Phonics Road: Want to hear from those who stuck it out and those who didn't

[rosesinsummer]

If you stuck to Phonics Roads, I'd love to hear from you.

 

1) How did you schedule in DVD training time? Did you ever have your child watch the dvds on a busy week?

 

2) Anyone do OPGTR first (or at least get half way throught OPGTR), then start level 1? I'm finding that is the natural approach for me. Doing phonogram cards via OPGTR then looking to start PR level 1. The readers will likely be more icing at that point. Did you do the readers just for fun if you did OPGTR?

 

3) How are you liking the lit studies and grammar portion? I really like the philosophy behind WWE, so would like to do that in conjunction (instead of?) or alternating with PR, but I haven't seen Level 2 first hand.

 

4) What grades are you doing level 3 & 4? Are you really getting through one level per year?

 

5) Any other comments or tips?

 

For those of you who didn't stick it out, why did you leave and what did you replace PR with? Are you happy with these or still searching for the right program? Any regrets for jumping ship? If you were starting over with PR and told that you HAD to stick with it, what would you do differently to get through it?

 

Thanks!!:001_smile:

[Heidi]

I first purchased PR when my oldest was K age. I didn't get very far and sold it because there was so much other stuff I wanted to use/try for LA.

 

For K I ended up using R&S phonics, but I realized it wasn't really teaching her anything. It was busywork.

 

Her 1st grade year I decided to do more CM style, so all she did wascopywork and narration for her LA.

 

Now, 2nd grade I decided to go back to PR. I accelerated her through PR1 and she is on week 5 of PR2. My dd6 is in PR1, week 18. They are both also using WWE. They both also use/used OPGTR. I intend on going through all four levels since I now own all four levels of PR.

 

1.) I watch a few weeks of DVDs on my own time and take notes. On some building codes I have allowed my dd to just watch her and fill them in, but that doesn't happen very often.

 

2.) I don't use PR to teach reading. I prefer to use OPGTR and McGuffey readers for that.

First I teach the first sound of all the single phonograms, then teach blending sounds to make words, then I bring out OPGTR and start doing the lessons and use Bob books for practice reading. When we read through the Bob books, then we read through the McGuffey readers. Sometime during this time I start teaching all the sounds of the phonograms via PR through week 5. When those are learned and the child can write fair, we begin PR1 week 6, and still continue the OPGTR lessons. And she does WWE1, we just skip the dictation in PR1. For my dd6, by the time we reached the readers in PR1, she was WAY beyond those. Those are on Bob book reading level, while she is currently in McGuffey's second reader.

 

3.)We just started the grammar in PR2 so I can't really say, but I would really like to keep WWE in our schedule as well. DD7 loves the lit book, and doesn't mind the written work in PR2, but still can't give a good assessment of it yet. It is a lot of writing from dictation so far. I'm not sure it is all that necessary.

 

4.) I don't know yet. We're just taking it one day at a time.

 

5.) I think PR is a solid program. Obviously I supplement with WWE because I'm just not confident it would be wise to drop WWE yet, and I use PR according to our needs, not exactly as written. I think you could do LA cheaper and maybe just as effectively. I believe in the spalding method (I know.. this is a spalding spin-off) and PR does a good job streamlining LA. Those are the strengths. I don't think it is the end-all, be-all of LA programs though and don't often recommend it to others because it is so expensive. However, I've bought all the levels and I really hope to just stick it through with all my kids. I really don't want to jump around if I can help it.

 

hth!

[rosesinsummer]

Thank you! That was very helpful to read. I think I'm somewhat on the same page with regard to using OPGTR and not necessarily tying handwriting to reading. I'm tweaking PR in a similar way.

 

You mentioned that she was beyond the readers in PR1 when you got to them. So, what did you do? Did you skip them all together, or was she eager to illustrate them as her own books? I'm thinking I could use it as "art". Not sure....

[abrightmom]

I used PR and didn't stick it out. You said in your thread title that you'd like to hear from those who didn't as well as those who did....

 

If you stuck to Phonics Roads, I'd love to hear from you.

 

1) How did you schedule in DVD training time? Did you ever have your child watch the dvds on a busy week? I did DVD-a-thons and watched as many weeks at a time as possible, taking copious notes. For Level One I would write down the time on the DVD so I could go back to it if necessary. Level Two and above have better organized DVD menus for navigating. My kids never watched the DVDs for instruction. Though you can do that it isn't Mrs. Beers' intent. :001_smile: If we'd stayed with it I may have watched it WITH my kids :D.

