What did you use to teach reading?

[Soror]

With ds I used I See Sam books and then we transitioned to Blend Phonics and then to Webster's. He was up to about 2nd grade level after that and then took off on his own and is at about 4-5th grade level and we are working on some Webster's still and spelling.

 

With dd1 we are doing LoE foundations and I've been very well pleased with it. I love how systematic it is, easy to teach and also fun for them as well.

[Punks in Ontario]

For the olders we used pathway readers. For the younger two, we used CLE. I would give a recommend for CLE. We tried BOB books, but none of my kids really got into them.

[cmac]

We used MFW K. Reading was part of their curriculum. He really wanted to read, but he found it very frustrating. I remember him not covering that part of the curriculum yet .He was already trying on his own and was very frustrated. One day, between the curriculum and just trying it on his own, he just got it and found the rest of the reading part of the curriculum easy. He has been a great/natural reader since then. I have read that it didn't work for other people, but I felt he did great with it. Not sure yet what I'll use for my 3.5 year old.

[fairy4tmama]

I have used Phonics Pathways, Reading Pathways, and Tanglewoods free program Really Reading. I like all three of these and plan to use them in the future as well.

[Homemama2]

Abeka and HOP. Phonics Pathways brought tears here.

[Annabel Lee]

Oldest (high schooler) used Abeka from K4 - 2nd grade; she learned to read with it & is a stellar reader.

 

Middle child used Abeka K4 & a mix of Abeka & Calvert for K5. 1st grade was ps with a pinch of Abeka at home. 2nd gr. was my 1st year using WTM... I had much to learn & bombed it. He remediated by doing OPGtTR alongside his little brother and reads well but will choose books below his level if given a choice.

 

Youngest used OPGtTR and is also a stellar reader.

 

If I had anymore kids, I'd definately start out with OPGtTR. Only if the child struggled, I'd add some Abeka materials. OPG provided a lot of sweet cuddle time and cute games. Good memories.

[maize]

100 EZ Lessons and Reading Reflex.

[Mergath]

My dd is only up to about a first grade reading level, so take this with a grain of salt. ;) But we started out using Funnix, and it did a fantastic job of teaching blending. I wasn't a huge fan of how it went on to teach phonics though, so after that we briefly tried 100EZ and Phonics Pathways, both of which bored dd to tears. I bought AAR pre-1, but dd learned all of her letter sounds within a couple weeks because I introduced her to Starfall, so we moved on from that and I eventually sold it. After that I got hold of a copy of HOP and gave that a few days, and dd liked it, but it didn't seem to teach much actual phonics. So we finally settled on Jolly Phonics. Dd and I both love it, it's fun enough for a preschooler, and the teacher's guide is extremely helpful. From what I've seen of AAR, it seems to be fairly similar, but has more stuff. Songs, workbooks, supplemental materials, games, etc. Apparently I like to use curricula that have lots of stuff. :D

 

We also used the Bob books, though she's in the process of transitioning out of the higher levels of those and into harder readers. I have the ETC workbooks, but we only pull those out if dd asks to do them, or if she needs some practice with a specific phoneme or something. Dd also really likes more.Starfall, though she seems to use the math parts more than the reading during her time on it each day.

 

My poor dd has been quite the guinea pig, lol. :p One of the problems of being an only child- I have way too much time to find new stuff and try it out on her. Luckily, she seems to enjoy it.

[kalanamak]

I started out with pre-ETC and the SWR flash cards.

Then I added SWR as a regular program. Once kiddo was focusing better on the letters, we did Phonics Pathways. I really liked SWR in the early time because it boosted his confidence. I mean, if he was *writing* words, surely reading them smoothly would come soon. Helped his ego.

 

I had some handmade paper dohickies another hs mother gave me with a brad in the middle holding medium sized circle onto a large one. The medium one had something like AP written on them and the exposed larger circle hat M, T, C, L, Z etc written around it so that you could turn one circle or the other and change the beginning sound. Others had CA on the outside and N, T, P etc in the smaller circle to change the final sound. I made some with nonsense syllables from PP.

These were a particular hit with my son, who liked the circles. We even did them silently, and I'd turn to the next word and he'd draw it for me.

 

My son loved Cat On Mat by Wildsmith much more than the Bob books, although we did do them. I didn't like the BB font ... not enough space between words. Hawkins Mig the Pig series were beloved, too (as was their Numberlies series).

 

Fun days! And so, so SO exciting when they take off.

[Donna A.]

I voted "other" because I used something different for each of my children.

