lorrainejmc Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Ugh. This is the routine with my 6yr old ds. Struggle through a section of OPGTR. Repeat until fluent. Start next section. Repeat the above. I don't know what it is. He's a bright boy (no difficulties in other subjects, no vision problems) and he does catch on to the lesson once we've reviewed it, but the tears (his and mine;)), reluctance and general lack of joy is awful. We are working through consonant blends. I ditched it today and got out the AAR readers that I got to use with AAS (which he loves and does well with) and he enjoyed the funny stories and read several effortlessly. I wish I'd got AAR1 for him instead (I plan to use it soon with my other ds who just loves AAR pre1) but I think he would get to the end quickly and there's no sign of level 2 yet. Sigh. I need a break from OPGTR.:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xuzi Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Ugh. This is the routine with my 6yr old ds. Struggle through a section of OPGTR. Repeat until fluent. Start next section. Repeat the above. I don't know what it is. He's a bright boy (no difficulties in other subjects, no vision problems) and he does catch on to the lesson once we've reviewed it, but the tears (his and mine;)), reluctance and general lack of joy is awful. We are working through consonant blends. I ditched it today and got out the AAR readers that I got to use with AAS (which he loves and does well with) and he enjoyed the funny stories and read several effortlessly. I wish I'd got AAR1 for him instead (I plan to use it soon with my other ds who just loves AAR pre1) but I think he would get to the end quickly and there's no sign of level 2 yet. Sigh. I need a break from OPGTR.:tongue_smilie: So take one. ;) I'm in the same boat with my 5 year old, so we're alternating between 1-2 lessons of OPG per week, and BOB and TAG books of his choosing the other days. I figure OPG is helping him learn HOW to read, and the more entertaining BOB and TAG books are teaching him WHY to read (it's fun! you learn stuff! etc.) as well as letting him practice his new skills without it seeming like "work". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwallowTail Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 So take one. ;) I'm in the same boat with my 5 year old, so we're alternating between 1-2 lessons of OPG per week, and BOB and TAG books of his choosing the other days. I figure OPG is helping him learn HOW to read, and the more entertaining BOB and TAG books are teaching him WHY to read (it's fun! you learn stuff! etc.) as well as letting him practice his new skills without it seeming like "work". That is kind of what we do as well. Also, I write lots of funny sentences or stories for dd to read, as she finds that entertaining. Or - I let her dictate to me, and then let her work on sounding it out herself. The OPG is great for teaching the "how it works" in a systematic manner, but for practice it seems to work better for many kids to do work elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfatherslily Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Drop it. I would die of boredom, too, if *I* had to read the same page of a book multiple times. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walking-Iris Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 There's this wonderful little book by Scholastic called Best of Dr. Jean: Reading and Writing. I plan on coupling it with OPGTR with my youngest ds. I despise scripted phonics with a passion. Basically my plan is to take the lessons out of the book and to turn the lessons into fun and engaging projects and hands -on activities. Small children need to "move and do" imo--and just sitting reading from the same book (a book that you can't even write or color in--ugh) would be soul killing. I would try to find as many ways to get the kid's hands involved in the reading lesson as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raceNzanesmom Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 We dropped it for the same reason. Tears are never worth it. We took a break, reading lots of at his level books. That helped build fluency and put the joy back into reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Would your son enjoy it more if you pre-wrote the lessons on a dry erase board? Or maybe you can print out a section or two on a sheet of paper with larger font. Then you could leave space on it for him to illustrate himself after he finishes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 OPGTR sucking the joy out of reading Yup, it's joyless. I feel much the same about FLL, at least the first two levels. Yes, the parent can inject a bit of fun, but it's so much easier if there's a spark of life in the program to begin with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lots of boys Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 We are in the very same boat as you. My ds5 and I are working through OPGTR and got to vowel teams and it became torture. He was sad, I was sad, he was bored etc. I worried about AAR 1 too but decided that I have another ds (3) that can use it later so even if I don't use it all or go through it fast, it is o.k. So I finally received our AAR 1 last week (plus AAR pre1 for my 3 year old - a hige hit) and we did our first lesson today. I started after the secton on CVC words (lesson 16 I think) and jumped into the blends section even though it is review for him. He loved the games, loved the stories, and he smiled the whole time. I like OPGTR and will go back once we have completed AAR1 (while we wait for AAR2) or I will go right from AAR 1 and move to AAS paired with OPGTR...I'm not sure yet. Either way I know the variety will be better for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindsrae Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 My daughter hated OPGTR. I wanted it to work so badly...cheap, no frills, easy...BORING! I am using Spalding methods to teach my DD age 4 her letter sounds and letting her read Sam books. (You can print the first 52 of them for free at readinga-z.com.) Pass on OPGTR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinE Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 For OPGTR, we dropped the sentences and stories. I tell dd the rule, we read the words in the lesson, and then I add phonics readers that reinforce the lesson. I do the 2-review, 1-new but we don't review the same lesson over and over before moving on. When dd is reading her books, I tell her the rule when she gets stuck on a word. This has helped her feel like she's reading and using the books has increased her fluency because she likes the stories. I keep the readers in the lessons' rotations until she's read it 4 times; by the fourth go round, she's reading the book with little effort. A friend who is a kindergarten teacher said reading the same book multiple times helps increase their reading speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorrainejmc Posted March 12, 2012 Author Share Posted March 12, 2012 Hi, OP here. Just to clarify, I wasn't having him re-do the same lesson until fluent, we were reviewing each section until fluent. So, for example, section 4 has 12 lessons, and we would work through each lesson and do the 1 new, 2 review, then go back and he would fly through that section again, easily a few lessons a day, but it is the first time through each lesson and section that is causing the tears. Anyway, we'll take a break and just enjoy some reading for a while.