Aspasia Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I like the approach of Happy Phonics, but I want to make sure it is as thorough as Phonics Pathways or OPG. I suppose I can supplement with one of those if I needed to cover a few extra rules, but I don't want to be "supplementing" so much that I might as well just use one of them instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oops, duplicate account :/ Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 :bigear: We're using PP and that's going well, but happy phonics just sounds like so much fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 If it helps, here is what they cover: Name upper/lower case letters Common sounds of letters, short vowel sounds How to blend Learn 17 sight words (real sight words like 'does' that can't be sounded out easily) Long vowel sounds The following phonics groups: (1) th, ch (chip) and ch (chorus), sh, wh (2) a (like in want, ball) (3) long e sounds (ee, ea, also ea as in bread) (4) er, ir, ur, or, ear (5) "Y" sounds Y___ (yellow), __y (try), ____y (candy), __y__ (myth) (6) "A" sounds ai, ay (7) oi and oy (8) "ah" sounds - au (haul) aw (saw) (9) soft c (cent) and soft g (gem) (10) ou (ouch, pour, you), ow (cow, snow), oa (boat) (11) "oo" sounds - oo (too), oo (book), ew - (new), ui (fruit) (12) gn (sign), kn (knot), wr (write), ___b (lamb) (13) ould (could), ph (photo) (14) igh (high), eigh (eight) (15) "shun" sounds: sion (vision), tion (action) (16) "ah" sounds: aught (taught), ough (brought) (17) more "ee" sounds: ie (chief), ei (receive), ey (key and they) The only thing I see missing is "ough" as in rough and through. I really like it. It's not perfect by any stretch, but it's fun and it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekmom Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 Phonics Pathways is very thorough, and I believe it teaches phonics up to a 4th grade reading level. I have Happy Phonics, and I've used it a lot to supplement phonics instruction, but I don't think it's enough to be a stand alone, everything you need to learn to read program. I think if you added the Explode the Code workbooks and some readers you would have a solid phonics program. (I also highly recommend All About Spelling in the early years to reinforce all the phonics instruction.) - I also have Phonics Pathways, but I wouldn't recommend it as a stand alone program either. It's good, but I think kids need other reinforcements (games, readers, workbooks, etc.) for reading to really "sink in". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkiller Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 We tried Happy Phonics and it seemed like it would be fun but just didn't work for dd. We ended up doing OPGTR and ETC with very good results. Now with my ds we don't seem to be getting very far with OPGTR so we're trying Hooked on Phonics for a while. Happy Phonics didn't seem nearly as thorough as OPGTR, at least in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam Wilhelm Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 I used Happy Phonics along with Phonics Pathways....worked very well with the girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspasia Posted March 10, 2011 Author Share Posted March 10, 2011 (edited) Perfect. Thanks for the list of what Happy Phonics covers. I think I'll add Explode the Code for sure (and of course some readers) and then just reference Phonics Pathways to supplement with random rules that Happy Phonics may not cover. I just know that repetition and reinforcement is important, but my dd gets really tired of having to repeat the same thing over and over. She gets irritated with me (and I can't say that I blame her). But she'll play games 'til the cows come home, not realizing that she's reinforcing her skills all the while. Thanks for your help! Edited March 10, 2011 by infomom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FO4UR Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 If it helps, here is what they cover: Name upper/lower case letters Common sounds of letters, short vowel sounds How to blend Learn 17 sight words (real sight words like 'does' that can't be sounded out easily) Long vowel sounds The following phonics groups: (1) th, ch (chip) and ch (chorus), sh, wh (2) a (like in want, ball) (3) long e sounds (ee, ea, also ea as in bread) (4) er, ir, ur, or, ear (5) "Y" sounds Y___ (yellow), __y (try), ____y (candy), __y__ (myth) (6) "A" sounds ai, ay (7) oi and oy (8) "ah" sounds - au (haul) aw (saw) (9) soft c (cent) and soft g (gem) (10) ou (ouch, pour, you), ow (cow, snow), oa (boat) (11) "oo" sounds - oo (too), oo (book), ew - (new), ui (fruit) (12) gn (sign), kn (knot), wr (write), ___b (lamb) (13) ould (could), ph (photo) (14) igh (high), eigh (eight) (15) "shun" sounds: sion (vision), tion (action) (16) "ah" sounds: aught (taught), ough (brought) (17) more "ee" sounds: ie (chief), ei (receive), ey (key and they) The only thing I see missing is "ough" as in rough and through. I really like it. It's not perfect by any stretch, but it's fun and it works. "ough" is covered. The less frequent sounds are covered in the flashcards (probably spelling lists too, but I don't use those so idk). I spent *I don't know how long* trying to teach that phonogram the SWR way, and a DAY with HP and it was *down cold*...OK, I'm exaggerating, it took longer than a day, but it was one of those HSing moments where I beat myself over the head for making things so stinkin' difficult when it didn't have to be...:smash: Personally, I don't think I would use HP alone (I like more interesting reading material for early readers;) ). It is a meaty part of our phonics/reading program here though. It takes the most tedious part of learning to read and makes it a game.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto3innc Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 HP is very fun and my kids love the games. For me, it is a great, fun enforcement of what we have learned separately (we use AAS and readers). I don't personallly think it would work well as a stand alone program...it would probably depend on where your child is at with reading, but I think for most, you will need more. But it is fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 We also use early readers (I don't like HP's "red book"). It's fine. It's enough. Just add in some readers for practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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