mo2 Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 It's driving us nuts! Every time I get the book out, dd is practically in tears by the time we finish a page. I am so tired of struggling through a sentence with her only to reach the end of it and find that she has completey forgotten the beginning of it. And we both hate the pictures. I think it's time to search for another phonics program. Thanks for the vent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 It's not worth the hassle, set it aside and use something else. Maybe one day you can come back to it, maybe not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda...inOwasso Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 Wait a second... what levels do you have? I may be interested in buying them from you! :) I use ETC along with Alpha-Phonics for dd4 BUT I know exactly how you feel. If something doesn't work... it just doesn't work. I would switch vs. go insane! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 Boy! I just had to read this post!! With all of the ETC raves......I like to hear both sides. Do you think you dd needs color pics or no pics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 27, 2008 Author Share Posted March 27, 2008 Boy! I just had to read this post!! With all of the ETC raves......I like to hear both sides. Do you think you dd needs color pics or no pics? Well, it's tough to say. She would LIKE color pics. But I would prefer no pics. She totally looks at the picture and then just guesses. That wasn't much help, was it? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 27, 2008 Author Share Posted March 27, 2008 Wait a second... what levels do you have? I may be interested in buying them from you! :) I use ETC along with Alpha-Phonics for dd4 BUT I know exactly how you feel. If something doesn't work... it just doesn't work. I would switch vs. go insane! That's funny. I've been seriously looking at Alpha Phonics. I'm trying to decide between that and HOP. Right now we're still in book 1. We did the primers and have been struggling our way through book 1 for several months now. I've only been buying them one at a time, as we need them, so I don't have any I can sell to you, sorry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in VA Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 How old is she and where in the 'reading' stage is she? OPGTR has no pictures at all. My dd does the same thing with pictures. And she's a really bad guesser LOL. She's young though and still in the early reading process so I can't comment on how well OPGTR works once they are reading more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue G in PA Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 GOOD BYE! :D Go ahead...trash it! My ds6 hated it. We ditched it. The pictures frustrated me and him. There are other phonics programs out there. You could always do SWO instead of phonics (for the written) and then do an oral phonics program (OPG, Phonics Pathways, 100EZ, etc.). Not sure the age of your child, but these are some options. In the case of my ds...we aren't doing any formal phonics program other than reading daily and I mention certain "rules" as we come to them. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 Go for it! We did. We went back to our tried/true ABeka Handbook for Reading. ETC was so frustrating for me and my boys. The sketches were OK, but when the arrows pointed to something, we often could not decide what it was pointing to. For example, an arrow pointing to the wheel on a wagon may want the child to say: wheel, spoke, or hub! And the problems with regional language - a sofa could be a "divan", "sofa", or "couch". We tended to have more arguments over these things than any actual learning of phonics. Just an FYI: this was a program I used long ago. My boys are all waaayyyy past phonics! But unless it has been revamped, this program can be very frustrating for some of us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda...inOwasso Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 Mo -- AlphaPhonics is working great here (but that's not much of a help to you because so is ETC!) AlphaPhonics has ZERO frills. No pictures, no cute, clever sentences.... it is just page after page of phonics. I dearly love it because I see rapid improvement with dd's reading skills. I wouldn't say she is joyous when she sees the Alpha-phonics book come out, but she does it, so fine by me. She looks forward to ETC though. She loves the silly sentences and funny drawings in ETC. If you think your dd would prefer pictures you might look at McGuffey readers and/or Elson Readers. They both have old-time drawings so there is something interesting on the page besides just words but they're not so busy that they're distracting. Good luck!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwimmyKids Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 ETC is as boring as all get out. Better to burn it in the fireplace while you cuddle and read some good, easy books by the fire. That way it'll do your reading instruction some good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBP Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 That's what I did, way back when. I tried it when my kids were 5 and 6, or thereabouts, and while they didn't shed tears over it, they also didn't learn anything. I found it very busy-workish. We switched to SWR, and it was exactly what we needed. Good luck finding something that's a better fit :). SBP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyAberlin Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 ds 4 did the primers. He hated A and B so I shelved C and came back to it later. He loved C and so I bought 1 and 2 and he hates them. I shelved them hoping that maybe he'll like them later? We are using 100 easy lessons and he seems to be responding well to that. We've only done 6 lessons though, but that is further than we have gone in any other program and the lessons have been peaceful if you know what I mean :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Theophan Academy Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 I would prefer you send them to me :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie in MS Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 I'm looking at and considering The Reading Lesson. It DOES had b/w pictures but from what I can tell from the sample you'll have one page where there are just large letters to be reviewed, then you have one page where you match the letter to the right pic, etc. Of course that is the beginning of the book. It looks very