LadyAberlin Posted August 30, 2009 Share Posted August 30, 2009 I'm using McRuffy Phonics with my 5.5 yr old. I really like it. I've tried a lot of programs and I like this one the best, so I'm not looking for another program. Here is my dilemma. McRuffy has the student read the same reader over again for 5 days in a row. My ds only wants to read it once. I don't blame him, I don't like to read books more than once either. He also wants to be able to just pick a reader from the stack. I actually let him do that the other day and he picked one about 60 lessons ahead of where we are. He wanted to take turns with each of us reading a page. Well the reader for the lesson that we are on is only 4 pgs and he digs his heels in the whole time saying it is too much, but when he picked out the harder reader with 14 pgs and we took turns reading pgs it went really smoothly. I had to tell him about sh making the shhh sound and about silent e's making the vowel long. He read 7 pgs without complaining and they were harder to read. So now I'm wondering if I should be doing something formal with him for phonics at all and that maybe he would do better if we just read various books taking turns reading and I just point out the phonics rules as we go along. Is that okay? I really worry about him not getting a good foundation in phonics. I also saw this http://www.winterpromise.net/product_info.php?products_id=1017. He loves computer type games and does well learning with electronic products. I thought this might be fun and that he could pick up all his phonics that way. It is kind of expensive, but my 3 yr old could use it too. Plus I loved Geosafari products when I was a kid. Has anyone used this? So do you think just having him read to me and play with that toy would work? We could still play the McRuffy Phonics games. He loves those. He'll read all sorts of words when we play those games. So what do you think.Should I stay the course with the formal phonics program or should I do something a little less formal? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted August 30, 2009 Share Posted August 30, 2009 You can and should teach him all of the phonics in the program by playing games.:) That is how I taught DD to read. Just add in rules and words and keep playing games. The WP yahoo group did not review the geosafari phonics pad highly. You might go on their forums and see what people think of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyAberlin Posted August 30, 2009 Author Share Posted August 30, 2009 Okay maybe that is what we'll do. We'll just play the games and I'll let him pick a reader. I really think we could move faster than we are going at the moment. He catches on quickly and he hates reviewing anything that he already knows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeAndTheBoys Posted August 30, 2009 Share Posted August 30, 2009 I'm not telling you what to do--but I will say that I dropped the formal program with my older (he's 6 3/4 now)--we still did those silly Explode the Code books, but mostly we just read. And he zoomed up to about a 4th grade level by the time he turned 6 and he is a GOOD reader, reading aloud and all. But I noticed about 4 months ago that he is lacking in some decoding skills, so we went back and picked up a simple phonics and reading program, Pathway, and we're doing 2nd grade to fill in gaps. His spelling program also goes over some phonics rules. But at 5 1/2, I think you can drop a program for a while. Don't be discouraged if you find you have to pick up a program in a year; if you've built a good foundation in reading and a love of reading, he can pick up any rules he might need to be taught formally in no time-- Betsy I'm using McRuffy Phonics with my 5.5 yr old. I really like it. I've tried a lot of programs and I like this one the best, so I'm not looking for another program. Here is my dilemma. McRuffy has the student read the same reader over again for 5 days in a row. My ds only wants to read it once. I don't blame him, I don't like to read books more than once either. He also wants to be able to just pick a reader from the stack. I actually let him do that the other day and he picked one about 60 lessons ahead of where we are. He wanted to take turns with each of us reading a page. Well the reader for the lesson that we are on is only 4 pgs and he digs his heels in the whole time saying it is too much, but when he picked out the harder reader with 14 pgs and we took turns reading pgs it went really smoothly. I had to tell him about sh making the shhh sound and about silent e's making the vowel long. He read 7 pgs without complaining and they were harder to read. So now I'm wondering if I should be doing something formal with him for phonics at all and that maybe he would do better if we just read various books taking turns reading and I just point out the phonics rules as we go along. Is that okay? I really worry about him not getting a good foundation in phonics. I also saw this http://www.winterpromise.net/product_info.php?products_id=1017. He loves computer type games and does well learning with electronic products. I thought this might be fun and that he could pick up all his phonics that way. It is kind of expensive, but my 3 yr old could use it too. Plus I loved Geosafari products when I was a kid. Has anyone used this? So do you think just having him read to me and play with that toy would work? We could still play the McRuffy Phonics games. He loves those. He'll read all sorts of words when we play those games. So what do you think.Should I stay the course with the formal phonics program or should I do something a little less formal? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovedtodeath Posted August 30, 2009 Share Posted August 30, 2009 I'm not telling you what to do--but I will say that I dropped the formal program with my older (he's 6 3/4 now)--we still did those silly Explode the Code books, but mostly we just read. And he zoomed up to about a 4th grade level by the time he turned 6 and he is a GOOD reader, reading aloud and all. But I noticed about 4 months ago that he is lacking in some decoding skills, so we went back and picked up a simple phonics and reading program, Pathway, and we're doing 2nd grade to fill in gaps. His spelling program also goes over some phonics rules. But at 5 1/2, I think you can drop a program for a while. Don't be discouraged if you find you have to pick up a program in a year; if you've built a good foundation in reading and a love of reading, he can pick up any rules he might need to be taught formally in no time-- Betsy This is true. That is why I chose a phonics based spelling program. You can avoid this by making sure that you go through all of the rules thoroughly by other means (like playing games) KWIM? You might want to borrow OPGTR or WRTR, or look at ElizabethB's stuff so that you have all of the rules available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyAberlin Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 This is true. That is why I chose a phonics based spelling program. You can avoid this by making sure that you go through all of the rules thoroughly by other means (like playing games) KWIM? You might want to borrow OPGTR or WRTR, or look at ElizabethB's stuff so that you have all of the rules available. That is what I keep thinking, that if I get a phonics intensive Spelling program in the future then he'll eventually pick anything up that I may have missed. He loves the games so we'll keep that and I don't mind them either He gets so excited when I can read my word right:lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyAberlin Posted August 31, 2009 Author Share Posted August 31, 2009 I'm not telling you what to do--but I will say that I dropped the formal program with my older (he's 6 3/4 now)--we still did those silly Explode the Code books, but mostly we just read. And he zoomed up to about a 4th grade level by the time he turned 6 and he is a GOOD reader, reading aloud and all. But I noticed about 4 months ago that he is lacking in some decoding skills, so we went back and picked up a simple phonics and reading program, Pathway, and we're doing 2nd grade to fill in gaps. His spelling program also goes over some phonics rules. But at 5 1/2, I think you can drop a program for a while. Don't be discouraged if you find you have to pick up a program in a year; if you've built a good foundation in reading and a love of reading, he can pick up any rules he might need to be taught formally in no time-- Betsy Yeah I'm thinking that we need to work on the love of reading because he doesn't like to read right now, so I'm thinking we need to relax and have fun and just enjoy it. I have Phonics Pathways I can glance through too. I use it with my kids I tutor, but he doesn't like the format. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 The I See Sam readers would work perfectly for you. Each book adds just a little bit more code (some don't add any new code). They start from the very beginning and go all the way up to 3rd grade level. http://www.iseesam.com (cost $30 here, but each book has a list of the new code in the front) http://www.3rsplus.com (cost $20 here, but no code list) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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