 

2) Anyone do OPGTR first (or at least get half way throught OPGTR), then start level 1? Yes. I LOVE OPGTR. I'm finding that is the natural approach for me. Doing phonogram cards via OPGTR then looking to start PR level 1. The readers will likely be more icing at that point. Did you do the readers just for fun if you did OPGTR? I skipped the readers with both boys. They were reading when we began PR.

 

3) How are you liking the lit studies and grammar portion? I really like the philosophy behind WWE, so would like to do that in conjunction (instead of?) or alternating with PR, but I haven't seen Level 2 first hand. I love the looks of the literature studies but I must confess that we didn't use them. I left PR after several starts/stops. I watched a lot of the teacher training for the Little House study and it looked fun. But, for my purposes, the pace was slow. I realize that the intent of the literature study is to gently practice reading, learn composition skills, expand vocabulary, and become familiar with literary elements. I like the creative aspects of the lit. studies as well. But, they didn't serve our needs at the time and I was going to have to rush through them. I owned Level 3 but did not use the literature studies.

 

4) What grades are you doing level 3 & 4? Are you really getting through one level per year?

 

5) Any other comments or tips?

 

For those of you who didn't stick it out, why did you leave and what did you replace PR with? We use a reading primer such as OPGTR or The Reading Lesson. I also like Explode the Code. Writing With Ease works for us as well whether we use the workbook or use the skills of oral narration, copywork, and dictation within the content we are studying. We are not doing literature study; just trying to read good books aloud and silently.My oldest is using Writing Tales in conjunction with WWE and MCT LA. He is a natural speller and I have him use Rod & Staff spelling for "good measure" as well as studied dictation a couple times a week. I could drop the spelling program but I like the exercises he does with the words. My 7 year old is using AAS. He needs more help with spelling. I wish I could use PR just for the spelling. It is wonderful. Are you happy with these or still searching for the right program? Yes, I am happy with what we are doing. My biggest struggle is always tweaking a line up to fit a particular kid. I also have struggled in getting my child in the right level with a program. Any regrets for jumping ship? For my oldest, no. I think I was doomed to fail with PR because I was already sold on SWB's writing program and my son was already a strong reader/speller. I was doing ALL THIS WORK trying to get him through the early levels to find our level of challenge. I also found that he was NOT leveled in all of the skills. This is a HUGE drawback of an AIO program. My son's skills were in different places and he didn't fit nicely into a level. We were ready for spelling words & word study in Level 3, grammar in Level 2, and literature study in Level 3. But, we'd never learned the phonograms or word markings or Rule Tunes so had to go back to Level One to get all that. It was just insanely tedious and drove me insane. It was slightly better with my 2nd child who was already reading but is not a good speller. After experimenting with other grammar programs and watching some of the teaching DVDs for Level 2 I decided that I didn't need PR. It was not proving to be a time saver for me and I wasn't able to fit my kids appropriately.

 

I'm teaching my almost 6 year old daughter to read. Almost DAILY I wish I had PR Level One to use with her. Based on who she is and how she is learning I think PR is a GREAT fit for her. Too little too late. I simply CANNOT afford PR now. I've been looking for a VERY cheap Level One but.... There is no way I can ask my husband for the $$ to buy PR again. Ever. :DIf you were starting over with PR and told that you HAD to stick with it, what would you do differently to get through it? I'd simply stay the course.

 

Thanks!!:001_smile:

[BriannaG]

Well, we're in the middle of using 1 so I don't know how much help this will be. We used part of Webster's Speller before moving to PR1. DD was definitely spelling before reading. I did use PR1 to teach her to read. She started to read books on her own around week 9 or 10. By that I mean she picked out a library book and read it on her own sounding out all the words including words she hadn't been taught yet. Her preference is still for lots of space/pictures and not a ton of text on the pages. She also reads out of leveled readers and is picking up fluency really well.

 

DD does not watch the dvd's with me as I generally do that in the evening. That said she has sat with me and watched them once or twice and then left.

 

I'd definitely recommend watching several weeks worth and taking notes.

 

I was planning on supplementing with WWE as well - narrations for sure since I've been told that is where PR is lacking. I planned to play it by ear with the other areas of WWE and see what works.

 

That said, I had planned on doing all 4 levels of PR and still like the program. My situation is that I have a 3 yo that does not sleep at night and has a ton of sensory issues. I have been telling myself since he was 2 weeks old to just hang in there and in another couple of months it could be better. I've been facing the fact that it's not getting easier with him and it's not just because he doesn't sleep all night. I am often teaching on 2 hours of broken sleep and I am finding that having to watch the dvd's and try to remember things is really tough. Audio-visual learning isn't my favorite way to learn...I need a book too, but I knew that buying the program. Open and go would be way more helpful at this time for my situation.

