Reading & phonics question...BJU and others...

[hsmamainva]

I'm trying to find something for my youngest to teach reading and phonics - 1st grade level

 

First, for my BJU questions -- Under BJU for 1st grade, they have "Phonics and English 1" and "Reading 1" -- do I need both in order to teach her how to read with BJU? Has anyone used BJU? How quickly do they begin blending? The sample pages look really good for the Reading 1 set...but, by page 8, it looks like they have her reading 4-5 word sentences. That seems awfully fast for my daughter! (Which is why I'm wondering if I should be looking at the Phonics and English 1 set -- or if I need both)

 

My dd knows all of her letters, and the sounds they make, but she needs help with blending and learning how to read, if that makes sense.

 

Also --- if anyone has another phonics / reading suggestion, I would appreciate it!! My daughter has special needs -- she is VERY visual and loves color and pictures and it takes her time to understand new concepts.

 

I'm trying AlphaPhonics (which is used with my oldest son), but a list of unrelated words, all in a row, isn't working for her. I also have Sing, Spell, Read & Write (which I used for my 3rd child), but she doesn't like to listen to the CD's -- she has sensory issues as well.

 

She LOVES the Explode the Code books...and she can do them independently. She's using Abeka for math, and I own Abeka's 1st grade reading and phonics, as my oldest daughter used it, but, if my memory serves, it moves very quickly...and I'm not sure that would work for her, but I haven't tried it yet!

 

(I'm also considering the I See Sam program, btw!)

 

Does anyone have any other suggestions??

 

Thanks !!!

[asnerreb]

I liked Abeka phonics for K-2. My son struggled with reading so we just followed the reading group 3 plan and did as much as he could each day. I would just put the time on for like 20/30 minutes and when it went off we just closed the book. It was alot of work and the phonics charts and Handbook for reading get tedious at times but it is a strong program. Maybe consider taking it a little slower. In second grade though my son seemed to hate the readers, so we switched over to books about halfway through abeka and would pull an abeka reader in every now and then. However, we kept up with the phonics review. Good Luck.

 

Amy

[PeterPan]

Unfortunately, I don't think the BJU reading and english for 1st is going to be a good fit for her. As you're seeing, they assume a dc who is actually already reading. The K5 program has been updated and is getting very advanced. It sounds like that is where she would go, and I'm not sure I would. (I don't care for the word family approach.) Have you considered posting on the special needs board? I taught my dd to read with Spell to Write and Read, but I don't know if that would be a good fit for your situation or not. It does have the advantage of slowing everything down and breaking it into pieces, so you can make it fit her. It's also aimed, for the beginning material, at a 1st grader, so it would be very age-appropriate to her, not babyish.

[TraceyS/FL]

Actually, that isn't true at all. My DD was not reading anything and started with Phonics 1 and the reading lessons fell into place. She has special needs in this area - so we actually do it at a phonics lesson one day, reading the next (I just scrolled up and saw so does your DD - nothing else clicked with DD until BJU, we just go slower)

 

To the OP, you would want the Phonics 1 set for teaching reading, reading reinforces those lessons (spelling coordinates starting at lesson 16). A friend didn't buy reading and her DD did fine, i love the reading portion and so does DD. I also admit that there is no way i'd be good at coordinating the right level of books for her to practice with either. In 2nd grade, the "phonics" portion shifts to the reading class.

 

I find it very easy to teach (I had ZERO phonics as a student myself - tried and failed at teaching Abeka), and they do progress fast it seems looking at it - but when you are IN IT, it isn't as fast. DD is picking up the pace now and is almost ready to do both lessons the same day.

 

I really love the BJUP Phonics 1, the most of anything i've bought in my HSing career :D

[hsmamainva]

Thank you so much for the advice!

 

I did drop Alpha Phonics for her .. and ended up dropping Explode the Code, too! (Book 1 started at a much higher level than the Get Ready for the Code A, B, C set that she used last year!)

 

I had a set of Pathway Readers that I used for reading with my 2nd child and I'm planning on using those. If that doesn't work, then I may give BJU Phonics a try!!! (I'm also hoping that BJU will bring one of their curriculum hotel shows to my area so I can see it first-hand!)

 

I found all 3 sets of Bob Books for $10 each at Costco and we're working with those, too. Again, she's trying to memorize the words, though, rather than sounding them out, which is why I believe Pathway Readers may be more of a fit for her (she went to public school for Kindergarten and they taught her sight reading, so to her, reading is memorizing)

 

I'll let everyone know how it goes over the course of our school year (this is our first week)