simple to use. I was reading over the reviews at amazon and it has 70 5-star ratings!! Very few negatives! You could go to TRL website and download the first few pages to use with your child to see if she will like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moosemomma Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 I have used OPGTR with my boys and love it. It is simple to use. I started out daily, but now we do three days a week with the oldest. My oldest doesn't loved it, but it only takes 15 minutes to complete a session. The only criticism I have it that it doesn't have enough sight word learning. I needed to create my own sight word lessons to build up my son's fluency so he could read books from the library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArwenA Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 I'm an ETC fan but clearly you're not. I think it would be a good idea if you dropped ETC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelissaMinNC Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 about a certain curriculum, you can feel a lot of pressure to "make it work." I've decided that anything that brings a kid to tears - a really young, beginning student, in whom you (I'm assuming here, sorry) want to instill a lifelong love of learning and reading - is not worth keeping around. I heard a ton of great reviews and amazing success stories about Math-U-See. I personally really like it and see a lot of good in it. DD6, however absolutely hated it - it brought her to tears, just to see the workbook come out, after a while. I decided that no matter how many great things I'd heard about it, it just wasn't working for us. The why doesn't matter. It's nobody's "fault." I didn't teach it "wrong" and there's nothing the matter with dd. It just wasn't the right tool for the job in this house and we've both been a lot happier since I found some different tools to work with. Ahem. But sometimes we just feel like we need permission, don't we? So, I (in my totally longwinded way!) say....throw it out, honey! Or sell it or donate it or whatever makes you happiest, but quit using something that's obviously making you both miserable. I also wondered how old is your dd, and is it possible that she's just not ready for reading instruction? It seems like there's this moment where all of a sudden the switch goes on and phonics start to make sense....and it's hard to know when that moment is coming, but until it arrives, phonics instruction is like banging your head against the wall. Sorry it got so long...hope something was helpful! :) Melissa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mo2 Posted March 27, 2008 Author Share Posted March 27, 2008 Thanks for the permission everyone! It's gone!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TengoFive Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 My only question is, are you using this exclusively for your phonics instruction or do you have something else you're using as well? I can imagine it would be quite frustrating for a child if this was the only phonics he was getting. For reinforcement though, we think its great, regardless of which program you're using as your spine. It's driving us nuts! Every time I get the book out, dd is practically in tears by the time we finish a page. I am so tired of struggling through a sentence with her only to reach the end of it and find that she has completey forgotten the beginning of it. And we both hate the pictures. I think it's time to search for another phonics program. Thanks for the vent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 We are doing level 3 right now and I'm not finding it a good fit. Maybe try something different or try setting it aside for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mx5 Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 It's driving us nuts! Every time I get the book out, dd is practically in tears by the time we finish a page. I am so tired of struggling through a sentence with her only to reach the end of it and find that she has completey forgotten the beginning of it. And we both hate the pictures. I think it's time to search for another phonics program. Thanks for the vent. It might not be ETC at all. How old is your daughter? Sometimes it just takes chronological age to help a child "get" and remember phonics teaching. 2 of my 5 kids got it right away. The other 3 took longer than I wanted. I am saying this because you might toss ETC only to find that Alpha Phonics or Abeka or some other program will provide similar frustrations for your girl, and you. She may just plain not be ready yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robyn Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 My ds did not like ETC either. We used 100ez lessons and then Phonics Pathways. We used MCP Plaid phonics alongside. I wouldn't recommend MCP if she is guessing based on pictures, however, the pictures are full color and realistic. I will be starting to teach my 4 yr old nephew to read shortly. I babysit him a few times a week. He is very ready to start. I will not be using EZ lessons with him. He will be going to school and I don't want to be halfway through teaching him with their different system, and then have him start all over again at school. I just ordered OPTGR for him. We will probably get MCP too in a few months. We start with the A level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Atl Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 There are so many curriculum choices for a reason... not all kids learn the same. This is one of the joys of homeschooling. If something is not working, move on. We liked ETC; I used it twice with both dd's. But, I have junked many other resources that were all the rage with others, but did not work well with my kids. At least ETC is cheap and you are not out hundreds of dollars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 I'll reiterate what someone else said, there are many different curriculum choices for a reason. Not every program works for ever child. Find something else that works for your child. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidsHappen Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 It's my favorite as far as looks go and it is very easy to use and learn from. It is one of the programs I have reviewed and I can send you my complete review if you would like. It only takes the child to about a second grade reading level though. After that you can go straight to real books or follow up with a more advanced phonics program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.