 

I'm leaning towards not using PR2 at this point. For spelling AAS would be easiest since it is open and go and it has dictation which DD really likes. I like this method of analyzing words so WRTR is my other choice. DD is not a fan of oral work so FLL most likely won't work until level 3. I'm considering CLE for LA since it is spiral, but I don't know at this point. I've got time before we finish up level 1 to figure out what to do for our situation.

 

Oh, DD is an art and craft girl and is excited at getting to illustrate the readers. She already creates stories that she dictates to me. So, for her I think it is great.

 

If I HAD to stick with PR. I'd be watching the entire set of dvd's and typing up my notes . Basically creating a TM for myself so that I could make the program as open and go as possible for me for those days I only have two functioning brain cells.

 

HTH

[rosesinsummer]

Brianna,

 

Thanks for your thoughts and experiences. Very cool that your dc learned to read this way.

 

One thing I'm very tempted to do is buy this new book

 

http://www.logicofenglish.com/products/uncovering-the-logic-of-english

 

It's by a lady who is developing her own Spaulding spin off curriculum. I think she was a SWR trainer. Anyway, I think for a nominal fee for just the book (not the curriculum), I may have the "written" stuff I need to compliment PR.

[BriannaG]

Yeah, I saw her layout and loved the open and go nature of it. It reminded me of AAS in that regard. I didn't want to spend more money though so I stopped looking. I would love to have that open and go nature right now with PR currently. That's an idea, as I have referred back to WRTR on clarification on some things instead of going back and searching through dvds on PR.

[rosesinsummer]

Katrina,

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience-- it's helpful to see some of the same feelings I have about it. This is not an easy curriculum to implement, at least not at first. It does require not only teacher intensiveness, but teacher prep with the DVDs, plus investment of $$. Every once in a while I think, I should just go use CLP Building Spelling Skills. Cheap and a work book.

 

That said, I'm pretty much sold on the OG method, so I really do want to keep at it and try to make it work. I don't want to chuck it, try something else, and look back and wish I'd stuck it out. :tongue_smilie:

[Snowfall]

We're about to start PR2, so I'm not the voice if experience or anything, lol, but if I had it to do over, I would've gone with ASS instead. The readers in PR1 weren't useful for us (I used Phonics Pathways to teach beginning reading) and I think my dd could've greatly benefited from the instruction in syllabication in ASS. By the time I realized that, I was not interested in starting back at AAS1, so it was too late.

 

I used to be very into the AIO aspect, but now I have more confidence and don't find it necessary at all. I'm not sure my dd is ready for the actual physical amount of writing required in PR2, unless we drop all other writing she does (pen pal letters and WWE) which we are unwilling to do. I guess whether or not I continue to like it (because I don't DISlike it, just think it may not have been the best fit), will depend on how the writing goes in PR2. If it goes well without too much tweaking, then great. If not, I'm really going to be unhappy.

[Heidi]

Thank you! That was very helpful to read. I think I'm somewhat on the same page with regard to using OPGTR and not necessarily tying handwriting to reading. I'm tweaking PR in a similar way.

 

You mentioned that she was beyond the readers in PR1 when you got to them. So, what did you do? Did you skip them all together, or was she eager to illustrate them as her own books? I'm thinking I could use it as "art". Not sure....

 

I gave her the first book and she didn't care to illustrate it, so we just skip it.

[melmichigan]

My oldest is using PR at an accelerated pace, currently in PR4 (having done PR1-3 this last year). I have DD 3rd graders using PR2 at an accelerated pace, and my youngest DS6 is just beginning PR1, he's doing some of the stories as copywork/comprehension. He did IEW PAL with AAS1 as a gentle introduction into the markings. We moved to PR from AAS with my twins after AAS1 and part of AAS2 and I am very pleased with the move. I plan for all my DC to go through PR. I add in additional writing and grammar as I feel the need because I think PR is more of a level program and we school year round so we use parts of WWE/WWS, IEW, and Kiss Grammar.

 

I do DVD marathons and take enough notes that I should only have to do it once, all four levels in a little more than a year has made sure of that. ;)

[trishhoward]

I am a bit at a lost with roads to Phonics. it is too overwhelming with out an instruction text.

Edited July 23, 2012 by trishhoward