Have you taught your DC to read with Phonics Road?

[Lovedtodeath]

It looks like everyone is using it for spelling after their children can read. I am planning to use it with DS for beginning reading and wanted some feedback.

[LoveBaby]

:lurk5:

 

I am using it for spelling for my 4th grader. To gain fluency in reading and spelling in my 2nd grader and everything for my K'er.

 

My K'er is working through the phonograms, but I'm not having him fill out any of the building codes yet. His motor skills just aren't there yet. He's having a blast working on the white board though! I think I'll spend the summer working on the phonograms and then in the fall start on building codes and the rest of the program for him.

[Lovedtodeath]

:confused:

[Homeschooling6]

I'm using it to teach Lance to read. Ethan, knows cvc words already. Not sure if that counts.

 

My two middle kids read at a first grade level when they started, they both now read at 2.9 grade level. They started with R&S phonics when I switched them to PR. They only finished the first book and started the second. So, yes I'm using it for reading. Spelling is a bonus:D

[Lovedtodeath]

Thanks Linda. I will ponder when to start it or how to break it up. (Maybe using the tiles at first or something.) I will probably know better when I get there!

Edited March 12, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[Honey Bee]

I taught my 1st grade son to read with Phonics Road this year... any specific questions?

[Lovedtodeath]

Thanks HoneyBee. I am mainly wondering if it will be too much to start with a 4 or 5 year old and take it really slowly.

 

I also want to know if your son already knew his letters before starting, and what kind of things you did with him for preschool? My main goal of preschool was teaching to read, so I am floundering around with what to do for 4 and 5 years old. :o

[Guest]

Ha ha....I didn't see this post before I posted my somewhat similar post...I guess were in the same quandary...trying to figure out if these "spelling" programs teach reading adequately. Good luck!

[Honey Bee]

Thanks HoneyBee. I am mainly wondering if it will be too much to start with a 4 or 5 year old and take it really slowly.

 

I also want to know if your son already knew his letters before starting, and what kind of things you did with him for preschool? My main goal of preschool was teaching to read, so I am floundering around with what to do for 4 and 5 years old. :o

 

 

Well I started at age 5, kinder, and he didn't know many sounds. He learned his sounds using PR, but doing PR way was too much as that time. I just waited it out till he was 6, first grade, and he went through the spelling like a champ and the reading when we got to it (week 17 I believe). All that to say, I think the handwriting can be a little much for some kids, just depends and in my case, my son just wasn't ready developmentally for the spelling. If you think they are ready I would borrow some things from SWR or AAS. I've seen those working with K in SWR write out the spelling word for the kids when the writing is too much. From AAS, which I have also, I use the tiles sometimes to change things up a bit, but I suppose you can begin to "build" the words in PR with the tiles. When they were "ready" I would have them go back and write the words in their notebooks. Hope that helps. Feel free to ask more. :)

 

I forgot to add, with my second son, who is in K now, we are learning our sounds and have done some of the "blend phonics" from Don Potters website. He was just trying to read after I taught him sounds, so I began showing him how to blend his words, etc. "blend phonics" uses the same "teams" as PR, so it fit nicely. We never finished the blend phonics, but actually started reading about 10 minutes a day working towards 15 right now. I guess that has been one of my negatives about PR is reading. I love the spelling, it rocks though! Right now I am taking a break and trying out some things that have been on my shelf like FLL and SWR to see how they will compare. After reading so many posts, I have decided to make a final decision after I go to convention in May (Mrs. Beers is suppose to be speaking). Language arts is the only thing not decided for next year, no silver bullet for me so far. I think I am so picky because I have such a narrow view of LA and at our home, we are LA focused and will be for some time to come.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Honey Bee

[Lovedtodeath]

Did he already know letter names and recognition (but not the sounds) when you started?

[FO4UR]

Ha ha....I didn't see this post before I posted my somewhat similar post...I guess were in the same quandary...trying to figure out if these "spelling" programs teach reading adequately. Good luck!

 

I use SWR...not PR, but I wanted to answer your question from my experience.

