Less babyish phonics program for a 6yo?

[Guest karlatta]

We recently discovered my 6yo daughter has some slight hearing loss, most likely from a chronic build up of fluid in her ears.  We did tubes last week and will know whether or not her hearing has been restored next week.  I'm hopeful that it worked!  

 

So I'm looking for something to use to take her back to the very beginning of reading (assuming that her hearing measures normal next week).  I feel like she needs to go all the way back to learning what each individual letter sounds like and go from there into phonemic awareness and such.  (She currently does not even know all of her letter sounds because she's never heard the difference between some letters before.)  But she's 6 and I don't want things to be super juvenile for her.  In all other areas she's working at a 1st grade level.  Any suggestions?  

 

Thanks!

[AimeeM]

I would suggest Leapfrog Letter Factory for letter sounds. After that, I might look into Logic of English Foundations.

 

ETA: 6 really isn't that "late" even if she is only JUST learning to read, so I don't think you'll have an issue with programs being too babyish, kwim? Most are geared for 5-6 year olds.

[JudoMom]

I taught all my boys to read with Phonics Pathways.  It can be used with any age, from 3 through adult, and it's not babyish at all.  It has no bells and whistles; it's just straightforward.  This is nice because you really can go at your student's own pace.  If they're on a roll, you can do a page or four.  If they're struggling, go for reading a line or half a page.  For extra reading practice, you can throw in Reading Pathways.  It's also very affordable, which is a huge benefit over a lot of the fancy programs.  It also requires no writing.  

Because I had to teach 5 children to read in a short time period, I often got bored with Phonics Pathways (looking at the same book for a decade gets old).  So I tried out many other programs, but in the end I always went back to PP.  It's not that the other programs weren't good--it's just that Phonics Pathways was so much easier and effective and really got my boys reading well, once they had blending down cold.

[JudoMom]

I taught all my boys to read with Phonics Pathways.  It can be used with any age, from 3 through adult, and it's not babyish at all.  It has no bells and whistles; it's just straightforward.  This is nice because you really can go at your student's own pace.  If they're on a roll, you can do a page or four.  If they're struggling, go for reading a line or half a page.  For extra reading practice, you can throw in Reading Pathways.  It's also very affordable, which is a huge benefit over a lot of the fancy programs.  It also requires no writing.  

Because I had to teach 5 children to read in a short time period, I often got bored with Phonics Pathways (looking at the same book for a decade gets old).  So I tried out many other programs, but in the end I always went back to PP.  It's not that the other programs weren't good--it's just that Phonics Pathways was so much easier and effective and really got my boys reading well, once they had blending down cold.

[mom2bee]

Wow, at 6 is she self conscious of "baby" stuff or are you just taking precautions?

 

Most beginning phonics products are geared toward 4-7yos in my experience and I would think that you could cover that material in an age appropriate and informal way without having to buy anything special if you wanted to.

What grade would she be in locally? It sometimes seems to me that 6yos are almost equally split between K and 1st grade, depending on location so there shouldn't be any stigma attached to starting at the beginning. You could probably get some ABC cards, and a couple of ABC type videos from the library and master all the sounds within a couple of weeks without worrying too much about.

 

Play memory match with upper and lower case letters ('a' and 'A', 'b' and 'B', 'c' and 'C')

Play memory match with pictures and letters (i.e 'A' is a match with a pic of an apple, 'B' is a match with a picture of a 'banana' etc...)

Play a 3way memory match with matching uppercase, lowercase and pictures (you have to get 'A', the apple and 'a' to win that set.)

 

Watch various ABC type videos on youtube, watch LeapFrog Letter Factory.

How does she feel about handwriting? You could cover a lot of basic phonics with having her tracing letters and saying the sounds that they make and thinking of words that have that sound.

 

 

[SilverMoon]

I'll add another vote for Phonics Pathways. It could be used with remedial adults even. Not babyish in the slightest. I used this with four kids with great success.

