explode the code

[Lori]

Can someone please tell me if ETC is for spelling or reading or both?

and what is an appropriate amount of work to do each day? How many books to do in a year? IF using this as phonics , isn't there something else I should be doing also?

[Tree House Academy]

ETC is not a stand alone program in my opinion - not for learning to read which is how we are using it. I first used it in conjunction with 100EL, now I use it in conjunction with the Calvert K program.

 

I am using it for my 4 1/4 year old and I LOVE IT. He has learned to read, spell, and write most all 3 and 4 letter CVC or CVCC words using this one book. He does two pages a day. He is young though, and we started small. It has taken him 2 months of 3-5 day weeks to finish book 1 and we are just about to move on to book 2.

 

I have not thought to try this with my older son (9) and probably won't at this point, though I do know some people who do use it with older kids. Personally, I have loved everything I have seen of ETC.

[stephanie]

Can someone please tell me if ETC is for spelling or reading or both?

and what is an appropriate amount of work to do each day? How many books to do in a year? IF using this as phonics , isn't there something else I should be doing also?

 

I use ETC as a supplement to OPGTR. It's more of a reinforcement of phonics instead of a complete phonics program. I like it b/c it incorporates reading (in higher levels), writing, and spelling. However, there are no spelling rules covered. That's why I like it as a reinforcement to OPGTR. Other people may use it differently, but that's how we use it. We do a couple of pages per each time we use it, usually completing 2 books per year.

[Lovedtodeath]

Isn't the rule "When Y is at the end of a short word it says the long i sound." a spelling rule that is covered??

[jedbel]

I use ETC as a supplement to OPGTR

 

Me too and my ds5 loves it. He actually raced through ETC1 and is now waiting for ETC2 to arrive from Rainbow Resource. I personally would not use it alone though. HTH.:)

[JESSICAinMD]

Me too and my ds5 loves it. He actually raced through ETC1 and is now waiting for ETC2 to arrive from Rainbow Resource. I personally would not use it alone though. HTH.:)

 

 

I also use it as a supplement to OPG. They work very well together.

 

It does incorporate some spelling.

[KarenNC]

We used ETC as our basic program for reading and spelling until we finished with book 8 (the last one) and it was great. It provided all the phonics we needed. I did use Dolch sight word flashcards and various early readers along with it (Bob books, Dick and Jane, leveled readers from the library, lots of reading aloud to her, etc), but these are the sorts of things I believe you would use along with any reading program. I found a combination of phonics and sight words worked best for us. Phonics Pathways and 100EZL were total flops for us in terms of fitting with her learning style, OPGTR wasn't out yet at the time so I've not looked at it.

 

ETC 1 has a consonant test in the front that will let you know if you need to drop back to the primers (Get Ready for the Code, etc) before going on to CVC words. For us, we covered from the primers through book 8 from ages 4 to 7.5. I let her do the primers entirely at her pace as they were primarily review and to fill in any gaps, which meant some days were one page, some days several chapters if she was more familiar with the particular consonants and wanted to do more. I think we did most of one of the primers in a single afternoon because she kept asking to "do just a little more". I know we covered the primers, ETC 1 and ETC 2 the first year, may have gotten started on 3.

 

I usually expected her to do at least two pages of the books at a time, though sometimes she liked doing more (particularly the silly sentences). I found that I only needed the first half book (ETC 1 1/2) for some initial reinforcement of a few sections, after that we didn't use any of the half books. Usually we worked on it every day.

 

Once my daughter was reading very comfortably independently, say around book 5 or so, IIRC, I did stop requiring a few of the exercises, though she was welcome to do them if she liked. I know we skipped the open/closed syllable one as it was more confusing than helpful to her (perhaps due to age), and in the later books I didn't require the circle the word for this picture or check the box for this sentence, as she could do them very easily. I suppose it became more of a spelling program at that point. ETC 7 and 8 did get into some additional reading comprehension exercises, which I liked.

 

She is a natural speller and was able to transition from ETC 8 directly into Spelling Power, placing at level D with no problems, and was reading second grade level books after the first 2-3 ETC books, IIRC, so using it as a stand alone program doesn't seem to have hindered her. :)

[Jennefer@SSA]

We used ETC as our basic program for reading and spelling until we finished with book 8 (the last one) and it was great. It provided all the phonics we needed. I did use Dolch sight word flashcards and various early readers along with it (Bob books, Dick and Jane, leveled readers from the library, lots of reading aloud to her, etc), but these are the sorts of things I believe you would use along with any reading program.

 

This was us as well. We did the first three books: Get Ready, Get Set and Go for the code as well as Bk 1 in pre-K. Then books 2-5 in K and 6-8 in first. We did 4 pages a day (covering 2 lessons per week) and used some of the 1/2 books along the way as well. I picked and chose there. After finishing book 8 we moved right into Spelling Workout.

 

Ds is a natural speller but I think the strong foundation he got with ETC was part of the reason for that. We loved ETC.

 

Whether you chose to use it as a stand alone or in combination with another program really depends on your dc and what they need. For us ETC was great along with tons of readers!!!

 

Good luck

[Jennefer@SSA]

Do you know about ETC online? You can purchase this through the Homeschool Buyers co-op for a discount until Aug 15th. Here is that link: ETC Group Buy

[Osaubi]

I use ETC (with TG) as our only phonics program. I tried OPGTR, but my son didn't like it at all. When we did the primers he would do 4-6 pages per day. He is now in book 3, and it has leveled off to about 2 pages per day. I am really happy with the results of using just ETC, and some early reader books. IMO ETC with the TG is a full program.

[Lovedtodeath]

I use ETC (with TG) as our only phonics program. I tried OPGTR, but my son didn't like it at all. When we did the primers he would do 4-6 pages per day. He is now in book 3, and it has leveled off to about 2 pages per day. I am really happy with the results of using just ETC, and some early reader books. IMO ETC with the TG is a full program.

I think most people forget there is a Teacher's Guide. Of course, with the guide it would be complete.

[KarenNC]

I think most people forget there is a Teacher's Guide. Of course, with the guide it would be complete.

 

It's not a matter of forgetting in our case, it's that the teacher's guides are relatively new. They were not available when we began the program and, by the time they were, we were quite comfortable with the approach and well into the series (and she was reading well) so I didn't see a need for them.

 

I don't doubt that a TG may be useful, but I found it to be a complete program for us even without such. The books really are quite self-explanatory, IMO, but then reading and spelling are my daughter's strong points. They come easily to her, so the TG may be particularly useful if you have a child who is not as strong in those areas.