 

My ds7 has some visual perception issues, so SWR wasn't a magic pill for reading b/c of his vision. However, inspite of not being able to see words on a busy page....he can spell, he has a good grasp of how to encode and decode (for a 1st grader LOL). As we progress with his vision therapy, his reading is really coming along. We've actually dropped SWR for a while and are using ETC and HP...I'm catching VT issues with ETC...It's difficult to see that with SWR b/c it's based on hearing THEN spelling (seeing is last)....but that's also what helped him to progress this far at the same time...

 

I think the answer to your question is "not for all kids." (like any other curric, so I'm learning;)) I think SWR will be just about perfect for my dd when she's ready (loves reading/writing and all things school-ish)...of course, she's already reading some so maybe she doesn't count...

[Homeschooling6]

Did he already know letter names and recognition (but not the sounds) when you started?

 

With Lance, who is five years old right now; I'm teaching him the sounds and hopefully to work with him soon with writing. But he can't even hold a pencil correctly. We are working on cutting, pasting and tracing right now.

 

With Ethan, he can read cvc words, I'm teaching him the 70 phonograms and we are practicing writing them. He is so ready but i want to keep him and Lance together.

 

Caleb & Brent, they could read cvc and cvcc words but they were at a very low 1st grade level. They didn't know all 70 phonograms.

 

That's how we have or will start out.

[MommyX8]

What kind of pace should I shoot for?

 

K, 2nd, 4th, 8th (bad speller so we are starting fresh)

[johnandtinagilbert]

Hi ya'll. Just wanted to letcha know I posted about our accelerated experience here if you haven't seen it. Hope it helps somebody.

[Lovedtodeath]

What kind of pace should I shoot for?

 

K, 2nd, 4th, 8th (bad speller so we are starting fresh)

I am aiming to start level two with Emily at the beginning of third grade. I was thinking of trying to get Jake to read the first couple of readers in K. HTH some!

[Ellie]

Most people use it (and SWR and Spalding) to teach their dc to read. The idea of not using it until the dc are actually reading is a new concept; I would go a step further and say that only folks who have read WTM (or who hang out here, lol) are the only ones who think it shouldn't (couldn't?) be used from the beginning.:)

[Homeschooling6]

What kind of pace should I shoot for?

 

K, 2nd, 4th, 8th (bad speller so we are starting fresh)

 

I would try to keep the K & 2nd grader together (if you can) The K'er would us it to learn how to read while the 2nd grader can continue with phonics and learn how to spell. Of course the K'er is learning how to spell too.

Depending on how old your Ker is you might have to split them up with level 2 (when he is in 1st) because of the writing. It just all depends on what your dc can handle.

 

The 4th grader; maybe aim to finish level 1 & 2 in a year and levels 3 & 4 in a year and a half. Dropping the reading portion if you wish and concentrate more on the spelling and grammar. 4th grade 1 & 2. 5th grade level 3 and start level 4. 6th grade finish level 4.

 

The 8th grader; I'm sure can finish the first two levels in a year. I haven't seen levels 3 & 4 so I'm not sure how difficult they are. Shoot to finish the first two levels as fast as possible and go from there. Use notebook paper or a composition book.

 

I plan to use this with my dad who reads at a second grade level. With him I hope to finish all four levels in two years.

 

FYI: I haven't used PR with my older dc. I'm currently using it with my 8 & 9yr. old boys. I'm just giving you some ideas to get your thoughts flowing;)

[johnandtinagilbert]

Most people use it (and SWR and Spalding) to teach their dc to read. The idea of not using it until the dc are actually reading is a new concept; I would go a step further and say that only folks who have read WTM (or who hang out here, lol) are the only ones who think it shouldn't (couldn't?) be used from the beginning.:)

:iagree:

 

Seems like it is a fall back for many :)

 

I am using Sensational Strategies for one reason alone....lesson plans. I won't have to think about what great fun to do for the day, I can be mindless and let SS tell me :) Same difference as PR, really...just a little more mindless for this tired momma.

