Are the Flyleaf Books to Remember worth the money?

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

Poll to follow.

 

Ds5 is stuck in reading right now. We are still doing two consonant blends, which we started a while ago, but now he's afraid of them :confused: :glare:. I am adamantly against introducing many sight words. He has read all the first BOB books, but the second set introduces more sight words than I'm comfortable with. Same with the HOP books. I'd like to avoid "see" and "like" until he's at those lessons in OPG. I am TERRIBLE at drawing, so my attempts at illustrating the OPG stories on paper is..... not great. I think he's bored, and if he had more, interesting books that he'd be more willing to move forward. And ds2.9 just learned to read in the last two weeks (he turns 3yo in 2 weeks.) (NOT hot housing. He figured it all out playing Starfall and his Leap Frog Word Builder toy.) Ds2 knows over 50 words, but is having trouble with the word "sat" because we don't say that most of the time, so BOB books are a bit confusing for him.

 

I really like the look of the Flyleaf books. I love the systematic phonics approach, and the fact that they avoid sight words as much as possible. Plus, they look MUCH better than the BOB books. (I looked at them because they are mentioned in WTM.) But you can't get all the books on an individual basis, and it's $161 dollars for the first set! I only budgeted $600 for this fiscal year for homeschooling. That was before ds2.9 was reading. Our relatives are in worse financial situations than us, so it's not something they could help pitch in for. And they don't have them at the library. (Our library stinks.)

 

Well, if you read all of that, thank you. I'm panicking :willy_nilly: over ds2.9 reading, and I'm so afraid of messing this up. The poll options should be self explanatory. Thank you in advance for responding.

 

 

ETA: I did look a bit online, but I didn't see any being sold second hand/cheaper.

Edited March 6, 2012 by theYoungerMrsWarde

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

Bump.

[boscopup]

Why not teach the phonograms he's missing in order to move forward? For example, "ee" is sometimes taught fairly early so that words like "see" can be used. I See Sam readers are that way (and they're way better than Bob books - I hate Bob books). Reading Eggs does it. Dancing Bears does it. My two that are learning to read (one actively, one for fun because he wants to play Reading Eggs... and he's going to be 3 at the end of May:tongue_smilie:) have both been taught that "ee" says /ee/.

 

Sometimes when a kid gets stuck on one thing, you need to move ahead a bit and come back to the stuck spot. Taking that break from the stuck spot might help him become unstuck. ;)

 

Reading doesn't have to be this rigid. Teach the phonograms as you come across them in whatever reader you pick up. Have you checked out the free Treadwell & Free readers? Is he past the first 52 I See Sam books (again, free)? I'd try those first, teaching phonograms as they come up, even if you aren't there yet in OPGTR. Use the curriculum to help you teach. Don't let the curriculum use you.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

Why not teach the phonograms he's missing in order to move forward? For example, "ee" is sometimes taught fairly early so that words like "see" can be used. I See Sam readers are that way (and they're way better than Bob books - I hate Bob books). Reading Eggs does it. Dancing Bears does it. My two that are learning to read (one actively, one for fun because he wants to play Reading Eggs... and he's going to be 3 at the end of May:tongue_smilie:) have both been taught that "ee" says /ee/.

 

Sometimes when a kid gets stuck on one thing, you need to move ahead a bit and come back to the stuck spot. Taking that break from the stuck spot might help him become unstuck. ;)

 

Reading doesn't have to be this rigid. Teach the phonograms as you come across them in whatever reader you pick up. Have you checked out the free Treadwell & Free readers? Is he past the first 52 I See Sam books (again, free)? I'd try those first, teaching phonograms as they come up, even if you aren't there yet in OPGTR. Use the curriculum to help you teach. Don't let the curriculum use you.

 

I learned to sight read only in a public school in CA in the 90's and I'm a terrible speller. I don't know all the rules (okay, I don't know ANY of the rules; I was planning on learning them along side ds5) so I'm not confident about doing things outside of OPG :(. I'm terrified of handicapping them by teaching too many sight words/out of OPG order words. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and do it, but just the thought of doing that is making me feel panicky (which is a side issue.)

[boscopup]

I learned to sight read only in a public school in CA in the 90's and I'm a terrible speller. I don't know all the rules (okay, I don't know ANY of the rules; I was planning on learning them along side ds5) so I'm not confident about doing things outside of OPG :(. I'm terrified of handicapping them by teaching too many sight words/out of OPG order words. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and do it, but just the thought of doing that is making me feel panicky (which is a side issue.)

 

Notice that I did NOT say to teach him sight words. I said to teach the phonograms as they come up. Most sight words are phonetic, so just sound them out and you're good to go. ;)

 

I would suggest this... Since he's stuck at one spot, he probably needs a break for a week or two anyway. Give him a break. Now, YOU pick up OPGTR and go through the book yourself. I'm sure you can finish it in that week or two. You will now have learned phonics. :D

 

Another option might be to pick up Writing Road to Reading (you can get it for around $10 pretty easily - used copies are fine) and read through that yourself. Even if you don't use the method, it teaches the rules and the phonograms.

 

A third option (and these options aren't in order of best to worst - I think they're all valid options) is to go to http://thephonicspage.org and do the phonics lessons yourself (again, during that 1-2 week break for your son).

