Mommamia Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 We have used ETC for a couple of years. We are currently on book 5. I had decided to drop ETC because I really didn't like books 4 and 5....however....I took a look at books 7 and 8 and think they look very different. Do you think it's ok to skip book 6 and jump to 7 and 8.Those who use ETC.....did you notice a change in the books? TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenstet Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 We are in the same place. We started book 4 and are loosing steam with it. I don't know about the later books but what we have done for a change of pace is to do ETC online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommamia Posted May 12, 2010 Author Share Posted May 12, 2010 Jenstet-Check out the samples of ETC 7 & 8 on CBD.com. I was pleasantly surprised. Personally, we were getting tired of the strange pictures and other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplain Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Books 7 & 8 are different from the earlier books, though the illustrations don't change much. (The illustrator is the same, though in Book 8 there are a lot fewer illustrations.) The biggest difference in my opinion is that books 7 & 8 are for an older child than books 1-6. Books 7 & 8 demand more sophisticated thinking, which makes sense as they're intended for use in 2nd grade. We're on Book 7 now, and there are a few new activities: reading comprehension, figuring out a word based on a provided definitions and possible syllables, and crossword puzzles in the review lessons. Book 8 adds pages that ask you to provide synonyms or antonyms, there are more word definition exercises, and there are some word find puzzles. My 6 year old is handling the phonics material in Book 7 just fine, but I do help her with putting syllables together to match provided definitions. And we do the crosswords together. (I had to use the answer key for one answer, because the clue was too vague even for me!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplain Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 (edited) Oh! But you can't skip ETC 6 unless you're planning to cover that material yourself. Maybe look into the free online Progressive Phonics materials? ETC 6 covers r-controlled vowels. I think r-controlled vowels are one of the most important bits of phonics needed to move kids on to more interesting early readers. The rest of the book covers various vowel combinations, which again are very helpful for getting kids beyond the limitations of short vowel words and silent-e long vowel words, and into more complex reading material. I consider Books 1-7 to be the meat of the phonics instruction. (Of the later books, I'd say ETC 5 is the least meaty, but it is a nice breather after the more challenging ETC 4.). Book 8 is mostly suffixes that most children could tackle without direct instruction. So it probably wouldn't hurt to skip 8, but I wouldn't skip 6 or 7 unless you're replacing it with other phonics instruction. Edited May 12, 2010 by jplain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommamia Posted May 12, 2010 Author Share Posted May 12, 2010 My dc are good readers. We've used Phonics Pathways along with ETC. We do a variety of phonic related activities. They seem to just have a natural reading ability. I've rarely had a phonics issue. If I have natural readers do I still need to do book 6? I looked over the content and they seem to know most of the words. They are doing book 5 right now and it seems too easy for them, sort of like I'm just doing busy work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miracleone Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 We've used the ETC 4-6 from SL but my daughter finds it "kindergarten-ish." She can guess the words by just looking at the pictures and she gets it right all the time. I didn't think it was challenging her at all. Any suggestions on what to use for 3rd grade with her? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
selh09 Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 (edited) Just throwing a thought out to you..have you looked at Beyond the Code. Beyond the Code book 1 is supposed to be a good fit after ETC 3, then move to ETC 4. Then move back to Beyond the Code book 2, then to ETC 5. After that, it would be Beyond the Code 3, then to ETC 6 and ETC 7, then on to Beyond the Code 4 and finish with ETC 8....this may sound mixed up and it may not even be something you want to consider, but just wanted to mention that to you. HTH! Edited May 12, 2010 by selh09 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplain Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 (edited) We've used the ETC 4-6 from SL but my daughter finds it "kindergarten-ish." She can guess the words by just looking at the pictures and she gets it right all the time. I didn't think it was challenging her at all. Any suggestions on what to use for 3rd grade with her? ETC 7 & 8 are a significant jump up from ETC 6, so I wouldn't rule those out before flipping through them. They're not babyish, and they ask a lot more of the student. You can find samples on CBD.com. And regarding the pictures: for a couple of the books I covered the pics with a sheet of paper and wouldn't let her look at the picture until she'd correctly read both sentences. Believe it or not, we had fun with that, because she enjoyed guessing which sentence would be depicted in the picture. :) Edited May 12, 2010 by jplain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 We are in the same place. We started book 4 and are loosing steam with it. I don't know about the later books but what we have done for a change of pace is to do ETC online. Do you like ETC online? I have been looking into that. Does it follow the same scope and sequence online as it does in the books? