what in your opinion is the BEST phonics program

[Aoife]

DS mainly learned the basics through OPGTR and now into mcruffy. I still have a level of uncertaintiy as to whether I want to do that again or fork out the money for something like SSRW since it would be used a few more times before retirement :P OPGTR is a very complete program it's just kinda boring even fore me and after about halfway DS hated it LOL.

[Ohdanigirl]

DS mainly learned the basics through OPGTR and now into mcruffy. I still have a level of uncertaintiy as to whether I want to do that again or fork out the money for something like SSRW since it would be used a few more times before retirement :P OPGTR is a very complete program it's just kinda boring even fore me and after about halfway DS hated it LOL.

 

I am doing OPGTR now with ds, but the older two loved SSRW. I was able to get a very old version off of Ebay, which was complete. Dh, who hords things but throws away other peoples stuff:confused:. insisted I get rid of our SSRW because we wouldn't need it any more. We now have two more boys. It is a bit pricey though, so I went with less expensive and spend the big buck on RS Math.

 

Danielle

[ElizabethB]

Best--Webster's Speller!

 

Next best, OPG and PP. Up there with them and free, fun songs and pictures, Pollard's series. If you like it, you can get a "real" copy of the books for reasonable for their age, generally round $20, from ABE books or Alibris.

 

My game is a fun addition to any program.

 

Here is my page that has a link to the Pollard series at Google books:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/phonicsandspelli.html

[tiffanyl]

We love SSRW here! Definitely not boring. My kids want to do school everyday with this program, and to me that's half the battle of teaching little ones to read.

 

Totally worth the money if you'll be using it for multiple kids.

[Joy at Home]

Hooked on Phonics is having an amazing sale right now. We are really enjoying it and dd loves putting a sticker on her chart everyday. One side note (I know Elizabeth will agree) is that they use way too many sight words, called "helper" words. It's easy enough, however, to teach them phonetically, as we do.

 

Good luck,

Lisa

[robsiew]

Phonics Pathways has worked for all three children that I've used it with. I've taught two to read from it (we didn't hs my dd in K so she learned to read without it.. we used it to plug holes in 1st grade). It's cheap, simple to use and effective. No bells and whistles, but takes very little time in a day and has everything you need for a solid foundation.

[Guest janainaz]

I use TOPGFTR and I also make my own flashcards and create my own reading activities to go along with it. I used it for DS10 when he was 5, and my ds5.5 is using it right now.

 

TOPGFTR is so thorough, it's easy to use, it takes ten minutes a day for us, and when I'm done with that, we can do our own thing.

 

We did not start the book until ds5 was already reading blends and long and short vowels. I have been working with him steadily every day. To me, it's just a little bit every day and you can mix it up however you want to. We play bingo with blends and words, we play concentration and matching games with words.... just be creative. You don't need to spend a lot of money or fret over it to teach reading thoroughly.

[redheadeddaughter]

We love The Phonics Road! It's also not cheap. But worth every penny if you are going to use it again with your younger ones. I know it's not on your "short list" but I had to mention it. :)

[birchbark]

I think this looks really good, and it's free:

 

http://www.progressivephonics.com/

[Mrs Mungo]

There is no "best" program, it depends upon the child.

 

With eldest I used LLATL, with middle I used SSRW, with youngest I used OPGTR. They had different interests and needs. My middle felt LLATL was bo-ring, she loved how entertaining SSRW was. My son hated the songs in SSRW, he was happier with something more cut and dried.

[Ellie]

Spalding. :)

[johnandtinagilbert]

THe Phonics Road, my personal review is 2nd in this thread.

 

Many threads

 

Love this program!

[RENEEinVA]

I'll put another plug in for Phonics Pathways (plus Bob Books). It worked great for my kids and you can't beat the price.

[Jen the RD]

I agree with Mrs. Mungo that there isn't one best program for any curriculum, especially in the area of phonics. I did use SSRW with my oldest who did learn to read, but not spell. BTW, she hated all the songs--the very thing I thought she would enjoy! LOL! So, then I found The Writing Road to Reading by Romalda Spalding (Ellie's favorite) and boy howdy, did that work much better for both of my dc. If you've never heard of it, check your library. Even if you don't use it, it is an amazing read on how the brain encodes/decodes information. The methodology made so much sense to me. But again, I know this program is not for everyone.

 

HTH,

Jennifer

[Abbysfriend]

Phonics Pathways has worked for all three children that I've used it with. I've taught two to read from it (we didn't hs my dd in K so she learned to read without it.. we used it to plug holes in 1st grade). It's cheap, simple to use and effective. No bells and whistles, but takes very little time in a day and has everything you need for a solid foundation.

 

We really have done well with Phonics Pathways. I started my oldest on something else that was more complicated and it did not help...we swithed and the light came on...PP is more organized and straightforward. I am supplementing with Explode the Code becuase I like how it teaches one rule at a time and they seem to be retaining it well. My dd was a late reader and my ds is early...PP got them on course. Its affordable too. We also purchased Reading Pathways to supplement, but its not really needed. We made a Dewey the Bookwork bookmark at the beginning to keep track of where each is in the book...and they love that!

[Aoife]

PP was the first book I bought on phonics a year ago and well I sold it shortly afterward. :tongue_smilie: I could not wrap my head around how to teach it and it was way too unscripted for my taste. I loved OPGTR in that it had an order and scripting and was easy for me as a mom to teach but it was way too boring for DS. He is very much a media, hands on, visual learning kinda kid. He thrives on activities, songs, games and the like. He learned all his letters and sounds in one day just watching the talking letters factory and ever since then has been begging to read as he LOVES books. My mom just bought the kids a copy of SSRW and the more I read about it and such the more I am confident that it will be a perfect fit for him. I let him listen to some of the song clips on christianbook and he fell in love right away and kept asking to hear them again so we shall see and fingers crossed.

[everlastingstarflower]

Before my dd went to school, I had begun "How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" but, I had gotten sick and only gotten to about lesson 50 before she started school. I don't think that it really did much in the way of helping her with reading except to familiarize her with the alphabet and some beginning sounds because we didn't actually finish the book.

 

My dd attended a Classical Christian school for two years (K & 1st). They used SSRW and she loved it. By the time we decided to hs, she was already reading so well that I did not continue with any formal reading/phonics program. I was going to check into SSRW for my ds but, my dd had already taught him how to read so it was kind of a mute point.

[kmacnchs]

I am definitely an OPG fan for many reasons. Really, I don't get why a reading program needs to be fun/entertaining. You learn the skill, you practice the skill. Once you have the skill down pat and you can use it (reading), THAT's where the fun comes in! Personally, I see nothing wrong with that...

 

I also am a penny pincher so I don't see me ever doing anything other than OPG - mainly b/c I have already spent the $$ and b/c it was SOO cheap I don't think I could bring myself to spend money on something else. I have saved $$ in the teaching reading dept. and spent it on math manipulatives for Saxon (though now I've found MEP through y'all and I may never go back - again, it works AND it's cheap!)

 

As long as it works, I am ALL FOR THE CHEAP!!:D

[lauriej]

I honestly have found that simply using the Explode the Code workbooks and reading to our children have been more than enough to teach them phonics and turn them into good spellers.