 

My current 5 year old had a pretty strong reaction to Phonics Pathways. I could have squeezed a bit and gotten her through it, instead I switched her to a book that seemed to suit her better. That book is Writing Road to Reading. She learns the sounds with flashcards, and worked on proper formation of the letters as she learned their sounds. In another week or two she'll have those cards mastered and she'll start working on applying those phonics rules to the spelling list in the back of the book.

[go_go_gadget]

ETA: 6 really isn't that "late" even if she is only JUST learning to read, so I don't think you'll have an issue with programs being too babyish, kwim? Most are geared for 5-6 year olds.

 

This exactly. She *is* the target audience of these programs, even if some people do use them earlier. I think any program that appeals to you would be fine in this regard.

[Clear Creek]

Rod & Staff first grade phonics is not babyish at all, and it works a lot on hearing/pronouncing the correct phonemes.

[Farrar]

I understand what you're saying, I think.  A lot of the really early steps stuff does feel babyish.  But hopefully she would move through it quickly?

 

How about Logic of English or All About Reading/Spelling?

[Guest karlatta]

Thanks for all the suggestions!  I forgot to mention that she also sees an SLP who will be working with her twice a week, in case anyone was wondering about that.  

 

 

As far as babyish goes, I guess I'm just looking for something that "goes" more with everything else she's doing.  She's doing SOTW, Singapore 1A, Real Science 4 Kids, has fantastic handwriting, etc., so it feels like we're kind of past the point of cartoon-ish looking stuff and she's enjoying some "older" work.  

 

I have AAR that I'm hoping to use for her, but I think she needs a little bit before that, reviewing letter sounds and building some phonological awareness (oral segmenting, identifying sounds in words, etc.) before we start. Like what you would use with a 3yo (Letter of the Week, AAR pre-reading?).  But 3yo stuff would be readily rejected by her.  (Though I am toying with the idea of having her help teach my 3yo HIS letter sounds as a ploy to get her to use the stuff.)

 

[lorisuewho]

As for things looking babyish or more grown up, I really feel they only get to be little once.  I want them to have happy things and not always dry or plain (and I'm one who uses a lot of plain looking stuff).  I guess I just don't see those things as childish, because they are children!

 

If she needs work segmenting, letter sounds, etc, I would recommend Logic of English Foundations A. 

 

I really like Phonics Pathways that others recommended also.

[homeschoolkitty]

Spell to Write and Read, would be it! I think....

[Um_2_4]

Explode the code? There is an online option too.

Or

Phonics Pathways

or 

Reading Eggs (online option, shh don't tell anyone, DS9 still likes it LOL)

[MerryAtHope]

I have AAR that I'm hoping to use for her, but I think she needs a little bit before that, reviewing letter sounds and building some phonological awareness (oral segmenting, identifying sounds in words, etc.) before we start. Like what you would use with a 3yo (Letter of the Week, AAR pre-reading?).  But 3yo stuff would be readily rejected by her.  (Though I am toying with the idea of having her help teach my 3yo HIS letter sounds as a ploy to get her to use the stuff.)

 

I'd look at AAR Pre-reading then. You can skip anything that seems too young (she doesn't need to do the activity pages for example, unless she would enjoy being creative with them). But the phonological awareness activities are incremental and very helpful, take a look at the online samples of the Teacher's Manual to see what you think. LOVE the idea of getting her to help teach your 3 yo, great strategy!

Merry :-)

[chelsmm]

My son is six. We are using Singapore 1a, SOTW, REAL science life, etc. similar to what you describe. He is just learning to read. We are doing mostly Starfall right now with some first readers ( mainly Fly Guy and Hop on Pop) and some Progressive Phonics. He likes them all. My 8 year old dd still likes them too. Not too babyish for her at almost 8. She can read at a much higher level but likes them for fun.

