What did you use to teach your child to read?

[anotherblessingus]

My son will be going into first grade next year. He is my fifth child I have homeschooled. He seems to be much slower at catching on to reading than the others have been. We tried A beka (it moved to quickly for him) and went through Hooked on Phonics K with him. He can sound out short vowel words if he really tries, but it seems like he is stuck there and not moving forward. He knows all his letter sounds, it is just blending them together to make a word is where the problem is. Now in math he is moving faster than I can keep up with. He is a really smart boy, but we have noticed he sees things differently than the other children. I am trying to decide what to use next year with him. Any suggestions?

[Stacia]

Phonics Pathways :thumbup:

[bethben]

I've used Alpha Phonics with 2 boys now. No bells or whistles. My first was very "active" and we did a lot of it running around. He is my math kid. The second boy caught onto reading pretty well. He thinks outside the box in a lot of ways, but with reading has done well.

Beth

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

I used the McGuffey primer and Little Critter phonics for all of my boys.

[Disney Dreaming]

My dd wasn't reading after ps k(which is why we started hsing). I used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and A Beka 1st grade materials. A Beka was tough to start off but after about 2 1/2 weeks I saw improvement and now she is above grade level. She had the same issue of not being able to blend sounds. We used every.single.material. A Beka sold for phonics instruction and used it every.single.day. There were days we were both frustrated and tired of using all of it but in the end it really did pay off. I am going to use A Beka for 2nd grade reading, that's how much I believe in their phonics program.

[krisandpaula]

My two both learned to read initially using Leap Frog videos and BOB books. While we are not huge TV supporters for littles, we found this set of videos to be well worth the 30 minutes of tube time. :001_smile:

[susankenny]

Hi,

 

We rotated between Explode the Code, Hooked on Phonics, and various easy readers (Bob books, I am Sam books, etc.).

 

My kids also enjoyed readingeggs.com or pbskids.org (lots of great online games at PBS). Starfall is also very popular, but my kids never seemed to get into that for some reason, although it is excellent!

 

 

Susan

 

ETA - Oh Yes! Definitely Leapfrog dvd's! I forgot about those! "The Letter Factory" and the "Talking Word Factory" were really excellent!

[Parrothead]

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

[Dinsfamily]

Spell to Write and Read!

[Food4Thought]

Another one that hasn't been mentioned is The Reading Lesson. My 4-yr old is quite fond of this one.

[2cents]

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

 

This! I used it to teach 2 to read.:D

[MarinesWife]

Leapfrog videos and Explode the Code

[funschooler5]

I used magnetic letters. They learned the sounds with those, and then I spelled out simple 3-letter words for them to sound out. Then I'd let them make up words for me to sound out (most of these were very long, with few vowels). I'd sound them out, using the short vowel sounds first.

 

After they could sound out a couple of words, I made up some flash cards with sight words on them (but I called them "silly words" so they'd know they didn't have to sound them out). I did this for about 5-10 minutes (max) a day, 3 or 4 days a week. If they ever got bored, we'd quit. I always made sure they wanted to do it before we started, because I wanted to keep it fun. It worked very well, and they picked up on reading fairly quickly. They started with the first box of Bob Books and progressed from there.

 

I'd checked out Phonics Pathways and 100 EZ Lessons at different times from the library, but my older two were never interested in them (and neither was I). For my third, I happened upon another copy of Phonics Pathways, and she seems to like it but she never wants to progress past the first couple of pages...we're going back to magnetic letters. :lol:

[MaMa2005]

Huge Explode the Code fan here!

[mommy4ever]

We love Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading!

[flobee76]

We use Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, which did open up the world to reading for our DD. However, her reading really exploded when we began Spell to Write & Read (SWR) through a small co-op. It was (is) amazing. Now she reads everything, or tries to sound things out, knows how to spell, or really tries.

[jpklehm]

We had fantastic results from a combination of Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, reading all the Bob books in order, and using the Explode the Code books.

 

I found all three boxed sets of the Bob books at Costco for a reasonable price, but I'm sure libraries have them, too.

 

Pam

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

My two both learned to read initially using Leap Frog videos and BOB books. While we are not huge TV supporters for littles, we found this set of videos to be well worth the 30 minutes of tube time. :001_smile:

 

:iagree:

 

My boys prefer Nora Gaydos readers, though. We combine those with BOB books to fill in some gaps and give them extra practice. I taught ds#1 using OPGTR, and with the 2nd two I've simply given them the phonics rules, etc. as they are reading their phonics-based readers.

[Classically Minded]

We love Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading!

 

:iagree: My dd6 is finishing up K and reading on a 3rd grade level right now thanks to OPGTR! We tried Hooked on Phonics a year ago and my daughter would cry every time we would do it! She hated it! Then we moved to OPGTR this past October and it worked for us! ;)

[Whereneverever]

A combination of HOP and OPG. I think the biggest thing is just persistence and time.

