Help! My DD Dislikes Ordinary Parents Guide To Teaching Reading

[Guest JuJuBeeMama]

Hi Everyone!!!

 

New to home schooling and forums and would like some advice...

 

I started my DD 4 (almost 5) on home schooling books from Walmart (of all places) because I just wanted to get her started and I was a bit overwhelmed by all the choices in curriculum online. The preschool one was easy for her so I bumped her to the kindergarten one.

 

After reading TWTM I bought The Ordinary Paren'ts Guide To Teaching Reading. I've tried 2 lessons and whenever I get it out she says "It's boring" and strongly reacts to having to do it.

 

The other books have lots of pictures, coloring, etc. which are ok for learning some things, but I'd really like her to learn to read. I try to get her excited by telling her this book will teach her to read. To which she replies that she already CAN read...she has a couple of books memorized. :-) She knows quite a few sounds for letters but I don't think I should just "wing it" with teaching her reading...

 

 

Suggestions??

Wait until she thinks she is ready?

Try to be more entertaining? (if that's possible)

Make her do it anyway?

 

Ideas and advice greatly appreciated!!!

THANKS!

[Heather in OK]

I've always just done the whole "wing it" method. Once they know the letter sounds it's a matter of putting those sounds together to form words. So far at least that has worked, I still have one more so that may not work for him. ;)

 

We did it in progression like this:

- Learn the short vowel sounds

- Learn consonant sounds

 

- Start putting words together:

at, am, an, as

it, in, if, is

on, of,

up,

 

- Then build bigger words:

cat, sat, hat, mat, bat; ham, sam, ram; ran, man,; has,

sit, bit, mit, fit; fin, bin, pin.

...You get the idea. :)

 

By the time they are doing that you can get library books that she can read. Dr Seuss books are great ("Hop on Pop", "I am Sam")!! But many have these sight words in them even if you read together. You read the bigger words and she can read those that she knows.

 

At this age it's so very easy to just have fun and make it a game.

 

Once my girls could read basic sight words we moved on to R&S 1. However now, with my third, we're using CLE LA 100. Those help reinforce what they have already learned plus begin teaching phonics rules.

[ladydusk]

My daughter dislikes the Ordinary Parents' Guide when I make her read it from the book. She gets distracted and frustrated by the parents' script. She (and now my son) much prefers it when I put the words on a white board or another sheet of paper.

 

HTH

[KRG]

I would just keep reading to her--not necessarily from the book you are using but just read books to her and let her enjoy the story.

[patchfire]

My son's the same way. He went on a phonics strike.

 

So we're doing the same material, just on paper, white board, out of other books we have... whatever so he doesn't realize it's from that dreaded blue book. :D I just have to make sure I check what's next when he ISN'T around. :) We're also using the Primer from a set of reprinted McGuffey's Readers.

[Oak Knoll Mom]

My daughter dislikes the Ordinary Parents' Guide when I make her read it from the book. She gets distracted and frustrated by the parents' script. She (and now my son) much prefers it when I put the words on a white board or another sheet of paper.

 

HTH

:iagree: Or use the magnetic board and letter tiles that Peace Hill Press sells with OPG.

[StartingOver]

We use it, but not as scripted. I think it is over kill. But I do love the way it is taught, the order of it, the completeness of it !!! It is one of the best programs I have seen in 20 years.

 

Having said that, we do our work on the refridgerator with magnets, on the white board with many different color dry erase markers, on the chalk board, on the sidewalk, in paints on the easel, in shaving cream on the table, use our wooden blocks, or Melissa and Doug Letters, etc. Anything to change it up a bit to keep my son interested. I just put up the new blend, letters, etc., and a couple of the sentences of the day. Each day I add one word from each of the last two lessons, and a couple more sentences from the current one, until we have finished it.

 

He now does a whole lesson at a time, but we have been working on it for a couple of months. So many words are second nature to him now. I have tons of readers, Sonlights, HOP, I SEE SAM, Progressive Phonics, etc. So that he has tons of variation. Each day we read one of these books together.

 

It was slow going at first, but really picking up speed now. I don't think I would suggest another program of phonics, just try to make it fun. It really is a great program. Some children are ready to read at 3, and some aren't ready till 6 or later. I would not make it a chore, I would take a break then start again in another way. My son never sees the OPGTR book.

[nukeswife]

We tried it many times and my dd just didn't care for it. She needs things to be colorful and fun. We're using McRuffy now and it's never complained about. She really enjoys it.

[Satori]

We also use a small whiteboard so she doesn't have to look in the OPG book.

[IsabelC]

Don't use the script if it's not comfortable for you, because you're not going to be very inspiring if you're reading out something that doesn't feel right for you.

 

Feel free to write the word lists on your white/black board as lots of kids prefer this to reading them from the book.

 

If you don't fancy learning the rhyme about the letters, it is simple to teach the basic letter sounds by your preferred method and then jump into OPG at lesson 27.

 

If your child doesn't like the little stories, you can go through the letter combinations and word lists in the order suggested, but use other stories (this takes a bit of preparation, you can either write your own or buy/borrow beginner phonically controlled readers).

[TKDmom]

I checked out OPG from the library once and I disliked it. I don't like all the repetition, and I disagree with the philosophy of teaching all the sounds before kids can start reading words. I use 100 EL (Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons) It teaches the kids to read some of the most common sounds first and by lesson 13 or 14, kids are reading simple "stories". My 4 yo gets so excited to read stories to me.

 

ETA: I follow TWTM's advice and skip the "sound writing" portion of each lesson. It makes it so much easier when ds doesn't have to worry about doing any writing for his reading lesson.

Edited January 13, 2010 by bonniebeth4

[MDMom]

My son had and still has a hard time with OPG. We are on lesson 144 and are taking a break for a few weeks. We have stuck with it b/c I had already owned it and I was on board with the method.

 

To make the lessons more interesting I have been incorporating more activities with the flashcards and magnetic letters. Sometimes I will make up games or use some of the previous game ideas and make it work for that lesson that we were on. As much as I like the short and straight to the point OPG lessons, my son needed more fun, activity, enrichment to stay interested with a good attitude :001_smile:

[Guest JuJuBeeMama]

Hopefully this is the way to respond to everyone...

 

Thank you SO much for your answers. I've just only read through them but there are such great suggestions. And knowing that I am not alone in this pursuit makes it seems SO much easier.

 

I will re-read your responses in detail and take it from there. But I REALLY appreciate it. Thanks everyone!

Blessings!