thinking of ditching 100ez lessons

[lorrainejmc]

sigh again:confused:

 

I posted yesterday that my 5.5yr old ds stumbled during lesson 18. We repeated the lesson successfully later in the day, but today he stumbled again on the next lesson. My instinct tells me that this may not be a good fit if we are stumbling so soon, despite him having a really solid pre reading foundation. He really wants to learn to read but I am finding some aspects of this curriculum strange, eg. "the" is introduced with the line over the "e", so the child sounds it out as "thee" then we are to tell them it is "the". He is focusing so hard on remembering to say "the" when we repeat the words, that he is sounding out all the words wrong second time round.:confused::confused:

 

The plan was to start AAS including the AAR readers following 100ez lessons. Now I'm wondering about AAR level 1 for him when it comes out. I plan to get the pre 1 level for my other ds.

 

 

Help:confused:

[LisaKinVA]

Those markings can be strange, distracting, and unhelpful for some children. There is a handbook for reading on the Sale/Swap board, you could pick one up cheap, and see how that does... (just go through the book, practice the pages, reading through the rules) If you want something more scripted, I'd recommend OPTGR... skipping to the lessons your DS is ready for (which is what I'll be doing with my 4.5yo)

 

There are lots of great Phonics programs out there... that may be easier for your son to deal with.

[boscopup]

I found "the" really easy to handle after doing Webster's Speller. I'm not using 100EZ (I saw it and was utterly confused :lol:), but we use OPGTR and Webster's combined. I have my son say "thee" for "the" when reading, because it's an open syllable, but then I've explained that we often say "thuh". As we sound sentences out, we say "thee" though. This hasn't been an issue so far. We're still at sounding out everything stage.

[oraetstudia]

The book may not be right for you. In fact, though I have successfully taught 3 kids to read using 100 Easy Lessons, I am thinking about trying something else with my 4.5 year old. It just isn't going well this time around.

 

HOWEVER, have you gotten your child's eyes checked? My second oldest was having problems with every lesson and stumbling over words, etc. Some other things finally drove me over the edge and I dragged her off to an optometrist when she was 4-ish. It turns out she's far-sighted (in fact, now at 8 she wears bi-focals). Once she got glasses, we restarted 100 Easy Lessons and she mastered it all very quickly. It's amazing what being able to see can do.

[CarrieF]

You should consider OPG. Really. I bought and tried to use 100EZ with my oldest and HATED it - too confusing/busy, didn't like the order in which the letters/blends were taught - seemed illogical to me (I KNOW they've done research . . .). ;) With OPG we SAIL through because it is logically organized and easy to implement. Also, there are flashcards (that you can order separately) to do fun review/reinforcement games, which my 2nd DS loves. Highly recommend OPG!

[mytwomonkeys]

:grouphug: i absolutely hated 100EZ lessons.

[lorrainejmc]

The book may not be right for you. In fact, though I have successfully taught 3 kids to read using 100 Easy Lessons, I am thinking about trying something else with my 4.5 year old. It just isn't going well this time around.

 

HOWEVER, have you gotten your child's eyes checked? My second oldest was having problems with every lesson and stumbling over words, etc. Some other things finally drove me over the edge and I dragged her off to an optometrist when she was 4-ish. It turns out she's far-sighted (in fact, now at 8 she wears bi-focals). Once she got glasses, we restarted 100 Easy Lessons and she mastered it all very quickly. It's amazing what being able to see can do.

 

Because my oldest is far-sighted, all my other kids have been seen by the optometrist from they were toddlers, so I don't think he has any problems seeing. I totally get what you are saying, though. My dd who does wear glasses became a different, more settled child once her vision problems were identified.

 

I still think the "the" versus "thee" is the stumbling block in his case, but perhaps I am willing to give up too soon because I don't really care for this book myself.:001_huh:

[Chloe]

100 Easy Lessons didn't work for my very visual ds. The pages were too cluttered and distracting. He used The Reading Lesson with great success.

[KarenNC]

We had to ditch both 100 EZ lessons and Phonics Pathways (the recommendations from the first edition of WTM) as they were horrible fits for us. Explode the Code combined with Bob Books and, yes, Dick and Jane :) did wonders for my daughter.

[DawnM]

We tried 100ez lessons twice and ditched it, twice.

 

The first time I switched to Phonics Pathways.

 

The second time (with my current 7 year old when he was in K) we went with CLE Learn to Read program.

 

I wish, wish, wish I had discovered CLE's program when my oldest was in K! I can't say enough good things about their gentle approach to teaching reading and writing.

 

Dawn

[Jonibee]

I taught all 6 of my kids to read with 100 EZ Lessons. The thing I liked best about it was that it moves fast and they are really reading by about lesson 70 or so. My kids all loved it and all say they will use it with their kids.

