Horizons Phonics and Reading ??

[smcjoj3]

Why do I never hear anything about Horizons Phonics?? I *just happen to have* The 2nd grade & also the K Phonics & reading. (I bought the math programs used and these were a package with those)

I had intended to use 100 ez lessons to teach reading & wondered if I could use Horizons K phonics as a supplement or would it just be confusing and overkill?

Could I use just Horizons and skip the 100 EZ lessons to teach reading? or is that ill-advised? ;) I honestly never have seen opinions on the phonics & reading and have wondered what the general consensus is.

[ErinMarie123]

We used Horizons Phonics & Reading for K and just finished it up for 1st grade. Overall I liked the K program. It was our first ever homeschooling year and our goal for K was to teach our son to read, and this curriculum definitely helped us meet that goal.

 

It seems like it was more handwriting than SWB would recommend...and if I remember correctly sometimes I would just have my son read to me or tell me the answers vs. write them down. But he liked the curriculum, I liked it b/c he liked it and it worked, and by the end of K he was reading like a champ.

 

We continued on with it for 1st grade and we skipped several lessons because they involved writing, and we were doing WWE and FLL. Plus I agree with the concept that kids need to know the mechanics of writing (what it looks like, how it's constructed, etc.), otherwise the writing is kind of just (pardon my French) crap. So we skipped those lessons - and it was several. Since ds was reading so well it got to the point where I could tell him to just go do his phonics and then I'd check it - I didn't really have to teach anything b/c he could read it on his own. It became more of an exercise in discipline & obedience, really. But it reinforced and built on what he learned in K.

 

Oh - and I think we had the readers for K b/c he thought it was cool he could read them, but for 1st we skipped them b/c I think they're dumb (just being honest!) and he could read well enough to get 'real' books from the library, not read these made-up stories that use phonics on purpose.

 

Now after 2 years of it...I'm not sure if we should keep going? Also, we used their spelling for 1st grade and I hated it. DS didn't seem to care either way - but there's really little rhyme or reason to it. It's the list Monday/test Friday kind of thing with one worksheet a day (or so) in between. One of those worksheets is writing sentences, stories, etc. so again we skipped those. I know you didn't ask about the spelling but thought I'd throw it in there.

 

Part of why I'm not sure if we should continue with 2nd grade is b/c we're switching to All About Spelling and it seems like the phonograms kind of will do what we need for phonics. But I really have no idea. Frankly I'll probably order it and see what happens. We were going to use it b/c it ended with 2nd grade...but now I see they have it for 3rd. I really don't know how long is "normal" for phonics anyway. :-/

 

So anyway -- bottom line - Horizons K - it was great. Horizons 1 - it was good. My son definitely can read (difficult words, too) by sounding them out, and he loves to read which is the key. He has never hated doing phonics lessons and reads all the time.

 

Hope that helps some. I know I'm a sample size of 1...others may have other thoughts. I'm interested in what others think, too. :)

[smcjoj3]

Great response! thanks for the honesty! :)

[ErinMarie123]

I think I am the only one who used Horizons! lol :D