[ABQmom]

None of my dc picked up reading very quickly. This is the combination that I found that works for us. 100 Easy Lessons to start with. We use 100 Easy for about 50 to 75 lessons, and then we move to OPGTR--that switch happens around 1st grade. We use OPGTR with Explode the Code and Pathway Readers. It works like a charm every time, however, I really think the key is time. Doing a little every day, but not letting the child get frustrated and in time they get it. For some, it just takes longer.

[mcconnellboys]

I just had him read through the Phonics Pathways words, too, as others have said. I also got all the sets of Bob books from my library and once he had covered several of the PP lists, I had him start reading one of those books per day. In some sets, I had him read the same book twice before I returned them. Once he finished those, I obtained other graded readers from our library, starting with level one books and then moving up as he finished those.

[LizzyBee]

100 EZ Lessons is my favorite reading curriculum. I used part of it with my oldest dd after she started reading on her own, to give her a phonics foundation. 100EZL taught my dyslexic dd to blend when nothing else was working. I used Phonics Pathways with my middle dd because it was recommended in TWTM, but if I had to do over, I would stick with 100EZL.

[mereminerals]

We used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons for my youngest.

[KrissiK]

My dd wasn't reading after ps k(which is why we started hsing). I used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and A Beka 1st grade materials. A Beka was tough to start off but after about 2 1/2 weeks I saw improvement and now she is above grade level. She had the same issue of not being able to blend sounds. We used every.single.material. A Beka sold for phonics instruction and used it every.single.day. There were days we were both frustrated and tired of using all of it but in the end it really did pay off. I am going to use A Beka for 2nd grade reading, that's how much I believe in their phonics program.

:iagree: This is what we did. My boys didn't have a lot of trouble learning to read, but we used A Beka as written and I'm a firm believer! It's a good program.

[Alphabetika]

Phonics Pathways :thumbup:

 

:iagree:

[tampamommy]

Another vote for Phonics Pathways. One simple, black & white book. No bells or whistles.

[JadeOrchidSong]

Leapfrog videos and Explode the Code

Same here!

J

[Lovedtodeath]

I used MFW K and Accelerated Achievement

 

It sounds to me like he has good visual skills but could use some help with auditory skills/ hearing the individual sounds in words in order to work out phonics. I recommend Reading Reflex for that. You need something that teaches him phonemic awareness, how to hear those sounds and forces him to put it in action. Dancing Bears looks like it will do a good job of this. Orton-Gillingham based programs. Recipe for Reading is a good cheap one. When it comes out, All About Reading is sure to be very good.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[Satori]

We started with Leapfrog DVD, in just one viewing she started reading CVC words.

 

Then used OPGTR, we're on lesson 202 now, almost done! It's worked out great, it went much farther than the other reading programs we looked into.

[Gooblink]

The Writing Road to Reading by Romalda Spalding for both my boys. I love it.

[Lovedtodeath]

 

The Writing Road to Reading by Romalda Spalding for both my boys. I love it.

This is OG based too, but the others are more remedial.

[PentecostalMom]

I just want to say...give him time. He may simply not be ready for reading yet. There are lots of programs that are simply fabulous, but if he isn't ready, he isn't ready. Don't let it frustrate you, or make you think something is wrong with either of you. One of my nieces that is in ps, was not reading going into 1st grade. She was not ready. The school, and her mom (an early ed teacher) tried various things but she seemed "stuck" as well. She just needed time. By Christmas of her 1st grade year, she was reading well and now is in the TAG program (for what that's worth). Just some thoughts...

[Satori]

Oh, I forgot that we are using the ETC workbooks. We seem to do these in waves, go through them super quickly then skip them for half a year. She is doing 6-10 pages a day out of ETC 3, working on it right now. We skipped this for half a year as the her reading was too slow, so she didn't enjoy the reading parts, but now she is just flying through them all. It's amazing how much a bit of time can change things.

[mom31257]

Both of my kids learned with the A Beka K4 Phonics program. I love the way it introduces blending sounds. It teaches all the short vowel sounds first, then moves on to consonants and blends each consonant with every vowel on the same day. There are little blend ladders that have the blends arranged in varying order (i.e. la, le, li, lo, lu; bu, bi, ba, be, bo)

 

They did not use A Beka past the K4 year year, but both were reading before Kindergarten.

[kalanamak]

I did SWR because my mathy boy loves puzzling things out. He took it as a kind of challenge to learn ALL the pronunciations of -ough, e.g. Once we had those all pat, I used Phonics Pathways to get him moving smoothly left to right. From there, Reading Pathways.

[Mom-ninja.]

It sounds to me like he has good visual skills but could use some help with auditory skills/ hearing the individual sounds in words in order to work out phonics. I recommend Reading Reflex for that. You need something that teaches him phonemic awareness, how to hear those sounds and forces him to put it in action. Dancing Bears looks like it will do a good job of this. Orton-Gillingham based programs. Recipe for Reading is a good cheap one. When it comes out, All About Reading is sure to be very good.

 

:iagree: Reading Reflex is great. It helped me teach my dyslexic ds, and now my 6 yr old is taking off with reading thanks to Reading Reflex.

