Need reviews of Saxon Phonics

[A home for their hearts]

I had someone suggests this to me on another thread. I've never seen Saxon Phonics and I'm having trouble finding samples of it anywhere. I'm interested in hearing about saxon phonics and saxon phonics intervention. Pro/Cons, everything!

[Cynful]

I'm one of the few I think who actually likes Saxon Phonics. I was gifted K, 1 and 2 when my kids were little and I definitely credit it with teaching my daughter to read well and quickly. My son, who has dyslexia and other delays, also used it and Intervention. It definitely helped and had I not panicked and switched to something else, it may have worked completely. My only complaint with it is the heavy use of coding. While I think it's helpful, for my son especially, he had a hard time remembering all of the coding so I just skipped some of it.

 

This was years ago so I don't remember exactly but K starts out very easy, I think a letter a week. 1 sped things up a bit and 2 we never did. I did look through 2 though and it has a lot of extraneous history on the english language -- interesting but not entirely necessary, depends on the kid. It has a lot of parts to it. The lesson manuals are huge and scripted (think Saxon Math k-3). I liked this though. It has a lot of cards -- letter cards, phonogram cards, site word cards, affixes, suffixes, etc. Again, I liked this. Also a student workbook which is nice. A lesson would take us about 20 or so mins. in K up to 45 mins. or so with Intervention.

 

If you have any other specific questions, just let me know.

 

Oh, and look here for samples - just scroll down past the math:

 

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntt=saxon+phonics&N=0&Ntk=keywords&action=Search&Ne=0&event=ESRCG&nav_search=1&cms=1

[Alison in KY]

I used it for K and some of 1 with my kids...and probably should of used it through 2 but didn't. It did a great job leading me through teaching my kids to read. I loved the worksheets. I did not do it all as written. I thought some of the ideas were goofy, so I just skipped it. I'm very glad I used Saxon Phonics. Have you tried CBD for samples? Or the Saxon website?

[duckens]

We are using Saxon Phonics.

 

Dd turns 6yo tomorrow! :party:

She is in "Kindergarten" but we are on Lesson 44 in Saxon Phonics 1.

We used Saxon Phonics K (although dd already knew all the letters and sounds), and I have Saxon Phonics 2 in storage.

 

Pros:

--Secular

--Assumed to be continuous of K through 2nd, and will touch all the bases (see below).

--Flashcards for everything

--Little books that come with lessons are word appropriate. (Kids can read the words easily).

--Spelling is included

--Child learns sounds and writes letters really well by the end of K.

--Every 4th or 5th lesson is an assessment to ensure if your child is on track and how to review how to help your child review what was missed.

 

Cons:

--Workbooks and most supplies are just black and white. Very little color.

 

--In Saxon Phonics 1, there is periodic review of a letter and its sound AFTER working with special sounds. :confused1:

I can understand reviewing the letters and sounds at the beginning of the year (and the first 4 weeks MOSTLY does that); but then curriculum will talk about dividing words into syllables...and then teach letters M, and E and ck in the following lessons. The curriculum will discuss digraph th or ng or suffix -ing and -ed; then teach you the sound of the letter U, and W. :confused1:

 

We are on Lesson 44. We still need to cover letters X, J, V, and Y.

 

Why not review all the letters at first on a fast pace (1/day) so they can be skipped if one's child is competent? Why not then spend a week on CVC words for review before moving on to blends, and finally to digraphs?

 

--Saxon K teaches CVC words REALLY well. Then, beginning in Saxon 1, it is assumed that your child already knows how to do blends (br, cl, gr, ld, thr, shr, etc). :confused1: Blends do not exist in the lesson material of Saxon Phonics. Magically, your child must figure this out on their own. I have had to supplement heavily and take weeks off from Phonics until we could continue. Why not take a week to cover each family of blends?

 

--We're on Lesson 44 of Saxon 1, and the curriculum is still making the child recite the alphabet. Why not do daily alphabetizing of letters or words (which they do some days, but not others). Or cover blends :glare:

 

--We're on Lesson 44 of Saxon 1, and they have us do some of the dumbest things. I read two words, and dd must tell me if they start in with the same sound or not. She is not even asked to identify the letter. It's just dumb. :confused1: What a waste of time.

 

 

Summary:

Saxon K was adequate. Saxon 1 so far seems really messed up!!!

 

FWIW, dd IS learning to read and write well.

 

BUT if I had to do it again (and hadn't already spend my budget for it), I would probably do one of the below curriculum:

 

Abeka -- I would live with the religious content and pre-screen the stories that are a worry for me. The workbooks are colorful, the program is truly thorough and teaches the kids to be really good readers. The games are fun and not a struggle. I know this because I taught two girls to read using Abeka when I nannied. You know that it's something special when your atheist friend (me) is bragging about what a superior program it is.

 

or

 

Cursive First -- I am enamoured by this system. Most of the rest of the world teach their children cursive before printing. I'm just curious.