[Incognito]

We've used Phonics Museum.  It isn't babyish, although the songs are insanely kid-esque.  :)

 

I used the K set with my 1st grader and Ker last year - my 1st grader needed more scaffolding.  It has a fair bit of writing practice in it too, if you like D'Nealian/Zane-Blozer.

 

 

[Mrszjk]

We are loving logic of English. I have kids in both essentials and foundations. My 6yo loves foundations including the Dragon Doodle book.

[angelmama1209]

another phonics pathways vote. we are just finishing it up with my 8.5yo and have just started it with my almost 6yo and 4yo.

[Aloha2U]

Writing Road to Reading (4th Edition)

 

Spell to Write and Read - This is what we use and love!

 

Logic of English

[bttrflyvld]

Ordinary parents guide to teaching reading is a nice program that isn't going to seen too young. It teaches up to a 4th grade reading level. The first 30 lessons are the letter sounds.

[GSOchristie]

We use the Writing Road to Reading, very plain and straightforward, no cartoons or gimmicky things. We have a similar program to you, SOTW, Singapore 2A, WRTR, Shurley Grammar.

[ElizabethB]

My online phonics lessons. I do not recommend them for 6yo boys, but a girl working at that level is usually good.

 

You could also do Blend Phonics from a white board, it is free online and mastery based, with clear instructions.

 

I also use PP for older children, it is designed to be more comprehensive phonics and used for a few years if necessary. Many people start phonics at age 6 or have boys that need it several years in a row...

[Guest DiannaFoster]

For a full online interactive phonics program you may want to have a look at this: http://readingheadstart.com. It's moderately paced, entertaining for the children, and comes with a tablet version which they usually find to be a cool thing, takes their reading chore into the 21st century (at least in their mind) :)

[Hunter]

I like many of the programs already listed. I like Alpha-Phonics best when I'm teaching cursive first. This is usually what I use for my adult students, for better and for worse. All programs have their pros and cons.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Alpha-Phonics-Book-Including-ROM-Version/dp/0941995305

 

Don Potter has a lot of free support materials here, including phonogram flashcards and a free handwriting program.

http://www.donpotter.net/reading_clinic.html

[MotherOfBoys]

Saxon phonics first grade would be good. And I like the explode the code idea.

[La Texican]

I bought a video from a clearance at a toy store for $5.00 called "Rock and Learn Reading and Phonics".

 

 

If you like the style (personal taste) I recomend buying the one that's called reading and phonics. I'm recommending this video because it has a lot of close-ups of a persons mouth and emphasizes the sounds.

Here it is at Walmart for $5.

http://mobile.walmart.com/m/phoenix;jsessionid=DA31F71C0B75E9067C556DD2913BBF8F#ip/14323671?adid=22222222228000434681&veh=sem&selectedSellerId=3&wl6=34444626190&wl5=pla&wl2=m&wmlspartner=wlpa&wl1=g&wl4=&wl3=13688349910&wl0=

 

It's not a curriculum, it's just a supplemental video that emphasizes phonics sounds.

[RootAnn]

Writing Road to Reading (4th Edition)

 

Spell to Write and Read - This is what we use and love!

 

Logic of English

 

We use the Writing Road to Reading, very plain and straightforward, no cartoons or gimmicky things. We have a similar program to you, SOTW, Singapore 2A, WRTR, Shurley Grammar.

 

 

:iagree:   See if your library has WRTR. Easy to go through letter sounds & such. My 6 yr old is just learning to read.

[chadzwife]

Alphaphonics!

and use Phonics for Reading and Spelling (by B. Detmer found at RainbowResource.com) instead of Writing Road to Reading <ugh> or even Spell to Read and Write. Ph4R&Sp is much more HSler friendly. All in one book with flowcharts for each grade. Both are ageless in methodology. I would love to teach illiterate adults or be a TESOL teacher and use Alphaphonics.

Don Potts site is WOW. Links to all kinds of crazy English language stuff too. LOVE THAT SITE.