regardless but a peaceful relationship between the families can help. Just try to make sure you keep the talk as friendly as possible while still setting strong boundaries that will protect the child. Also, just something I wish someone had made sure my adoptive mom understood...make sure that you, as the adoptive parent, never talk negative about the biological parents in front of your child. As an older adopted child, I knew the problems my birth mom had but I still loved her and felt beyond hurt when my adoptive mom pointed out my birth mom's faults or made my birth mom seem as thought she wasn't as good as my adoptive mom. To me, they were both amazing women in different ways. I had enough love for both of them. (I'm sure you already know this but coming from an older adopted kid's perspective it's the bit of advice I feel can truly make or break an adoptive relationship) I hope this was helpful. I know that being an adoptive\foster parent can be very hard and hurtful. But thank you for doing it.

Oh and I definitely agree, Leapfrog Letter factory is great! I think it's on Netflix also :)

1: I used this game with my son and he loved it and it helped. It's free! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Jake-the-Snake-Silent-E-Board-Game-209295 There are a lot of free\cheap games on that website that can help a lot! 2. We used My Father's World for K. We started 2 months before my son's 5th birthday and by Christmas he could read CVC words with ease. Before we started the program, he could say his ABCs but didn't recognize most of the letters and didn't know any of the sounds. He actually picked it up so well that we didn't finish the last 6 weeks of the program because he was ready to learn something harder...we moved on to the first grade program and now he can read almost any children's book. I hope these help!