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItoLina Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Just an idea...I am doing OPGTR with my son (almost 5yrs old) and he takes a lot of practice to read fluently too. What I do is before each lesson we do a speed reading game I got out of "Games for Reading" by Peggy Kaye. (I changed it a bit to fit our needs, but the general idea was from that book.) I just write a bunch of words that he needs to practice on the white board. Then he has to try to "speed read" them (i.e. read them without sounding them out). If he can do it he gets to erase the word, if not it stays up. Once we get to the bottom we go back to the top and repeat the words he missed until he gets them all. Sometimes I will give him a sticker at the end or something as a reward for a job well done. My son completely HATED review before and would fight me on it all the time. Now that is his favorite part of the reading lesson. Hope that help. Tamara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joyfulhomeschooler Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I; haven't read all the replies yet, but my son used to call it the "Boring Book" lol What we ended up doing was skipping the blends because he was doing ETC and I felt he was good enough at blending. We also started drawing pictures off to the side after we read. It made it more fun for him especially when I would draw the pics and he would laugh at my drawings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 :grouphug: You can also play my game for a nice break: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/concentrationgam.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymonster Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I had the same problem with DS6. I ended up summarizing a number of like lessons on one page (for example, one page had all the ways of making a long "I" sound... for example it can be made using any of the following: "i_e, ie, y", etc and then give examples of the rules in action). We went over the rules and examples once per day for a week. It took five minutes a day, and DS6's reading skills exploded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
go_go_gadget Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 For OPGTR, we dropped the sentences and stories. I tell dd the rule, we read the words in the lesson, and then I add phonics readers that reinforce the lesson. I do the 2-review, 1-new but we don't review the same lesson over and over before moving on. When dd is reading her books, I tell her the rule when she gets stuck on a word. This has helped her feel like she's reading and using the books has increased her fluency because she likes the stories. I keep the readers in the lessons' rotations until she's read it 4 times; by the fourth go round, she's reading the book with little effort. A friend who is a kindergarten teacher said reading the same book multiple times helps increase their reading speed. This is exactly what we do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoundAbout Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 I don't do significant review. If he gets 70% of the lesson we forge ahead. The couple of times we got really stuck we switch over to ETC or play Starfall games for a while. Miraculously stuff will often click about 5 lessons down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferLynn Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 We followed OPGTR for the order of lessons, and word lists. For reading fluency I would write relevant sentences about what we do at home, etc. and use the Bob Books. We used OPGTR sentences about 1/4 of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedgehogs4 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 We dropped it for a year for the same reasons you described and used other things. We came back to it and are now flying happily through it. My DD doesn't even remember hating it, which I find funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorrainejmc Posted March 14, 2012 Author Share Posted March 14, 2012 Wow, what a difference a couple of days has made. Since dropping OPGTR we started where we had left off in his Jolly Phonics workbooks. He has also read the entire 1st volume of the AAR level 1 readers. While doing OPGTR, he was so beat after a lesson that he didn't want to even look at his readers. Now he is doing it for pleasure!!! He decoded the word "belongs" today as in "this book belongs to". He remembered a few phonics rules that he had picked up incidentally, such as the "oo" in book that we hadn't come to yet, he had just asked one day. So, a much, much happier boy and mama.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessieC Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Try taking a break and/or supplementing with the free funny stories at progressivephonics.com! My dd loved these when she was learning to read. FWIW, I ditched a phonics program (we were using Phonics Pathways) after about a month. My daughter ended up just being motivated to learn on her own after we read her a chapter of the book and said good night. She would turn the light on and work her way through the book because she just wanted to know what happened next. Now she is a completely fluent reader, and we just do phonics practice through ETC. I may be a minority here on this topic, but imo most young kids don't need a lot of phonics drill. It can, as you say, kill their natural love for stories and books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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