Favorite "early reading" program, teaching letter sounds etc..

[Blessed with seven]

Hi,

 

I don't know why phonics has been such a struggle for me. I am

using Phonics Pathways w/ 2 of my children after trying probably 5

other programs. Why am I making this so difficult?

 

Anyway...I have a 4 year old who is eagerly wanting to learn and do

school.

 

What I have realized about myself is that I am not very creative in

putting together a daily lesson for the younger ones.

 

What is a good program, that has daily lessons (short lessons for

that age), that will teach phonemic awareness, letter sounds,

putting together her own little letter notebook etc...?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

By the way...anyone NOT have Phonics Pathways work for them?

 

Kim

 

Wife to Clayton for 17 years, Mother to dd14, dd12, ds10, dd7, dd4,

ds2 and baby Josiah who is now almost 6 weeks old!

[daisychics]

What is a good program, that has daily lessons (short lessons for

that age), that will teach phonemic awareness, letter sounds,

putting together her own little letter notebook etc...?

 

I used Teach Your Children How to Read in 100 Easy Lesson for ds when he was 4 (he finished the whole book). I wasn't sure I taught him enough so I purchased Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise. This is what I will be using for my dd when she's ready.

 

Ds now is using the Explode the Code series.

 

Hope that helps.

[curlie]

I am using PP with my 4-year-old right now. So far, so good. For some reason the five minutes a day using the concepts in that book are working better than everything I tried on my own(which usually took a lot longer per lesson and wasn't as effective).

[Closeacademy]

Phonics Pathways was one that didn't work here.

 

 

What has worked for us is Spell to Write and Read. But I didn't use the lists. For pre-readers, I just teach the phonograms.

 

Basically, what I did was make up silly sentences for each phonogram (letter or group of letters that make a set number of sounds). And I drew a trigger picture to go with it.

 

So for the letter "i." I have a picture of ice and the words "icky ice." So that they can remember the sounds. I also make a chart for each phonogram and we try to think of as many words as we know with that sound(s).

 

It has worked pretty well here. Both my 2nd grader and my Ker are reading or starting to read.

 

We've used 100 Easy Lessons, Sonlight K & 1, Phonics Pathways, sight reading and various other methods.

 

Now with my Ker I am using Rod and Staff reading but we are taking it slowly using all the books and she loves it but she is a workbook child.

 

Good luck!:001_smile:

[theodwyn]

I used and loved Ball-Stick-Bird for both my dc. They were able to read well at and early age and have continued to be excellent readers.

[Heather in Neverland]

My oldest ds used 100EZ lessons and it worked like a charm. My youngest has used the LeapFrog videos to learn all his letters and sounds (I can't recommend these enough) and is now reading Bob books and he just turned 4yo. I don't really feel the need for all the bells and whistles of some of the other programs.

[OneRoomHomeSchool]

My ds 6 used Abeka K and half of Abeka 1 for phonics. They worked great, however, we are getting tired. :001_smile:

 

Too much writing when added to copywork, etc...so we are now using Ordinary Parents Guide to finish him up and also to start ds4 on.

 

It's simple to use, pick up and go and I prefer it over Phonics Pathways, personally.

 

 

:)

[KarenNC]

Neither 100 EZ Lessons nor PP worked at all well for my 4yo. We used Explode the Code along with Dolch sight words, Bob books (and other leveled/easy readers) and Dick and Jane.

[Tutor]

Phonics Pathways didn't work for us. We love Hooked on Phonics. Three of my kids whizzed through it, really enjoyed it, and learned so much.

 

My four year old is having a mental block on individual letter sounds, though, so I started a "letter of the day" with him. I wrote the upper and lower case letters on index cards and I put one per day on the white board. After breakfast, he goes over to the card and tells me the letter that is on it (I prompt him if he gets stuck). Then we repeat the letter's name and sound a few times. For the rest of the day, he has to show me every time he comes across that letter and tell me what the letter says. He loves doing this, and I have seen a HUGE improvement in his letter recognition and ability to match sound with the appropriate letter. On his own, he has started pointing out past letters and telling me what they say. I am going to go through the alphabet twice this way then try him again on Hooked on Phonics.

 

My 7yos had a similar block with letter sounds (but he had speech issues that were causing problems with sounding things out). He didn't get it all straight until about 5 months ago. When I did HOP with him, he flew through all 5 levels in two months! He's reading chapter books now because he thinks he's too old for picture books. :001_smile: (BTW, I had tried PP with him, and it just made him very frustrated.) I will not be surprised if my 4yo follows along similar path.

 

HOP does not have built-in pages that could be easily placed into a notebook, but if your child would like something like that, I would recommend printing out letter coloring pages from Enchanted Learning or a similar site and have him color them as he learns each sound. Then these pages could be put into a notebook.

 

I hope that you find something that meets all your needs and your child's desires.

[MamaChristina]

it's fun to meet you out in cyberspace.:)

 

The first one that comes to mind for me is MFW K. It has all it's days planned out for you and is easy to use. I used it for one of my dd's who loved it and cried when we finished and I sold it.

 

Now I use SWR, but I would go back to MFW in a heartbeat if I didn't have SWR.

 

Hope you find something you like and that will work for you!!

 

Blessings,

Christina;)

[emelsha]

I like Alphabet Island Phonics. It teaches both phonics and spelling in a fun format. Each letter of the alphabet is a different character, and they live on Alphabet Island. Letters interact differently with different letters. In my opinion, it is a great way to remember the phonics rules. This program can go to the 9th grade.