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplain Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 (edited) If I have natural readers do I still need to do book 6? I looked over the content and they seem to know most of the words. They are doing book 5 right now and it seems too easy for them, sort of like I'm just doing busy work. I agree that ETC 5 is the easiest of the mid-level books. If they're already fluently reading r-controlled vowels (in words without a silent e at the end), and don't have any trouble with various vowel combinations (like the multiple sounds of oo), then ETC 6 might be a waste of time. ETC 7 includes soft c and g, and those are the first phonics topics that have tripped my daughter up a little bit. We're slowing down to reinforce those topics until she can read the soft c and g on auto-pilot. But I suspect the rest of ETC 7 will be easy for her, as she's already reading words with silent letters without stumbling (ie. lamb, know). And that's fine with me. We're in no rush to finish formal phonics instruction. Edited May 12, 2010 by jplain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplain Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 (edited) Do you like ETC online? I have been looking into that. Does it follow the same scope and sequence online as it does in the books? It does follow the same scope and sequence. You can easily skip forward to more difficult topics if necessary, or go back to reinforce earlier material. If you do decide to try it, go through Homeschool Buyer's Coop for better pricing. My daughter liked it for approximately 1 day. Then she balked. (And she loves Reading Eggs online, so it wasn't a computer issue.) She thought it was boring, and she found that she couldn't type fast enough to get the best possible scores. I ended up sitting there helping her fill in answers. And it was easy for her to cheat on the sentences if I wasn't there to make her read each one out loud. (Which is what we do with the books.) So the online version was not exactly what I had in mind. :glare: We got a refund. Edited May 12, 2010 by jplain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommamia Posted May 12, 2010 Author Share Posted May 12, 2010 Beyond the Code....hmmm, I'm going to have to look at that. Thank you! Thanks for all the input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplain Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 Beyond the Code is for reading comprehension, not phonics. But we like it around here. :D Again, you can find samples on CBD.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 It does follow the same scope and sequence. You can easily skip forward to more difficult topics if necessary, or go back to reinforce earlier material. If you do decide to try it, go through Homeschool Buyer's Coop for better pricing. My daughter liked it for approximately 1 day. Then she balked. (And she loves Reading Eggs online, so it wasn't a computer issue.) She thought it was boring, and she found that she couldn't type fast enough to get the best possible scores. I ended up sitting there helping her fill in answers. And it was easy for her to cheat on the sentences if I wasn't there to make her read each one out loud. (Which is what we do with the books.) So the online version was not exactly what I had in mind. :glare: We got a refund. I am so glad you said that! So its requires them to type the words? I am looking into this for my 5 y/o who willb be 6 in October, but I dont want to set him up for failure! Was it you, or somebody else who recommended reading eggs to me already? ...... well off to look more at that! Thanks:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jplain Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 (edited) I don't think I've shilled for Reading Eggs lately, but I do think it is great. However, I'm not sure how far it goes in phonics instruction. I know they've added more maps, but when we did our trial, they were just adding long vowel sounds. And it does introduce some sight words, so if you're vehemently opposed to sight words, it might not be a good fit. (I'm not a fan of sight words, but it didn't bother me too much.) Check this thread for a Reading Eggs promotion that is fantastic! With that code your free trial will last 3 months instead of 2 weeks. Check the archives for others' experiences with ETC Online. Lots of kids have been frustrated by the typing speed issue. Edited May 12, 2010 by jplain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted May 12, 2010 Share Posted May 12, 2010 I don't think I've shilled for Reading Eggs lately, but I do think it is great. However, I'm not sure how far it goes in phonics instruction. I know they've added more maps, but when we did our trial, they were just adding long vowel sounds. And it does introduce some sight words, so if you're vehemently opposed to sight words, it might not be a good fit. (I'm not a fan of sight words, but it didn't bother me too much.) Check this thread for a Reading Eggs promotion that is fantastic! With that code your free trial will last 3 months instead of 2 weeks. Check the archives for others' experiences with ETC Online. Lots of kids have been frustrated by the typing speed issue. Thank you! Got the 3 mo trial! Cant go wrong with free, we will see how it goes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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