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matrips
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Hi,

I posted a few weeks ago about whether I should do a phonics program with my 4 year olds, who are very good readers. The consensus seemed yes, and I agree. I was leaning towards SWR (and have purchased a used set), but recently heard it's very writing intensive. Handwriting is still a fairly painful thing for my kids; we're doing HWOT very slowly. I obtained a copy of the ABC's and All Their Rules, but it's not something I can easily teach from (my opinion).

 

So what program can I start with them so that they (and me too!) learn all the phonics rules? I want them to be able to apply the rules to new words. One ds doesn't seem to ever have an issue with new words, one ds will have a problem sometimes, and my dd will frequently (at least compared to her brothers) have an issue with a new word (the word 'researched' is one that gave her problems recently).

 

What would you recommend? and why? how does the program work?

Would Alphaphonics, OPGTR, SWR, or AAS work?

 

Thank you so much!

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There is an online Explode the Code you could purchase from Homeschool Buyer's Co-op. I think you can sample it as well.

 

 

Also, Starfall.com and Between the Lions fro PBS with closed captioning turned on are great for young kids. My ds did both daily from 3-6 and now at 7 years he reads at a 7.5 grade level:)

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OPGTR and AAS would work. AAS recommends some writing, but it's not that much. We do the writing on the white board instead of on paper and Ariel seems to like it better that way. OPGTR doesn't require much, if any, writing, and very thoroughly goes through all the rules. I don't have any experience with Alphaphonics or SWR. I would probably recommend AAS because it has more to do and is more engaging for different learning types. Plus, the writing isn't absolutely necessary, the child/ren can spell the words just using the tiles.

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I missed your first post...

 

I didn't use a phonics program with my dd when she was 4yo because she began reading and read really well almost immediately...fluently with very few words being a problem except the most irregular. I attempted phonics programs initially (like Phonics Pathways and Teach Your Child to Read) when she was 2.5 to 3yo because she was beginning to teach herself to read and asking to do school but they were too dry and every time we started she'd lose interest after the first lesson or two. So, I set those aside and continued to read aloud to her until one day, at 3.5yo, she picked up a book and brought it to me to read, reading through the first 3 pages of Little House in the Big Woods on her own fluently without any assistance from me.

 

I continued reading to her and letting her read to me as much as her endurance allowed. Usually she read the first page or two of a chapter and I'd finish it off for our daily reading.

 

When she was 4.5yo and asking to do more for school, I decided to use Spelling Power which has its word groups based on phonics rules and allowed her to move through it very quickly since spelling comes easily for her as well. It could easily be done orally or with magnetic letters on the fridge if writing is a problem.

 

Last year, at 6.25yo, she tested by a reading specialist as decoding at the 12th grade level, comprehension independent at 6th grade level and instructional at a 7th grade level (she did fine retelling the story but needed to work on higher level thinking skills like analysis, synthesis, and evaluation and also on implicit meanings when reading at a 7th grade level since her life experiences didn't yet allow her to understand people being sarcastic etc...). So for those starting last school year, she does Reading Detective and we work on books using Suppose the Wolf's An Octopus.

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We used the phoneme flashcards from "The Writing Road to Reading" to get some phonemes down, and then we tried to move to OPGTR. My wife tells me that it was a huge struggle to get our DD (late 3/early 4 at this time) interested at first. Then she started to use the computer for the lessons, and let DD choose what color DW would type in. That got her interested enough to start, and they were able to phase that out after about two weeks or so.

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I have rules with instructions on how to use them along with Blend Phonics on my how to tutor page. It is also a gentle intro to the syllables needed for Webster's Speller. Webster's Speller is also really good for a young child--it helps them figure out how to sound out long words that they have not heard, English is very accent dependent, with many unaccented syllables making a schwa sound. I didn't realize how accent dependent English was until I started using Webster's Speller. The arrangement by accent pattern is most helpful for young students and ESL students who have not yet figured out how to pronounce unfamiliar long words.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/howtotutor.html

 

The guide and rules are in this paragraph:

 

Your number one task is to get them to stop guessing and start sounding out each and every word from left to right. Nonsense words are key, they help prevent guessing. Here is a free website that generates nonsense words. Syllables are also helpful, I would use the Blend Phonics Reader (it helps show how guessing is a bad strategy by showing words with similar configuration together) followed by Webster’s Speller. Here is a step by step guide to using Blend Phonics that also adds in syllables, spelling and phonics rules, syllable division rules, and syllable division exercises. There are also readings from Hebrews 12 that can be added to show progress through the program.
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I will second that. I really like explode the code and you can do it all orally if the child is not writing yet. I used that along with Starfall and Phonics Pathways.

 

Ditto. We are using Explode the Code and LOVE it. We are also using HWT Get Ready for School and he seems to be doing well with it as well. He's been really interested in spelling lately, so I am also looking into All About Spelling to see if it's what he would like!

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At that age I always use TATRAS. It requires no writing and uses 837 of the most often occurring words. It also teaches vertical phonics (all sounds of the letters) rather than horizontal phonics (short sounds first, then long), which I think is less confusing, especially for established readers. It uses lists of words which is an important skill to learn, as on standardized tests, words with no context are often used. I find kids can read words in context several grade levels ahead of what they can read in lists. I have never even seen the OPGTR though. I start the Spectrum phonics workbooks, one grade level ahead in K and I start AAS in 1st, but I wouldn't start it until they were ready for some dictation.

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My girls were all very early readers. But I think the phonics is key for spelling down the line. What I did (and will do this year) is Explode the Code - we do the written b/c there isn't much writing and I think it helps them remember, but the online looks good, too. I coupled that with Phonics Pathways. I just skipped ahead to where it gets "meaty" and did a page a day (no copywork until they were better at writing). Then we did "challenge" reading to put their phonics skills to the test. I had them read a very short passage from a harder book than what they were used to. They really had to put their phonics to work to sound out new words, etc. I think doing this immediately after PP was the best thing for us. I saw dramatic improvements every time.

 

This is worked great for me for three of my girls. My last little one is hyperactive so it'll be interesting to see how she does with ETC... I may be utilizing that Co-op online buy!

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