 

Firstborn -- Used Reading Made Easy, no supplementation whatsoever. Started Building Spelling Skills ("BSS", from Christian Liberty Press) about a year later, I think. We used Five in a Row for her other subjects at that age, and a mish-mash of hands-on activities for math.

 

Second dd -- Used Phonics Pathways and Explode the Code. I didn't try to line them up to match... she just did the ETC workbooks on her own, more or less, while I did PP with her verbally. You can use PP for spelling, too, but I didn't. She also started BSS for spelling about a year later after learning to read. By this time, I was using My Father's World with both her and her sister together for all the other subjects, and Singapore for math.

 

Oh, and after she started doing spelling with BSS, she still needed some more phonics work and did Adventures in Phonics from the same publisher as BSS.

 

Third dd -- She's an anomaly because of a speech disorder that affected her reading and language arts skills, so I used a LOT of different things with her. But I think the combination that was most effective was My Father's World (Kindergarten and 1st gr.), and Explode the Code. Later, when she was able to more writing and seatwork, we dropped ETC and I found a gold mine in Climbing to English and Learning through Sounds from Pathway Publishers.

 

You can see that my firstborn was the easiest and least complicated. LOL. I think *anything* would've worked well with her, but it took a LOT to get my youngest reading, and comfortable with those LA skills in general. (She also had two years of speech therapy, with continued work at home.) Middle dd fell somewhere in between, needing some supplementation but not a lot. She didn't have any LDs, but was just on a slower timeline than her older sister. Every child is different.

[Mystie]

I use and love TATRAS (Teach America to Read and Spell). My mom used it for me and my 6 siblings and I am about to begin it with my third. It's a basic, straightforward vertical phonics approach that is very flexible (not scripted).

 

Here's my review: Homeschool Review: TATRAS Phonics Program

[MistyMountain]

 

I'm glad to see I am not the only one who tried lots of different things some of which worked ok and others that didn't. I have a pretty big list of what I tried until some of started sticking. I'm really hoping AAR works for ds so I can get away with only using one program.

 

I am using Teach Your Child in 100 lessons and we are half way through. It is becoming very much like trudging through mud.

 

That is the point in the book my dd got stuck too. She did good until then and then there were too many words in the sentences and she was no where near fluent. I hope you find something that works.

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[momtoamiracle]

K12phonics. Works really well for my son.. It is a two year course, breaks down words and sound to produce fluency in reading, comprehension, writing, and spelling. Makes teaching to read very easy.

[LMD]

I had no idea what I was doing with my oldest. She was keen, so I just picked up a phonics book from the supermarket one day & she used reading eggs. It clicked, she took off. Then we went on to LLATL red, which continues with the multiple phonograms (I didn't know what they were called when I started!)

 

With my next child, we started with LLATL blue (only 1 lesson left!), reading eggs & some explode the code. He turned 5 in august, he can read well now.

 

I've also looked at LEM phonics and have some of their books, but I think they're overkill, I might use parts to do a family phonics review as part of our memory time.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

You forgot Hooked on Phonics. :) I taught/am teaching ds#1 with OPG, but ds#2 is doing better with HOP.

[Kim in Appalachia]

I used Spell to Write and Read, which is based on the Writing Road to Reading. I love that method. I was comfortable modifying it once my kids had a good foundation in it. I now use Rod and Staff for spelling, but we still mark the words and write them out each day by sound (Except I have them write it on our white board).

 

I credit WRTR methodology for the fact that my very dyslexic son can read. He struggles, but he can do it. Learning the letters by sound and by writing them without first seeing them was important for him. Going over the most common words over and over again (writing them every day) gave him confidence in his reading.

[OrganicMom]

Daughter: combo of hooked on phonics, Sonlight's LA, All About Spelling, Explode the Code

 

Son: Leap frog, All about reading, and some touches of OPG - he is still in the early stages.

[freeindeed]

I voted for Phonics Pathways, but I used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons as well.

[Walking-Iris]

My hands down favorite phonics lesson book is my old falling apart copy of Why Johnny Can't Read. I typed out all of those lessons in the back of the book and worked through them sequentially with my oldest. I also used a bit of WRTR, a bit of 100EZ Lessons and a bit of Alhaphonics. But I never really liked the scripted format. I do however really like WRTR. He used the ETC books and a Kindergarten textbook from McGraw Hill simply called Reading. He played on Starfall and watched LeapFrog a ton. We used the Nora Gaydos first readers, and Dr Seuss, Step Into reading, I Can Read, a set of sight word flash cards and basically anything I could find that he could attempt.