[Lovedtodeath]

 

Most people use it (and SWR and Spalding) to teach their dc to read. The idea of not using it until the dc are actually reading is a new concept; I would go a step further and say that only folks who have read WTM (or who hang out here, lol) are the only ones who think it shouldn't (couldn't?) be used from the beginning.:)

Thanks Ellie. That helps. For the most part, DD hasn't had the desire to read up to her ability or read independently anyway, so I don't know that teaching her early was such a huge benefit.

[johnandtinagilbert]

Thanks Ellie. That helps. For the most part, DD hasn't had the desire to read up to her ability or read independently anyway, so I don't know that teaching her early was such a huge benefit.

Carmen,

Now that you mention it, I've actually found that to be true about most things. I did a ton of early education with THe Elders and most of it washed out at some point. My first daughter was reading well by 4, but since I didn't follow with phonics, she ended up being one of my 2 little problems in reading. Go figure.

 

The whole thing made me read the Moores, School Can Wait. I'm not totally into waiting, but it did make me realize how important play is and really hands on fun when they're small. Academics will wait and can still be strong without starting too soon. When I found PR, it reinforced this by telling me to wait. Now, you know we'll be working on phonics in K, but all the rest, will wait :)

[Homeschooling6]

Carmen,

Now that you mention it, I've actually found that to be true about most things. I did a ton of early education with THe Elders and most of it washed out at some point. My first daughter was reading well by 4, but since I didn't follow with phonics, she ended up being one of my 2 little problems in reading. Go figure.

 

The whole thing made me read the Moores, School Can Wait. I'm not totally into waiting, but it did make me realize how important play is and really hands on fun when they're small. Academics will wait and can still be strong without starting too soon. When I found PR, it reinforced this by telling me to wait. Now, you know we'll be working on phonics in K, but all the rest, will wait :)

 

My Lance, is 5.7yrs and can't read :001_huh: All my dc were at least reading vcv words. None of my dc were early (3 ir 4yrs) reader. Annette, took off at age 6. Josh didn't take off until the summer after his 4th grade year. Other than my oldets I didn't push reading. I taught but didn't push.

 

But with regards to Lance, he has no desire to learn at all, he can barely hold a pencil. He does have an imagination. He is so different from the others. He's like a four year old trapped in a five year old body;) I'm just praying that this means he will be strong reader later:)

[johnandtinagilbert]

My Lance, is 5.7yrs and can't read :001_huh: All my dc were at least reading vcv words. None of my dc were early (3 ir 4yrs) reader. Annette, took off at age 6. Josh didn't take off until the summer after his 4th grade year. Other than my oldets I didn't push reading. I taught but didn't push.

 

But with regards to Lance, he has no desire to learn at all, he can barely hold a pencil. He does have an imagination. He is so different from the others. He's like a four year old trapped in a five year old body;) I'm just praying that this means he will be strong reader later:)

My baby didn't blossom until he was 7...I would have been SO STRESSED if he was the first one! Thank God, really, PTL, he was last. He is just now reaching what I would call descent fluency this year (2nd grade). Whew! I'm so pleased he got there!

[Honey Bee]

Did he already know letter names and recognition (but not the sounds) when you started?

 

 

sorry I didn't check back. My son did NOT know his sounds. I never worked with him until K, then we really just worked on sounds and did our math. Mom did lots of Prof Development. I had just quit my job and needed to spend some time reading through LCC, WTM, etc. It was a nice year.

 

I know SWR tells you that this period of learning sounds should be fast and not dilly dally, but my son wasn't ready and I didn't want to go throwing other philosophy in there without me really knowing what I was doing. We worked orally and informally on things such as "what sound does fork start with?" at dinner, stuff like that until his 1st grade year. I actually started in July and he was mature enough to get it. He is now flying through SWR, but I really don't have a good plan because while he is flying through, my other is going slooooooowly (K) and I had to separate them.

[Lovedtodeath]

Okay, thanks. I am getting more of an idea of what to do with Jake before PR.