 

I know lots of people said it didn't work for them, so I wanted to provide the other side. Since you're only struggling today, I would suggest to keep on going, little by little, bit by bit. One of my kids really liked some flash cards of the words when there were only about 10 of them so far: me, read, see, etc.

 

Yes, the "thee" sound is awkward -- I always told my kids that's how they talk in the that part of the country. Maybe not true, but you're not going to find books that say cah and good mohnin' and pizzer and soder, either. haha.

 

So just explain it away and keep going. My kids were always good sports about it and soon enough the book was done and they were reading.

[Carol in Cal.]

Maybe he just isn't developmentally ready to learn to read. Some really, really bright kids don't pick up reading until they are seven. Like my daughter, now an avid reader and an Honors English student at a Catholic high school.

[joysworld]

I just wanted to say that there are people that pronounce the as thee, in their everyday language. We don't, but I know some that do:)

[KarenNC]

I just wanted to say that there are people that pronounce the as thee, in their everyday language. We don't, but I know some that do:)

 

In standard usage, it is "thuh" in front of consonants, "thee" before vowels. It's also "thee" for emphasis ("You saw "thee" SWB? Really?")

 

http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/the.htm

 

Thee apple

Thuh house

[KarenNC]

Maybe he just isn't developmentally ready to learn to read. Some really, really bright kids don't pick up reading until they are seven. Like my daughter, now an avid reader and an Honors English student at a Catholic high school.

 

This is true for some kids, but was not our issue with 100 EZ Lessons. My daughter pitched fits and cried at both 100 EZ Lessons and Phonics Pathways, but would bring me the books for Explode the Code and beg to do more. This was all at age 4. She desperately wanted to learn to read, just hated the styles of the first two programs.

[joysworld]

In standard usage, it is "thuh" in front of consonants, "thee" before vowels. It's also "thee" for emphasis ("You saw "thee" SWB? Really?")

 

http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/the.htm

 

Thee apple

Thuh house

 

 

Learn something new!:)

[JadeOrchidSong]

This is true for some kids, but was not our issue with 100 EZ Lessons. My daughter pitched fits and cried at both 100 EZ Lessons and Phonics Pathways, but would bring me the books for Explode the Code and beg to do more. This was all at age 4. She desperately wanted to learn to read, just hated the styles of the first two programs.

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

Another vote for Explode the Code. I taught both dc successfully to read using these books mostly ORALLY. The kids don't have to be able to write to learn to read. (per WTM opinion). So for the spelling part in ETC, I asked my dc to spell orally or with letter tiles. It moved quite fast this way and both dc finished ETC book 7 before they turned 6. I started before they turned 4. Both could read long chapter books independently like the Wonderful Wizard of OZ from Sonlight K RA before they turned 6. That is why we can do spelling and also Latin with my 8 and 6 yr old because learning to read was finished early.

[profmom]

We have 9 more lessons to finish 100EL with my 3rd dc to go through it! I use it because it gets them reading quickly & takes them to a beginning 2nd grade level. We'll follow it with Funnix 2 -- you might like to take a look at Funnix 1 as alternative to 100EL.

 

I guess I taught "the" more like a sight word?

[johnandtinagilbert]

We did 100ezl with the 5 and the problem was less about finishing the book and reading quickly, but more about the gaps in phonics that followed. Just my 2 cents :)

[lorrainejmc]

Gosh, lots of responses since I was last online:blush:

 

This "the" versus "thee" thing has amused me a lot. We are in N Ireland and the only time I have ever heard a real live person say "thee" for "the" was in church:D We always say it as "thu", so phonetically correct I think in this case. I'm between a rock and a hard place; the UK phonics are in an English accent, which is WAAAY off a N Irish accent, and now this stumbling block that I did not see coming makes me wonder how many more phonetic differences will appear:001_huh:

[johnandtinagilbert]

Gosh, lots of responses since I was last online:blush:

 

This "the" versus "thee" thing has amused me a lot. We are in N Ireland and the only time I have ever heard a real live person say "thee" for "the" was in church:D We always say it as "thu", so phonetically correct I think in this case. I'm between a rock and a hard place; the UK phonics are in an English accent, which is WAAAY off a N Irish accent, and now this stumbling block that I did not see coming makes me wonder how many more phonetic differences will appear:001_huh:

You may actually appreciate the old english and root references in the Phonics Road. I'll bet you already say babi...not babee? I would enjoy just listening to you speak. I LOVE the variety of accents on this planet. LOVE THEM!:D

[lorrainejmc]

You may actually appreciate the old english and root references in the Phonics Road. I'll bet you already say babi...not babee? I would enjoy just listening to you speak. I LOVE the variety of accents on this planet. LOVE THEM!:D

 

I know some people who do say babi.... I *think* I say babee but I've practiced so much in the last few minutes, I don't even know how I talk anymore:lol: