OPGTR: At what age did your kid finish it?

[mhg]

At what age did your child complete all lessons in Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading book?

[Satori]

We're scheduled to be done with it August 18, 2010. DD will be 5.75 years old by then.

 

Editing my post to be more helpful. You may notice I'm very exact, that's because I have all our lessons online so I can lookup dates and lesson plans easily.

 

After watching Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD, my daughter knew all the common letter sounds and could read/spell CVC words (just took one viewing, that DVD is awesome!). Once she was excited with that, we started OPG on June 22, 2009. We were able to do the first 30 lessons in just one day, mostly as a quick review. I put priority on reading over all our other lessons, OPG was the first lesson we'd tackle and we'd work on it 5 days a week. Throughout the year, we took off a few months here and there, but also sometimes did 2-3 lessons a day, so I guess that part evens out. Just wanted to mention that because we weren't the most consistent last year. So we finished OPG in pretty much exactly 15 months.

 

We're on Lesson 221 now (out of 231 lessons total) and she can read almost anything. We're working on fluency now. I just love this program! I wanted to systematically go through all phonics stuff and that's what it does. It's super efficient and easy to teach!

Edited August 5, 2010 by Satori

[FairProspects]

Never! :lol: It is taking forever! We have been working on it for close to a year and we are only on Lesson 80 or so. At this rate I guess around age 7 or 8, probably by the end of 2nd grade.

[Whereneverever]

We finished it when DD 1 was 6.

[Ellyndria]

DS finished at about 5.25

[LaissezFaire]

We never finished it. We got to lesson 80 or so and my DD just exploded with her reading and moved right into reading real books with no problem.

[Tonia]

6 years old

[Steven]

Our daughter was 5 years and 4 months. I am not sure exactly how long it took us--my wife started the first lessons (the poems about the letter sounds), but doesn't remember when. That poem covers about 30 lessons. After we started the first lessons on short vowel sound words, we spent just over a year to complete the book.

 

She has been less than enthusiastic about reading on her own, and hates it when I make her sound out a word. And she was stumbling on a lot of basic words (like long vowel/silent e words). Although we had finished the book last November, in May we began what I have called Blitz Phonics--wehave been reading through all the lessons again, about 4 or 5 pages a day. It takes us about 5 to 10 minutes.

[JMDRAD]

We never finished it. We got to lesson 80 or so and my DD just exploded with her reading and moved right into reading real books with no problem.

 

The same thing happened for us. We barely made it half way. Everything suddenly clicked and she was reading Sonlight's Core 2 with ease. She did not want to do phonics any more so I sneaked it in with SWR and told her it was spelling.

[kmacnchs]

3

 

It supposedly teaches (at the end) on a fourth grade reading level so I would say a good goal would be by the time they are 8 or 9. Don't be disheartened - it is not meant to be done in a year! (I have a friend who was determined to do 180 lessons when her 5 yo was in K...that's fine but I kept reminding her that even if you look at advanced K programs, their skills only go up to lesson 105 or so)...just food for thought

[JennyW]

With my daughter, we started at the beginning of kindergarten and did it throughout kindergarten and first grade. Finished in the spring of her first grade year. My son taught himself to read starting when he was 2, so we went through the book starting at the beginning of kindergarten, finishing about 4 or 5 months later.

[M&M]

I can't remember when ds#1 finished as it came out when we were in the middle of phonics pathways, dd#2 will finish this fall at age 8, ds#2 will probably finish at age 7. We finish the book even if said child has taken off in reading, the ending chapters are really beneficial.

[kpnick in nc]

 

It supposedly teaches (at the end) on a fourth grade reading level so I would say a good goal would be by the time they are 8 or 9. Don't be disheartened - it is not meant to be done in a year! (I have a friend who was determined to do 180 lessons when her 5 yo was in K...that's fine but I kept reminding her that even if you look at advanced K programs, their skills only go up to lesson 105 or so)...just food for thought

 

 

I'm trying to remember this - especially with DS's peers speeding along in their own reading. Thanks!

[Guest janainaz]

Ds1 was done by the time he was 6 and ds2 will be done by December, when he turns 6.

 

My goal was to have my sons reading great by first grade.

 

We do "two review" and one new every day.

[sarawatsonim]

Probably when she turns 6 (this november). I will have to see how she progresses through until then though. We may have to back track if it gets too hard.

[Laurel]

5, just before she turned 6, for the older one. We went slow in the beginning, and took a few breaks when she wasn't developmentally ready, but then when her reading took off, she wanted to do two lessons a day, and we zoomed through the rest of the book.

 

The younger one is about to turn 5 and I hope we will be able to finish shortly after he turns 6, but I want to make sure I go at his speed.