 

Basically, you need to self-educate a bit so you can effectively teach without being strapped down by the curriculum. Sometimes we need to work ahead! ;)

 

The order of the words/phonograms is not all that important. In fact, I taught from Webster's Speller first - open and closed syllables. That takes care of a lot of sight words - he, she, a, I, the. I haven't had to teach any of them as sight words. I've just sounded them out and reminded him that open syllables have a long vowel sound. He knows this from doing "BA BE BI BO BU BY" in Webster's. :) Now we're cruising through a combo of Reading Eggs and Dancing Bears, and he's doing really well. I have taught him silent e words, but only did one lesson and didn't practice it. That's ok. If we see it in reading, he's been exposed and won't be learning it as a sight word. I would just remind him that the silent 'e' makes the 'i' say /I/ in the word "like", and that if we took the 'e' off, it'd be /lik/. :)

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

Notice that I did NOT say to teach him sight words. I said to teach the phonograms as they come up. Most sight words are phonetic, so just sound them out and you're good to go. ;)

 

I would suggest this... Since he's stuck at one spot, he probably needs a break for a week or two anyway. Give him a break. Now, YOU pick up OPGTR and go through the book yourself. I'm sure you can finish it in that week or two. You will now have learned phonics. :D

 

Another option might be to pick up Writing Road to Reading (you can get it for around $10 pretty easily - used copies are fine) and read through that yourself. Even if you don't use the method, it teaches the rules and the phonograms.

 

A third option (and these options aren't in order of best to worst - I think they're all valid options) is to go to http://thephonicspage.org and do the phonics lessons yourself (again, during that 1-2 week break for your son).

 

Basically, you need to self-educate a bit so you can effectively teach without being strapped down by the curriculum. Sometimes we need to work ahead! ;)

 

The order of the words/phonograms is not all that important. In fact, I taught from Webster's Speller first - open and closed syllables. That takes care of a lot of sight words - he, she, a, I, the. I haven't had to teach any of them as sight words. I've just sounded them out and reminded him that open syllables have a long vowel sound. He knows this from doing "BA BE BI BO BU BY" in Webster's. :) Now we're cruising through a combo of Reading Eggs and Dancing Bears, and he's doing really well. I have taught him silent e words, but only did one lesson and didn't practice it. That's ok. If we see it in reading, he's been exposed and won't be learning it as a sight word. I would just remind him that the silent 'e' makes the 'i' say /I/ in the word "like", and that if we took the 'e' off, it'd be /lik/. :)

 

You are right; I definitely need to work ahead more. I will look at your suggestions. Thank you for taking the time to respond.:001_smile:

[rachelpants]

I know this is a really old thread.....but I am wondering this same question.

 

OP...Did you ever buy them? I have been drooling over the samples lately.

[km123175]

I bought some of them - they've added more since we purchased about 3 years ago. We really like the books. There is really no comparison between Bob books and Flyleaf books. Flyleaf books are real books, with real stories/content that makes sense. There is enough content in the sentences/words on the page to understand the story or the ideas presented (some are not stories, but are non-fiction/informational books). The illustrations are well done and enrich the story/experience without "giving away" the whole sentence. :)

 

Bob books do not hold my children's attention as well (although they do read them) because the stories are much more contrived.

 

I wish they weren't so much money; I think they were worth it for my family. I however don't have the budget to purchase additional sets right now and we have so many books of similar skill level that I feel like it would not be worth it at this time. For the original set I purchased it was totally worth it and really helped my kids figure out "long words" (i.e., multisyllabic).

[rachelpants]

I bought some of them - they've added more since we purchased about 3 years ago. We really like the books. There is really no comparison between Bob books and Flyleaf books. Flyleaf books are real books, with real stories/content that makes sense. There is enough content in the sentences/words on the page to understand the story or the ideas presented (some are not stories, but are non-fiction/informational books). The illustrations are well done and enrich the story/experience without "giving away" the whole sentence. :)

 

Bob books do not hold my children's attention as well (although they do read them) because the stories are much more contrived.

 

I wish they weren't so much money; I think they were worth it for my family. I however don't have the budget to purchase additional sets right now and we have so many books of similar skill level that I feel like it would not be worth it at this time. For the original set I purchased it was totally worth it and really helped my kids figure out "long words" (i.e., multisyllabic).

 

Thank you! This is so helpful. Did you buy the Decodable Literature Library and/or the Emergent Reader Series? I want both....lol :D (and the teachers guides too :)

[km123175]

I did not get the teacher's guides. Each book as a list of ALL of the words in the book. There is a list of "puzzle words" (aka sight words - the number of these increase as you move through the books), content words (for example colors or names of dog breeds in books with those topics), and then decodable words.

 

I've never done more than have the kids read the books. I can look at the words and know if they are puzzle words; so, I just read that word to the kid as we're moving along. As they've done the book more and more they can easily read the sight words by the context and by nowing the information.

 

There are lots more books available now than when I ordered. :) I have some of both sets you mentioned.

[rachelpants]

Thanks, Kimberly! Good info....I'm *thisclose* to buying some :) ....they are beautiful!