Needing a phonics program for my 5yo. Not too fancy, not too dry. Suggestions please.

[carlyincali]

Hello,

 

I spent hours yesterday searching and reading this board, (switching back and forth from Homeschoolreviews.com to here,) about all the phonics programs out there with the hopes I'd find one. Well, I think that was a mistake, because now I am just overwhelmed. :001_unsure:

 

My older two (girls) learned how to read using SSRW. We loved the program and I swore that I would use that for the rest of my brood. The problem is that my 5yo is a boy and is not really into singing so much, and also I don't have as much time as I did before.

 

I am almost ready to purchase Phonics Pathways because so many of you had success w/it. But I read that it is very dry and I don't want to put a bad taste in my son's mouth especially in his first year of homeschooling.

 

I hope to use ETC w/the phonics program we choose. I just can't figure out which program.

 

My son knows his letters and some letter sounds. I do plan on working w/him to have all the sounds down before we start our program.

 

I would really appreciate any suggestions.

[mims]

How about All About Spelling. Quite a few have used it as a phonics program. It uses magnetic tiles so that would possible make it more kinesthetic. I would seriously consider it if I were at your point.

[LoveBaby]

I have phonics pathways sitting on my table right now and I don't think it looks dry at all.

 

I'm using it with a 7yo now and he likes it just fine. He especially likes that the lessons are *short*. He really, really likes to play the games that are suggested!

 

I'm planning on using it with my soon to be 5yo boy in the fall when he "officially" starts kindergarten. I plan to supplement with the ETC books, I think. Still thinking that one through!

[ElizabethB]

You could use PP on a white board, no more than 10 minutes a day at first. My daughter liked working from the white board at that age.

 

You can add in some games to make it fun, games with magnetic letters and my concentration game.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/concentrationgam.html

[hmschooling]

We REALLY enjoy Reading Made Easy and use their new workbook pages as well. I've used MFWK & 1, All About Spelling, Phonics Pathways, HOP, and some others and RME is my favorite by far! The workbooks are similar to ETC but they line up perfectly with the lessons. The lessons are fun, quick (10-15 minutes), effective, have built in review, and kids get to reading short sentences rather quickly which has really boosted my sons confidence. Once they read the sentence at teh end of the lesson, they get to see a fun picture that goes along with it. There are letter cues to help them remember the rules that slowly go away as you progress through the lessons.

[dcjlkplus3]

I didn't read the other posts, but...

Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading works well at our house.

[coralloyd]

I tried more "Fancy" options with my oldest dd (Hooked on Phonics, Weaver W/ lots of songs, ect...). I wish I had been more relaxed about it all. Oldest dd reads well, but it has been a lot of trial and error (poor thing:blush:). With my 2nd dd we did use the Weaver 1-2-3 Read for her letter sounds. There is a very cute song, that you make paper bag puppets to go along with. However, after that we switched to Phonics Pathways and ETC. We are about half way through PP and on ETC 1 1/2.

 

I have both of my girls read in the morning before school for about 1/2 hour on their beds. I don't require any specific books. Dd7 loves the "Magic Tree House" books. With dd5 I am amazed at the books she picks out, ones that I would think are way above her level. Even though I focus on phonics, most of the reading she does is by sight. She reads extremely well! I really think me relaxing, doing an easy book like PP (which takes litterally about a minute maybe two a day), and not holding her back based on "reading level", have all really helped.

 

Hope you find what works for you :).

[j_thurm]

I tried quite a few reading programs but my child ended up loving Hooked on Phonics! It was super easy to follow and it worked!

[KristenS]

Um, ETC is a full phonics program on its own, especially if you actually look at the teacher's guide (which I rarely do). Just throw in your favorite readers for some extra practice. I know lots of folks seem to use the books to supplement other programs, but I've never quite figured out why, since all of them are supposed to be complete as they are.

 

If that doesn't suit you, I have heard very good things about Reading Made Easy, and I would bet OPGTR is good (that's by the Bauers, yes? FLL looks great so I am betting anything they wrote for reading would be good too).