[skueppers]

I'm not sure we will finish. We're somewhere between lesson 110-120, and my daughter vastly prefers to read real books at this point. I'm up in the air about whether to insist on finishing it or not, as I'm not sure it's actually providing much benefit at this point. It definitely was beneficial earlier on, though.

 

My daughter is 5.75.

[kmacnchs]

We finish the book even if said child has taken off in reading, the ending chapters are really beneficial.

 

:iagree::iagree:For those of you contemplating NOT finishing it, I want to echo M&M! Those last chapters are very beneficial AND very challenging!

[PygmyShrew]

I like the 2 review 1 new idea!

 

 

 

Ds1 was done by the time he was 6 and ds2 will be done by December, when he turns 6.

 

My goal was to have my sons reading great by first grade.

 

We do "two review" and one new every day.

[nono]

Never! :lol: It is taking forever! We have been working on it for close to a year and we are only on Lesson 80 or so. At this rate I guess around age 7 or 8, probably by the end of 2nd grade.

 

Right there with ya. We start 1st grade this fall, and my daughter is liking OPGTR, but at a slow pace. I refuse to apply a strict schedule to it and wring the enjoyment out of it for her. It's on her fall schedule for 1 review, 1 new 3x a week.

[Sahamamama]

We finish the book even if said child has taken off in reading, the ending chapters are really beneficial.

 

:iagree:Here, too! Last year when oldest daughter was just 4 years old, something clicked in her brain and she took off with reading everything in sight. One day we were working on Lesson 68. The words for the lesson were me, he, we, she, be, the. I pointed to the words, she read them, and then continued flawlessly with the instructor's portion:

 

Did you recognize that last word in the list? You memorized the word 'the' when you first started reading. Now you know all the words that follow this same pattern. Let's go back through the list together. I will read each little word to you. Then you will read each little word back to me. Once we have finished reading each of these tiny words together, you will go back to the beginning and read the whole list yourself.

:001_huh: That was an eye opener for me. I wasn't sure what to do for while after this lesson. She read like this the week of her 4th birthday. What should I do with such a young reader? Should I continue with basic phonics? Stop? Skip ahead?

 

What we ended up doing was this: All the rest of that year, we did the lessons as though nothing had changed (two review, one new). Then, at the end of the year (she was nearly 5), I took her to the library one Saturday, checked into a little study room, and quickly "tested her up" -- read these words, now read these words -- until we came to something less comfortable. We started the new year at that point. She is 5.5 now, reads far beyond her "lesson level," and will still finish the book. I can see the benefit in finishing, both in her reading and her spelling. HTH.

[mommy4ever]

ROFL... gee, I feel like I have a delayed child! That said, she only started OPGTR in April, at 6.5, when we pulled her from school - a non-reader. I don't see us completing it this year by the end of grade 2, as I don't want to push too hard. But her reading IS starting to take off, insanely, so maybe we will cruise through more than I think. But looking at the last lessons, the words look so intimidating.

 

I will just go with the flow, I guess..lol

[kmacnchs]

ROFL... gee, I feel like I have a delayed child! That said, she only started OPGTR in April, at 6.5, when we pulled her from school - a non-reader. I don't see us completing it this year by the end of grade 2, as I don't want to push too hard. But her reading IS starting to take off, insanely, so maybe we will cruise through more than I think. But looking at the last lessons, the words look so intimidating.

 

I will just go with the flow, I guess..lol

 

OPGTR is NOT meant to be finished in a year!!! Please do not think that! It goes from non-reader (beg. of K) to fluent reader of multi-syllabic words (4th grade). That is 4-5 years. Granted, I've never heard of anyone taking 5 years to finish it, I have also never heard of anyone finishing it in a year (starting with a non-reader). PLEASE don't feel the pressure to finish in a year!

[mommy4ever]

OPGTR is NOT meant to be finished in a year!!! Please do not think that! It goes from non-reader (beg. of K) to fluent reader of multi-syllabic words (4th grade). That is 4-5 years. Granted, I've never heard of anyone taking 5 years to finish it, I have also never heard of anyone finishing it in a year (starting with a non-reader). PLEASE don't feel the pressure to finish in a year!

 

 

Katy, as long as we are making progress, I'm not worried about it. She is reading better than any of her old classmates. So we are doing good. I figure we'll likely take 2 years, or around there.

[kmacnchs]

Katy, as long as we are making progress, I'm not worried about it. She is reading better than any of her old classmates. So we are doing good. I figure we'll likely take 2 years, or around there.

 

I just didn't want you to think it should take one year and then get stressed out b/c it takes longer. :)

[Celia]

I'm thinking we'll probably be done sometime in grade 2

[golfcartmama]

Mine will be about 8 yrs 2 mos when we finish. We started around lesson 80 a few weeks ago and are doing 2 lessons per day 5x wk right now. He's not struggling yet, but I don't want to spend more time that that each day. We also have AAS and ETC as well.