 

I'm doing essentially the same thing with my Kinder now, except minus the K textbook/workbook and I've been using OPGTR with him. I still don't like the scripted format, and I skip a lot of the suggestions in the lessons that just seem overly repetitive and boring-- the repeat after me three times kind of stuff, but it's the better of the scripted books imo. I still mostly rely on my old Johnny lessons though. He also has been working with ETC and Starfall.

 

 

[Jayne J]

I have used OPGTR for all three children. The youngest two are still working through it--dd7 is about 3/4 of the way through and dd4 is just beginning. I love it. It is solid, basic, easy to teach, with no bells and whistles. I can jazz it up with games and flash cards and whiteboards etc. or just hit the basics and move on, depending on what each child needs.

[melmichigan]

I used HOP K-2 for my first 4, then SL readers 1 and 2 regular through advanced.

 

My youngest is beta testing the LOE K program.

[Peregrine]

First we did 100EZ lessons. It was great in the beginning. I loved the way it taught blending. Around lesson 60, DS started to hate it. I plowed through anyway. Then we moved to OPGTR and started around lesson 50. We like that one very much.

[PuddleJumper1]

100 EZ Lessons is the ONLY book in grades K - 8 that brought my son to tears just seeing it. We, of course, didn't get very far with it :)

 

I used A Beka phonics and reading for both my older two and loved it. A Beka's approach just worked really well for them both. We used A Beka K-2nd.

 

I absolutely love the look of All About Reading. If we get to the point of ABC/reading with little guy (significant delays and disabilities) this is what I plan to order.

[Bree]

Oldest used 100 EZ lessons, and my 2nd would watch the Leapfrog letter factory and pretty much taught herself to read using my Sonlight grade K readers which are like Bob books :)

[Parrothead]

I use 100 EZ lessons in conjunction with Hooked on Phonics.

[lllll]

...

[2squared]

I'm using Reading Made Easy with my third Ker. I love the program, and the kids respond well to it. I have yet to finish the whole book since both older kids switched to reading only books at about 2/3 of the way through. My first two are great readers, and they remember RME fondly when I do lessons with #3.

[firstlynn]

Other! I applaud all of you who stuck with the 100 ez lessons book :) My DS & I about cried with that book. After 3 months, I sold the book & we kick-start our reading with a mix of BOB books, the early-reading lesson website books & leapfrog/super why/pbs kids type shows & games. My 4.5 DS1 could read all the CVC words and we are gradually moving to the more difficult books/words now.

My DS2 (2.5) could recognize all his alphabets & could sound all the alphabets...so we will likely do a mix again.

[poiema]

Mostly HOP, with some Starfall and BOB books thrown in.

[BugsMama]

I can't find any examples of this. DO you know where I could?

 

I am using Teach Your Child in 100 lessons and we are half way through. It is becoming very much like trudging through mud.

 

http://www.logicofenglish.com/store/beta-testing/kindergarten-level-beta-test

 

This is the page for the beta testing. It doesn't look like she has samples up. Have you seen essentials? Foundations builds up to essentials, so It teaches phonemic awareness, blending, letter formation- which then moves on to the phonograms. Activities are varied, from physical (for example- the teacher says the sounds s-p-i-n.... the child blends it to "spin" and preforms the action.... as well as relays and other fun movement oriented activities while learning phonograms and blending) to some worksheets, some readers, some cutting activities.... it is very varied, and never dull. It then goes into learning to read through spelling (a la most O-G programs) with dictation. It is WONDERFUL!

[Punchie]

For learning her letters, we used Leapfrog Letter Factory and Starfall. When we started reading, I used OPTGR, ETC, Bob books/Nora Gaydos readers, and ReadingEggs. She outgrew the Bob Books/Nora Gaydos readers after several months, so hunted through the easy readers at our library for ones that were simple enough for her to read. We also no longer use ReadingEggs since she lost interest in it.

 

We still use OPTGR (almost finished) and ETC. I think they are very complimentary. They cover different combos at different stages, so it's good for reinforcement.

[Ewe Mama]

Other...we used Blend Phonics, Bob books, and some of Hooked on phonics with the first four.

 

We discovered McRuffy with Faith and have been in love ever since.

 

We tried AAR, R&S, Alphaphonics, The Reading Lesson, Alphabet Island, How to Teach..., and a few others over the years. The worst ones for us were the "everything in one book" type. I finally figured out that my kiddos got the glazed over eyeballs from those. They liked activities and small books that fit easily in their little hands. They enjoyed flash cards, too.

 

 

[umsami]

For DS1 and 2, we used Click-n-Read phonics coupled with lots of reading together.

 

For DD1, we used Reading Eggs coupled with lots of reading together.

