Question about Abeka Phonics

[carlyincali]

My son will be 7yo next month and he's had a slow start. At the beginning of the school year, we started with Reading Made Easy, but he got confused with the long vowels being intertwined with the short vowels and became very frustrated; so we switched to SSRW, and he's been progressing slowly through that. He just finished book one in ETC and is now reading short vowel words. He hates the songs on SSRW, (my daughters loved them.) and thus hates the program. So I am considering Abeka. I am feeling the pressure because he is supposed to be starting the second grade and he's barely reading at K level.

 

My question is... If I were to start him on Abeka Phonics, can I start him on the 1st grade level? Or does the 1st grade level start at a more advanced level?

 

Thank you in advance,

Carla

[momofabcd]

You would be okay starting your son with Abeka grade 1 phonics because it starts at the beginning and reviews, for the first 30-40 lessons, everything learned previously.

[carlyincali]

Thank you!

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

With what he has under his belt I would go with the 1st grade. Also remember, you can slow it down or speed it up where needed.

[rhrice3]

If he did ETC 1 and did well, but he is having a slow start, you could have him do 1 1/2. My middle daughter needed much more repetition to read than the other children. I discovered the ETC 1/2 books, and she did them after each of the regular books. We used Alphaphonics with all the kids, and they all read well just at very different ages.

 

Good luck,

ReneeR

[Rebecca77]

Starting with first will be perfect. And you can completely rest easy now, because Abeka provides a very solid foundation and is very easy to teach. Feel free to skip stuff that seems geared for a classroom, and any review you feel isn't necessary.

[carlyincali]

Thank you all for your suggestions and encouragement. About ETC, I already planned for him to start the 1-1/2.

 

Can you tell me about how long a phonics lesson lasts? Also, there is so much on their website to order for Grade 1 Phonics/LA, is there anything I don't need?

[Love2teach0307]

Hi! I'm just about to start using ABeka phonics for my 2nd time around. Many people I know just use the handbook for reading with the Letters & Sounds workbook. I would say the teacher's edition are not necessary at all. I like using teacher's editions stuff, but the phonics is so easy, it truly is not necessary.

 

I use the Basic Phonics Charts to teach and to review. But I made my own blend ladders - ba, be, bi, bo, bu. The phonics charts have a picture on the front and additional words on the back to help cement the sound. Using the homeschool curriculum book will show you how to use the program. You don't have to do each lesson as they say, but it's a great guide at this stage. The readers are great, too, for first grade. I found the Language book quite repetitive and didn't use it as much.

 

The best way to order Abeka is to go to one of their material displays when they come to your area. Shipping if free when you order it at the display, plus you get to look and handle the materials to make sure of what you want. HTH!