hlee Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 ...did you start getting confused about all the different vowel combos and sounds???? Did your DCs??? This is my first year homeschooling and first time using OPGTR. Overall, it's been great for my DS who has used it the past six months. Now we're hitting the point about midway through the book when it feels hard to help him distinguish between all the different sounds that can be made with similar combos of letters (the various sounds of -ow, for example) and there isn't exactly a rule to learn. It's just "sometimes -ow sounds like 'oh' in 'low' and sometimes it sounds like 'ow' like 'cow' and sometimes....." Basically, is the child supposed to start just knowing/memorizing that "low" is pronounced the way it is and "how" is pronounced the way it is? Does the book continue to just get more and more like this, where there are so many rules it starts to feel overwhelming??? Just wondering if I can learn from the experiences of others! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monalisa Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 What you are referring to is the phonograms - the different sounds that the letter combinations can make. Yes, this does continue because OPG is an Orton-Gillingham based phonics program which is based on phonograms. Depending on the program, there are 70 or 71 of them. My dd had already learned many of them with All About Spelling (and we have a set of phonogram cards from another publisher that I have reviewed with her), so the cool thing with OPG and AAS has been how they connect that way. If you are just doing OPG, I think I would start keeping a list of the sounds the phonograms make to help your dc remember the rules (most single letters or letter combinations make just 1 or 2 sounds; only a few make more than 2). In the long run, it will get less confusing and it will be helpful both for spelling and reading. I'm sorry, I don't have OPG in front of me to remember if there's anything in there that you can use as a reference page. You might just look at All About Spelling, Writing Road to Reading, Spell to Write & Read or google "phonograms" to see what all the phonograms just as FYI. I think on the AAS website there might be a page that shows all 71 phonograms. Hope this isn't too confusing! I have to run right now or I'd post a longer reply!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monalisa Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 http://www.all-about-spelling.com/phonograms.html Here's a link to all the phonograms that I found on AAS & an explanation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hlee Posted March 15, 2010 Author Share Posted March 15, 2010 Thanks, Lisa! This is very helpful! I never learned straight phonics myself and my eldest son didn't learn them in public school so this is all new to me! I really appreciate the advice. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in CA Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 Yes, it does stay this way. Keep plugging along, though. Slow down when you need to. We took 3 years to get through the whole book with my oldest ds and 2 1/2 with my younger ds. Both could read ANYTHING after finishing OPGTR. Susie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newlifemom Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 ...did you start getting confused about all the different vowel combos and sounds???? Did your DCs??? This is my first year homeschooling and first time using OPGTR. Overall, it's been great for my DS who has used it the past six months. Now we're hitting the point about midway through the book when it feels hard to help him distinguish between all the different sounds that can be made with similar combos of letters (the various sounds of -ow, for example) and there isn't exactly a rule to learn. It's just "sometimes -ow sounds like 'oh' in 'low' and sometimes it sounds like 'ow' like 'cow' and sometimes....." Basically, is the child supposed to start just knowing/memorizing that "low" is pronounced the way it is and "how" is pronounced the way it is? Does the book continue to just get more and more like this, where there are so many rules it starts to feel overwhelming??? Just wondering if I can learn from the experiences of others! Thanks! Plus there is a lot of review built into the program so I go over ones that seem to be difficult for each child. KWIM? If your child has trouble with all of the ou sounds, then I would make sure they were included in the "two review" part of your lesson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newlifemom Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 Yes, it does stay this way. Keep plugging along, though. Slow down when you need to. We took 3 years to get through the whole book with my oldest ds and 2 1/2 with my younger ds. Both could read ANYTHING after finishing OPGTR. Susie Isn't it amazing! My dd 6 1/2 finished it about 6 weeks ago. She started it Summer of 2008. She reads anything and everything! My son [almost 8] did 100EZ and then we transitioned him into OPGTR about the start of blends to really hammer stuff down. He has about 20 lessons left. [FWIW, I was told he wouldn't be able to learn and to enroll him in ps for spec. ed. ] 3 years later, he reads and can do 100 addition facts in 4 mins 30 sec! He is also working on being a memory master at Classical Conversations and taking piano. Of course dd [just turned 4] has been stuck on the first 3 lessons for several months now. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted March 16, 2010 Share Posted March 16, 2010 :seeya: Hi. I feel like I just found my Phonics Friend. :D One thing that has helped with this section has been "flash cards" of groups of words, set up like this: (on the front of the card) ou sounds like out (on the back of the card) mouth shout flour round sound trout --------------------------- ow sounds like owl ---- how now brown cow town growl -------------------------- ow sounds like bowl ---- blow snow grow low crow glow -------------------------- And so on, for these groups: oi, oy, au, aw, all, ea (thread, bread, deaf), ea (leaf, each, team), ea (steak, great, break). If you make up your own poster-cards, you can isolate and review the word groups and/or the "sets" -- oi/oy (point out that there is no letter after oy, but there is a letter after oi); ea/ea/ea (all the different ways to pronounce); aw/au/all, and so on. My K'er says the poster-cards really help her. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted March 16, 2010 Share Posted March 16, 2010 I used to be worried about this, but it has been just fine. We finished Lesson 138 today, which covered the OU sound and the fact that it covers 3 different sounds. So your child may have to try out a few different sounds at first, but will figure out the right sound from the context. My daughter usually picks the correct sound first, if not, she is quick to figure out the correct sound. I *love* OPG!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hlee Posted March 16, 2010 Author Share Posted March 16, 2010 I'm loving all these great responses and feedback. What would I do without these boards????? Thanks, everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted March 16, 2010 Share Posted March 16, 2010 We're up to L128 and it's going fine, but we are doing it in combination with another phonics based program, so we get the repetition and consolidation that way. How they learn? Depends on the kid, but I reckon most would memorize some letter combinations but not others. Eg since OW is going to be one of two options, it's fairly easy, in the early days, to sound the word out both ways and figure out which one fits. But OUGH has so many possibilities, you pretty much have to memorize the words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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