what reading program is best?

[caitlinsmom]

I currently have Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. We havent started yet but reading through it, it seems...I dont know dry and boring (not that those are bad things). Is this a good book to use or would OPGTR be a better choice? Or something else entirely?

[Melinda]

We are doing a combination of Explode the Code and OPGTTR, with other activities like Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD, etc thrown in. Oh, and lots of games.

[SkateLeft]

I think the best reading program is the one that works for you and your kids.

 

I found that my two older kids learned best without the bells and whistles of some of the more fun and colorful programs. They found colorful workbooks too visually distracting. With them, I had great success with K12's Phonicsworks. I tried K12 Phonics with my son, but he was plodding along and not really progressing, so I switched him into Hooked on Phonics, which has no writing, but plenty of colorful books and sticker charts, and it's working much better for him.

 

There are loads of really good, solid reading programs out there, with plenty of research and anecdotal evidence to back up their effectiveness. The trick is really finding out what fits your teaching style and the learning style of your kids. 100 EL might look boring, but it might end up being a good fit! I'd give it a shot, since you already own it. :D

[Homeschooling6]

I am currently using The Reading Lesson with my 5, 6 & 7 year olds and my kids enjoy it. I just wrote about it on my blog if your interested click HERE

 

Blessings,

[angela in ohio]

I have used all sorts of combinations of materials with my first two dd. I wanted something more complete, though, after I saw holes in their reading later. So I am using the Horizons reading program from Alpha Omega. It is incredible. I wish I had known how worth it it was to buy a complete program with my first two. I highly recommend it!!

[Ottakee]

http://www.roadstoeverywhere.com/3RsPlusRead.html or http://www.iseesam.com

 

This program is my favorite for getting kids reading. It uses sets of Little Books that move along slowly. The first link above has a yahoo group you can join for lots of extra help, print outs, etc.

 

Then once the kids are through the first 3 sets or so, I like to start Apples and Pears Spelling.

[Joy at Home]

Can you tell me a little more about this program? I went to the website, and it looks really good. Is this a mixture of phonics and whole language? Does it have a good track record? Thanks so much!

 

lisa

[Angel]

I agree with the others as to finding what works for your child (not as much you:)). I read through 100 EZ Lessons and did NOT like it. A few months later, I picked up again, and STILL wasn't sure, but decided to give it a go on my dd and see how SHE liked it. She loved it. It doesn't take much time to give it a try for a few days and see how your dc responds to it.

[Ummto4]

Reading Made Easy by Valerie Bendt.

 

It's similar to 100EZ, but the marking is simpler, and more importantly, not boring at all. It combines sight words and phonetic instruction. The scope and sequence is also such that children can read short stories only after several lessons. You definitely won't need any reader for this program. It's so not boring. This is the program which combines reading instruction and the love of reading. My son really enjoys it.

 

There are several threads on this, which you can search using KW: reading made easy or RME.

 

Dian

[Ellie]

the one that you and your dc can stick with the longest:D

 

My preference is the Spalding Method (the handbook is the Writing Road to Reading), but really, most phonics-based products/methods will "work" if you stick with them.

[Alaska Mom]

I did alot of research and ended up using 100 Easy Lessons for K last year with my dd5. She was newly turned 5 and seemed to really like the lessons and whiz along. She found it challenging and liked progressing to ahead to the next lesson and would ask to "do school" because of that book. We hit a wall somewhere around lesson 60-70, and I pulled back on it and stopped lessons, just did more read alouds with her, also tried Bob Books and purchased Hooked on Phonics on Tape (but those lessons seemed long and ...boring for us... so we didn't stick with it). I've recently heard from several others on this board that at around lesson 60 in 100 EZ Lessons their kids stalled, but if just continue with it they will come out of it around lesson 80 - thought that was interesting to hear it wasn't just us. I'm going to start 1st grade with a review and continue with it. I would highly recommend trying it.

[Ottakee]

The I See Sam books have been around since the late 60s and early 70s---back when there weren't so many kids not learning to read in the public schools. They fell by the wayside when "whole language" became the "in" thing.

 

The are NOT whole language at all. They are a very carefully structured phonics program. It does have a difference sequence though than most programs. They teach the ee (long e sound) in the first book. This allows them to teach see as a decodable word and not a "sight" word. They keep b and d and p and q far apart in the instruction.

 

The books also use words that look very close like Mit and Mat, them and then, sit/sat/set in the same sentences or same page so that the child MUST say the sounds and read the word--not just guess by the shape of the word--or first and last letter.

 

The pictures are really cute but they do NOT tell the story---no reading the pictures here. Again, the child must actually blend the sounds into the words to read the books.

 

Each new word is used at least 5 times in the story and then used in the next several stories as well. They only introduce a few new words or sounds in each book (and some books have none or only 1) so that the child doesn't have too much thrown at them.

 

For kids with no reading difficulties, they can just whiz through the program. My almost 5 year old nephew did the first 26 books in a few weeks. Kids with LDs or other struggles might take a few days for each book. My own 12dd took WEEKS to master each book and learn the sounds and blending. It has taken her several years to get to set 6 of the books. She though has a cognitive impairment and other LDs.

 

If you are intersted, email me (click by my name) and I can send you some samples to see. The program is in the public domain now as the copyright expired back in the 1970s.

 

You can join the free yahoo group to learn even more about the program, get more resources--coloring pages, charts for recording each book as it is read, etc.

 

http://www.piperbooks.co.uk is another site (this one from England) that has the books. You wouldn't order from here but it has a lot of information on the program as well.

 

I also like the program as it has the kids READING books, not just doing worksheets, etc. Most kids would learn to read a new book every day or every few days which gives them a huge sense of accomplishment. The program will go from K-mid 3rd grade level. You can buy the sets as you need them and they have great resell value.

 

I sound very much like a commercial here but I am a special ed. teacher by training, the homeschooling mom of 3 special needs kids, and this is the ONLY program that got my girls reading. Seeing my child that was never supposed to be able to read now picking up easy chapter books and reading has won me over.