Honest thoughts on Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading

[AFarmhouseFull]

I am thinking about purchasing this book for my 3rd child. I taught my second child with a similar book (teach your child in 100 easy lessons) and about 2/3 the way threw I threw it aside and switched to HOP. I am not sure if it was the combination or one or the other but she is AN AMAZING READER!!!! I am wanting to do the same with my next in line and start with a reading program like this and move to HOP next (just to review). I didn't like that TYCTR100 had all the weird font, so I was thinking that The Ordinary Parent's Guide would be better.

 

Has anyone every used it and LOVED it or LOATHED it? Why?

Thanks,

Nic

Edited July 21, 2011 by AFarmhouseFull

[FO4UR]

I have it/use it for my children with no LD's. It's good and thorough. My 6yo is a great little reader, but I'm having her do OPGTR for 10min daily anyway, just to make sure we cover all the phonics patterns explicitly.

[EthiopianFood]

Awesome. Thorough. Trustworthy. Direct. We use a white board to make it more interesting.

[Joker]

I loved it and wish I knew about and used it for my older dd. Younger dd started to read things at three and I ordered this book, the letter tiles and magnetic board. She "played" with the tiles and board often and didn't mind sitting for 10-15 min at a time doing the lessons. It was perfect for us.

[Dandelion]

Used it with DS (started when he was 5). He's now 8 and reading at a 7th grade level - I feel that the book gave him a very solid foundation, and I appreciated how everything was spelled out for me. Plan to use it with DD as well.

[newlifemom]

I use it and love it. I do not have any of the bells and whistles though.

[oldskool]

I used it for my 3rd dd because it looked easy to implement. My other two kids learned to read at public school and I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to do it. It turned out to be exactly what I needed. Very straight forward, thorough, and easy for me to teach. I also used it to tutor a 3rd grader this year who could not read. It really helped him too and the results I saw after just a few weeks were fantastic.

 

Lesley

[Whereneverever]

I love it. OPG + white board took my DD1 from non-reader to an enthusiastic reader very quickly. It's working well with DD2, as well.

[Cassy]

I've just started using it with DS4, and we both really enjoy it. It seems very thorough and I like the way it builds up, with lots of review, in very small, painless steps. We do also use Jolly Phonics and Oxford Reading Tree readers too, which is what my older three used. The variety keeps us interested and helps to make learning to read more fun.

 

Cassy

[Twilight Woods]

We have been using it for about a month now and it's getting the job done. She is a reluctant reader.

[....]

My 6 yro didn't seem compatible with the reading programs like 100 EZ or OPGTR. She would cry whenever I got it out. We also use Hooked on Phonics (the old HOP) and Bob Books. I wonder if it isn't the pages filled with writing (in 100EZ for example) and HOP Books have lots of white space...maybe? I read somewhere that some kids need more white space on pages when they start off with reading. :confused: I don't know.

[Brigitte]

I used it with my twins. I feel like it is clear, to the point, short & sweet, and does the job effectively. I bought the magnetic board and letter tiles to go with it. When we finished 1 twin was a great reader (probably 3rd grade level) and the other was right at 1st. The second twin, once she realized that she was in fact a good reader, is now the better reader of the two. At age 10 (entering 5th grade), the first twin reads at about 7th or 8th grade level and the other is 9th or beyond. Anyway, one thing I liked about OPGTR is that she does stress taking breaks from lessons if the child is resisting or not ready to move on. We did this twice and it was a huge help at keeping us from getting frustrated.

[Girlmom123]

We love it! Simple and straightforward.

[FaithManor]

I used Saxon Phonics with two of my children, heard about OPGTR before beginning with my third and switched. He did pretty well. But, my last child just did not respond to it. Actually, he was my most difficult child to figure out and I ended up using Phonics Museum by Veritas Press. I actually never recommend Museum to anyone because it is sooooo ridiculously expensive and I hate the D'Naelian print and the obscure Victorian artwork in which the child has to wrack his or her brains out to try and figure out what phonics sound is represented thus sending mom and dad directly to the teacher's manual. But, he did so well and the thing that really helped him "get it" were the puzzle pieces with the letters on them. He needed to "physically" see the sounds put together. He was reading at a 6th grade level by the beginning of 2nd grade. There was a lot in the phonics museum that I just ignored.

 

But, the one child that did OPGTR did very, very well. My sil used it with my niece and she was also successful.

 

I will say that I never adhere directly to any reading program. We had all of the Bob Books, the Ant and Caterpillar Books (these little books were really, really funny), and the Worm books which are followed by the Monkey Books. If you've never seen the Worm Books, look them up at Barnes and Nobles...the artwork is funny and the stories, simple but cute. My littles always loved a good comedy. Oh, and we had some of the DK readers as well.

 

I do think that OPGTR is a solid, easy to implement course.

 

Faith

[TXMary2]

We use it and I love it. It is thorough, methodical and simple to use. It takes us anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes to do review and complete a lesson.

[Catherine]

He was 5, we did it in one year, and he reads well. We did not use the tiles or anything except the book itself. I did skip the letter sounds at the beginning as he knew them, and we skipped the rhymes and chants because he hated them. But the book itself got the job done in minimal time and with little fuss, distraction, or WRITING.

[AHASRADA]

Unfortunately, OPGTR did not work for my dd and myself. Personally, I prefer Phonics Pathways combined with Explode the Code and some readers.

 

The main difference between PP and OPGTR is the font size and the scripting. PP has a nice, big font on clean, uncluttered pages, making it easy for the child to read. Also, it is not scripted, so there is no working around the teacher instructions to focus on the words for the student to read.

 

Personally, when a program is scripted, I end up becoming a slave to the script, following it exactly, and doing a page per day. Even if my dc needs to spend more time on that page, I feel like, "I already read that lesson. Are we really going to keep repeating it over and over?"

 

PP organizes the words to practice in rows and columns, so if my dc needed more practice, we could go back and redo the same page, but from top to bottom, then right to left, then bottom to top, etc., to mix it up. Also, it is great for spelling and reference. Since it basically consists of pages covering specific phonics sounds, with lists of words to practice those sounds, it is very versatile.

 

For us, OPGTR had much too small of a font, and the scripting really limited it's focus and use. My dd turned out to be dyslexic, and she needed a ton more repetition and review than OPGTR was designed to do. We ended up using an Orton-Gillingham based program for her (Wilson Language), but still used Explode the Code successfully with both dc.

 

HTH,