Readingeggs.com and other laungauge lessons??

[HSMWB]

I have a 6 and 4 year old. My 6 year old has been doing the Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading (at lesson 57) and Explode the Code workbook (book 2 lesson 4) and First Language Lessons (lesson 60). I also have Spelling Workout A that we have not used at all.

 

I am just wondering, they both really seem to like playing it on the computer. She is currently on lesson 72 which is about as high as she could go in with the 'reading test'. I feel that it would be a lot of money to do reading eggs for both of them (and only one is NOT an option) but I am not against it if I would be able to drop things that they do not like so much.

 

She really does not like to do the OPGTR, at all. Rolls her eyes, slumping in her chair, does not want to read a line, etc. etc. Puts me in a bad mood as well. She is OK with Explode the code, but does not like the pages with either lots of reading on them or lots of writing, in other words, only likes doing half of the lesson.

 

Do you think if she was going through the lessons on Readingegg - that I could drop the OPGTR and ETC? Will she still learn all the phonics and not just 'sight reading'? This is my main concern.

 

I am a little concerned about her handwriting, but I am thinking that we would still be doing the First Language Lessons - and I would just assign the more detailed copy work, and we already write letters and she likes to write stories. So I am not so concerned about that. I am correct that I would still need to do the FLL - right - that readingeggs does not cover that.

 

So does readingeggs, FLL, writing letters and stories, along with her reading out loud and me reading to them all the time sound good? Am I missing anything? Any reason why I should squash readingeggs.com and not do it?

[3monkeys]

To be honest, I don't think I would use as a stand alone. Both mine loved it in the beginning, but of course when I purchased it it became boring or groans when I told them to do it.

I should say we haven't been using it all that long, but my gut tells me to keep my other phonics going. Definitely keep FLL. No grammar is covered that I've seen as of yet.

Two things that bugs me are I have no progress report that's worth a flip and Child must pass test to get to next level, but questions are easy. The following material my 5 year old may not be ready for. You can repeat lessons for extra practice but neither of mine will go for that!

 

I do however think its a great supplement for us and gives them a new way to learn the same concept.

 

Hope that helps!

[HSMWB]

This is why I am really hesitant. I feel that if I am going to have to deal with the eye rolling and the 'but I don't want too' that it should at least not be over something on the computer . . . I try to keep them off the computer and the screen time in general.

 

I did talk someone into signing up so that we get another two weeks to try it out before committing some money - so hopefully they will grow board of it during that time frame. Or I can figure out how to keep the other stuff going as well as use it as something to do outside of 'school'.

[ItoLina]

I use readingeggs as a reward for doing our regular phonics lessons (OPGTR and bits and pieces of ETC. I will be starting AAS in a couple of months when we are a little farther into OPGTR). I don't feel like it would be an equal replacement for them. My ds just kind of goes through it and doesn't necessarily master a concept before he moves on. It is possible for them to get through the levels this way. I also don't feel like there is enough practice in readingeggs by itself. At least not for my ds.

 

That said...I feel you. When we first started a few months ago my ds really disliked both OPGTR and ETC. I had to put them both away for a couple weeks and then come up with a new strategy for using them. Some things I have done with OPGTR that helped us:

 

1. He NEVER sees the OPGTR book.

2. I have him make all the stand alone words with letter tiles and then read them to me.

3. For the stories he either reads them off the white board, erasing as he goes, or I make a little book with a sentance on each page. He reads the sentance and then draws a picture to go with it.

4. Sometimes I change the names in the story to his name, his sister's name, mom, dad...etc. He thinks this is hillarious and it seems to make the stories much more enjoyable for him to read.

5. I just got this little mailbox at Target for putting Valentine's Day cards in and once in a while I have been writting out one of the stories on paper and putting it in his mail box like a letter for him. He is constantly chacking his mail box now and loves to read his "mail".

 

As for ETC...I just use it to supplement when I feel like he needs extra practice with a concept, but we do not do all the lessons. Also, I really minimize the writting part of it because he loathes writting. So, I try to keep reading and writting really separate. I just have him tell me what the answers are and I write them in if writting is necessary. He must do all the reading though.

 

I hope that maybe some of those suggestions help make OPGTR and ETC a little more appealing to your dc.

 

Good luck.

[....]

There's a free trial now of Reading Eggs (from their website). I think we're on Day 3 of the free trial (it's 14 days).

 

The 4 yro is using it. It's definitely not stand-alone for a 6 yro, but the 4 yro seems to enjoy it. If you buy the monthly subscription, just make sure you can cancel it if your kids don't want to do it anymore. I'm not sure what their cancellation policies are.