Abeka for phonics

[Blessed mom]

I would love feedback about Abeka phonics in K and 1st. What was your opinion of the program? Did you find a successful way to simplify the program? I used it for my son. I thought it was solid for teaching reading, but I followed the program as written in the teacher's manuel which proved very time consuming. I now have four children and need something simple. I really like Abeka because the readers tie in directly to what child is learning in phonics. Any advice would help greatly.

[KeriJ]

I'm using it on my 3rd child now. It worked so well for my other 2, that I plan to continue using it. But I feel exactly like you that the teacher's manual is too time consuming. (as is true for all of Abeka in my opinion) For K5, I've just gotten to the point where I review what we've learned, present the new sound, practice reading it, and have him do a page in the workbook. Sometimes we use the blend ladder book, but I don't have all the flashcards.

 

For 1st grade, I stick mainly to the Handbook for Reading, the special sounds flashcards and the Letters and Sounds workbook.

 

My simplifying is pretty random right now. I wish I had a more organized system, but so far it's working.

[ECMD]

I used it before. I. Like the cd.

[KeriJ]

and I forgot to add that we also use the first grader readers. I do like how they match up to the lessons. I seriously love Abeka phonics. I tried another program briefly, but came right back to ABeka. It just works so well for us. My 2 oldest are VERY strong readers, and became that way very quickly.

[Guest]

My ds learned to read via Abeka phonics. I loved the program! (Hate the Teacher's Manual, though!) To simplify with dd, I switched to the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. I found it very similar to Abeka as far as what is learned, but without that bulky guide. Also, my dd doesn't love worksheets, like ds did. I don't like the progression sometimes in OPGTR, but I switch it around to follow more the progression of Abeka. To answer your question, though, I think it is solid.

[Thia]

I'm in my third round of Abeka phonics kindergarten. We sing the alphabet. I go through the flash cards for the letters they have learned so far, names and sounds. I introduce the new letter, if there is one. I do not do all the gimicky intro stuff though, like collecting items that begin with that sound etc. Then I do something to review/read words. I may use the flash cards to make blends, use the blend ladder book (I do not have the blend charts/cards), or use the Handbook for reading. My children enjoy the variety. When I feel like we've done enough for the day, we move on to the worksheet. I do not play any of the games. We don't sing the songs or recite the poems. I'm juggling three students and a 2.5 year old and find this method makes it manageable. I do refer to the TM to make sure I stay on some sort of schedule.

[ByGrace3]

I used Abeka phonics with my older dd. it was how I learned to read and practically everyone I knew used it so It was the only thing I considered. I pretty much hated it. Abeka Phonics Teacher's manuals drove me crazy. We only use the phonics, so sifting through the other language arts subjects is annoying. Also, Abeka phonics moves S.L.O.W. There is too much extra, and as a perfectionist I fear if I move too quickly or skip something, I might miss something.

It was too much writing for my ds, so wheat came time to choose phonics for him, I knew ABeka wouldn't be a good fit. My original plan was to use an OPGTR/ABeka combo, but OPGTR was not a good fit for ds at the time.

 

I wanted to simplify ABeka. I though about it often. Teach the phonograms, use the handbook for readers and the readers...but this nagging feeling in e back of the head made me keep thinking I was going to miss something if I did it that way. If you used the Letters and Sounds workbook, the handbook for reading, and readers you would probably be ok.

 

I ended up using All About Reading for my ds and cannot imagine teaching reading any other way. We absolutely love it.

[KeriJ]

I'm in my third round of Abeka phonics kindergarten. We sing the alphabet. I go through the flash cards for the letters they have learned so far, names and sounds. I introduce the new letter, if there is one. I do not do all the gimicky intro stuff though, like collecting items that begin with that sound etc. Then I do something to review/read words. I may use the flash cards to make blends, use the blend ladder book (I do not have the blend charts/cards), or use the Handbook for reading. My children enjoy the variety. When I feel like we've done enough for the day, we move on to the worksheet. I do not play any of the games. We don't sing the songs or recite the poems. I'm juggling three students and a 2.5 year old and find this method makes it manageable. I do refer to the TM to make sure I stay on some sort of schedule.

 

 

This sounds like us too! :)

[Blessed mom]

Thanks to everyone for your advice! I think I am going to try to simplify things and use Abeka again.