 

All of them used the LeapFrog "Letter Factory" DVD when they were about 2-3 to learn their letters and sounds. Oh, DD also used/liked the Hooked on Phonics Pre-K program, and we have used some of their free videos on Youtube ("Big Pig" song is a favorite).

[natjen05]

I am using Rod and Staff and really like the program. I wanted something that was bible based and my daughter loves it. She learns a lot but it isn't overwhelming. Although it was made in the 80's it really gets kids to read and want to learn. Plus as a bonus it is really easy to use. I am a certified teacher and am happy with it!

[Papillon Mom]

We use Phonics Road and ETC along with extra I Can Read Books, it's going well even though my kiddo has speech issues.

[krismoose]

The Reading Lesson for ds at 5yo. Current 5yo dd uses phonics museum with her 2-day classical university-model school, but we supplement with TRL at home because we both prefer the stories in it over the phonics museum primers. I'll definitely try TRL with our 3rd when the time comes.

[sbgrace]

I had no budget for phonics so all we did was free (less printing costs and about 1.50 in material otherwise). I actually started a blog to share those resources because I really feel we had a phonics program at least equiavalent to the best available at essentially no cost. I had a struggling reader (at 7 he still had no ability to rhyme despite work, could not decode dog, etc.) and one for whom it came more naturally and the programs were effective for both.

 

We used I See Sam (free for printing here) and then some great free, explicit, hands on (Orton-Gilingham type) phonics materials I blogged about here along with free readers from Progressive Phonics. I just switched the order of presentation of phonograms in the reading/spelling program to fit the progression of readers in Progressive Phonics.

[JennyD]

I have taught two kids to read using:

 

BOB Books

Usborne Very First Readers (with middle DS)

easy readers from the library

Melissa and Doug magnetic board with lots of extra magnetic letters

[NancyNellen]

All five of mine have done great with Phonics Pathways. It's thorough, straightforward, and easy to teach with no frills.

[ScoutTN]

We began (and are doing so again!) with Phonics Pathways. About 1/3 of the way through we included the Bob books and later a few ETC books.

 

We did PP orally. No writing.

[Donna]

I had to vote other because I used different things with each child. I used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 EZ Lessons with the oldest and thought it was a miracle....started it with him at almost 4yo because he was asking to learn to read and loved books. By 4yo he could read anything I put in front of him. So easy!

 

Second child came along, thought it would be just that easy. I waited until he was almost 5yo to start it because he was not as into books or asking to read like his brother. Went through most of the book and he struggled. It was not fun or easy at all. We waited another 6 months then worked through Phonics Pathways. This went much better and he was reading fairly well once we finished but it was still a struggle to get him to read. He just never had that interest in books.

 

Dd learned her letter sounds from Leap Frog Letter Factory very early. She asked to do 100 EZ lessons when she found the book at 2yo. We did about a week's worth and she stopped bringing me the book and lost interest. Instead I just read to her a lot and we played games with letters now and then usually in the bath. She brought me a book about a year later and read it fluently without any formal program. So I never had to teach her to read.

[dovrar]

OPGTR along with Bob Books. Worked with all four. #4 got half way through OPGTR and started reading anything he could get his hands on.

 

Oh, forgot that we also used some school zone flashcards to teach the individual letters and their sounds.

[ItoLina]

I put other. We are using SSRW and I LOVE it.

[Carrie12345]

Kid #1, I winged it with basic phonics then handed him a Leap Pad (circa 2000 or so!)

 

Kids #2 and 3, Hooked on Phonics (2 picked up easily, 3 took a lot more time.)

 

Kid #4 is using All About SPELLING (since we have it on hand) and the little books that came with HOP. He's doing great.

 

Kid #5 is playing with AAS letter tiles now that he's no longer eating them. ;-)

[wellread]

son: teach your child to read with 100 EZ lessons-- at 7 he's now reading up a storm, we're reading through "Let's Read" for practice and pick up any details he hasn't got yet

daughter: got about 3/4 through 100 EZ lessons-- building confidence and learning more by reading through "Let's Read" by Leonard Bloomfield and Clarence L. Barnhart

[Jess4879]

I threw everything at the wall until it stuck. Including...

 

BOB books

ETC

Blend Phonics

Progressive Phonics

I See Sam books

Starfall

 

And a bunch of other stuff...

 

This is exactly what we've had to do with my oldest and it still feels like we're climbing that mountain.

 

With my DD6 we are using AAR. I wish it had been around when my oldest started....

[Guest Kelly Levesque]

We used Reading Eggs!

[TechWife]

Sing, Spell, Read and Write plus some Bob Books.

[redsquirrel]

Reading Reflex

[Alison in KY]

Saxon phonics k