[ejeanes]

I taught first grade for a year and used A Beka. All the kids tested 90% or higher on CAT's. I am teaching my own son this year and am not decided on what to do. Many of those kids I taught had use A Beka's K program before they got to me. Those kids were well prepared and reading. Kids from public K needed some time but A Beka's first grade program reviews and then moves forward. A lot of busy work but easy for them if they have a grasp of what it is they should be doing. Also Bob Jones Press is easy to teach and has good results. I did get my son 100 easy lessons and will work with him over the summer to be ready to start A Beka in the Fall, at least that's what I think we will do. Many HSing moms credit A Beka with teaching their kids to be strong readers and well equipped to read and know how to decode words.

[Dina in Oklahoma]

Abeka! Others may be more popular now, but Abeka is tried and true!:001_smile:

[EmeraldGirl]

Spell to Write and Read for my 4 youngest ESL learners. It is working and even though it takes time, it is worth the time to me to build a solid foundation.

[Heidi]

I don't use anything until they can blend cvc words. Do you really need a book to teach someone how to blend sounds? And isn't blending a developmental skill.. they "get it" on their own time frame? I'm certainly not an expert. Anyway, that's what I do.

[Lovedtodeath]

Some kids get auditory processing skills and phonemic awareness on their own. Others need a little help. Some need a lot of help.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Lovedtodeath

[Joker]

My youngest was super easy because she was already trying to read on her own. I helped her along with OPGTR and Bob books.

 

My oldest did not want to learn to read at all. She loved being read to but had no interest in doing it herself. The thing that helped her the most was reading old Dick and Jane books. We had several of them as well as an old Pre Primer book my gma taught me to read with and we would read them over and over and... The repetition is those books helped her so much because she was one who needed to do the same thing many times before she really got it.

[OleanderRain]

With my 6 year old, I use Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons and Bob Books. We do 1 lesson every day and 1 Bob Book every day, usually the same Bob book for a few days. We also work on Dolch sight words. I give her 5 words a week, on flash cards, to memorize. We also play games to help her remember them and I keep the sight words from the previous weeks in the stack.

[Midwest Pixie]

Another one that hasn't been mentioned is The Reading Lesson. My 4-yr old is quite fond of this one.

 

We are currently using this as well and even my developmentally-delayed almost 9-yr-old reluctant reader is enjoying it. If you go this route, I would HIGHLY recommend buying the CD-rom which is sold separately. Yes, it's more than the price of the book, but there is an animated introduction and interactive activities that go with each lesson. We always begin with the CD-rom and then when we do the lesson in the book, they're already familiar with it. All 3 of my littles are really enjoying the Giggle Bunny :D

 

Here's the book:

http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Lesson-Teach-Child-Lessons/dp/0913063029/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277264402&sr=8-1

 

Here's the CD-rom:

http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Lesson-CD-ROM-Michael-Levin/dp/0913063088/ref=tmm_other_title_0

 

I have tried a variety of programs (incl. many of the ones already listed here) and this is definitely my favorite. Every mom and every child is different though, so you'll need to buy something that "fits" you :)

[mombygrace]

Alphaphonics has been successful for 3 children. Easy, no frills. I added ETC A,B,C and 1,2,3 so far for my ds4 though it was not necessary. I use the alphaphonics readers, bob books then other easy readers. I also use Mcguffey readers through the years.

[H_Household]

I just came across a program this spring that I'm really happy with so far. It's called Discovering Intensive Phonics and is an Ortho-Gillingham based phonics program. It has direct instruction and a computer program which you can use individually or both. I'm really happy with it so far as it is teaching my son the foundations of phonics. He's enjoying it and learning alot. You might want to check it out at http://www.readinghorizonsathome.com/default.aspx They are having a sale right now through Old Schoolhouse Magazine which is a great deal....25% off and free shipping. http://www.schoolhouseexpo.com/?page_id=6872 Good luck picking

[Matryoshka]

I used Reading Reflex for all three of my kids. It's all I needed ($16!), and what was really great was that it taught me how to teach them, so I could continue to teach as we got to more complex texts without having to buy specialized materials.

[Guest Debora]

My fourth child is a boy who has struggled with learning to read because of slight dyslexia. But he has done really well with math. We used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I used it for my third child too, also a boy, who was my quickest learner. The older one went through the book very quickly at a young age(4). With my youngest I slowed down, we started later(5) and took 2 years to go through it and then slowly began going through pathway readers. I have learned my greatest asset in teaching him is not nessesarily the curriculum I picked, but patience. Sometimes when I felt we had hit a wall and were making no progress I put the book away and just found something I could read to him for a while. Later we came back and tried again. I have been blessed to see the slow but steady progress he has made in reading, and that, though reading may not be his favorite subject, he still loves books.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Debora

[Mrs Mungo]

Child #1: Montessori-style learning (very similar to OPGTR), Bob Books and LLATL Blue Book.

 

Child #2: Sing, Spell, Read and Write (she needed something more entertaining)

 

Child #3: Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading (he hated the songs in SSRW)