Learning to read: what program did you find that worked best?

[PeacefulChaos]

Just for fun!

What sort of learner and what 'program' (book/curriculum/whatever!) really clicked with them.  

Also what age it seemed to click, or what you would have done differently.  

Thanks!

:lurk5:

 

 

 

ETA: because some people seem to misunderstand, the question is 'what worked best?' as in, 'what worked best FOR YOU?'  I'm well aware that there are tons of programs and tons of things that work - I'm not trying to gather from this what 'the best thing' is so that I can run out and buy it - I'm actually not in the market at all.  

I really am just curious and asking for fun - what worked for you and why you think that is.  That's all.

[Mrs Twain]

After going through the experience of teaching all of our kids to read, I think the most important factor is to have the attitude that this is a difficult task which requires hard work on the part of both parent and child.  It seems that many people run into trouble because they think that learning to read should be an enjoyable, natural, cozy, happy, snuggle-on-the-couch type of activity.  In reality, it is a long road of hard work, and it is not natural at all whatsoever.  When parents encounter trouble and difficulty, they think they are doing something wrong and blame it on the program.  After a few program switches, the child starts to get the hang of reading, and then the parent thinks that the last program was the one that really "worked."

 

I used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons for all of my kids.  Each one of my kids is different, but they all learned to read successfully and very well through that program.  However, I didn't do the program in 100 lessons, and it wasn't easy for any of my kids.  We worked on it for a maximum of 10 or 15 minutes per day (unless my child insisted on doing more).  We didn't do any of the writing activities.  We completed 100EZ over 9-12 months.  After every 25 lessons completed, I took my children to the store and bought them a nice present as a reward for persevering through this important task.  At the end of 100 lessons, I gave my kids an extremely large reward.  These rewards were an important part in creating motivation to learn to read as well as demonstrating that dh and I value this skill as one of the most important in life.

 

Other factors that are at least important as the above but likely more important are all of the things that parents should be doing as soon as the kids are born.  Talk to your children all the time in complete sentences, even when they are small babies.  Read aloud quality literature (based on age/comprehension ability) to them every day.  Teach them their letters early, and then teach the letter sounds.  Have many books around the home including board books for the child to "read" and play with whenever they like.  Model reading.  Limit or prohibit television, computer, and video games. Etc.

[Ellie]

Spalding. :-)

 

It was tough with dd, because she is the world's most independent person, and there is NOTHING independent about Spalding. I'm not sure I would have done anything differently, though.

[purduemeche]

We also used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  Each kid hit a wall between lessons 30 and 40, and once they got past it they did just fine.  The most important factor in success of failure was my ability to make it fun for the kids.

 

The only watchout here is that it's a phonic-based program, so can be very tough with ESL kids as we experienced.  Our adopted little ones had trouble sounding out words when they didn't have auditory recognition of the words they were sounding out.

[pollo_la]

Well, my first and 3rd dd's pretty much taught themselves with "guidance" from me. It had little to do with the program honestly. Anyway, hands on phonics based activities and games is what I did with them. My oldest was reading fluently at 4, my 3rd dd was reading at a second grade level when she turned 4, but it wasn't until right at age 5 that I would say she was fluent. Now for my next dd... oh the things we've done over the years, lol! We have done a lot of working hard for a month or two, and then taking a break for a few months and starting up again. It seemed that every time after a break we made progress no matter what we used... she simply benefited from the break. Anyway, we always try to stick to pure phonic based methods. Some that I have loved are, "Teach your child to read it just 10 minutes a day," "Dancing Bears," "Reading Eggs," and recently we are having success with "Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons." We have tried 100 easy lessons before and it was a failure, but right now we were able to pick up right at lesson 40 and progress from there and it is working really well (maybe because we are past the lesson 30-40 hurdle in reading that the pp was talking about?).

[ddcrook]

AAR has been perfect for my youngest daughter. She needs lots of repetition and practice and AAR provides both. On the other hand, my oldest daughter learned to read easily and needed very little instruction. AAR would have driven her crazy.

[debi21]

I went cheap. After he had learned his letters and sounds (which he did with Letter Factory DVD and the Teach Me: Toddler app) I tried Bob Books, which failed utterly as he was unable to blend. Word Factory DVD helped with that, and some apps, and some time. Then, about two months before his 4th birthday, I turned to two free online resources: readingbear.org and the blend phonics curriculum (free pdf), which I used to write lists on a small whiteboard. I added the Bob books back in, and also later on I was able to borrow Phonics Pathway from a college library, and I liked that as well. He made tremendous strides in 6 months. In the six subsequent months, he hasn't progressed much at all. As I see what he is struggling with now (open consonants with a long vowel sound are one, as well as the "ci" sound for example - twice he has read suspicious as stupendous and I'm like, dude, look closer, you're not even trying to sound it out), I have been starting to review some of the advanced phonics again, and work on syllabication, and get back in the habit of slowly trying to sound out words that are 3+ syllables without being overwhelmed by the length and just guessing.

 

[RebeccaMary]

We also did 100 Easy Lessons. The first time we tried it with my older ds, we stalled out ~1/3 of the way through. Six months later, we started again and made it through without any problems. 

[73349]

Phonics Pathways. It really started to click around age 5 1/2. We're now using Logic of English Foundations, which is more visually appealing (but financially and logistically less fun for me).

I bought 100EL and didn't love it, but thought, "Well, it's a system, and it works for a lot of people..." but DS hated it.

[happypamama]

Different things! I started DD with 100 Easy Lessons, but she quickly took off and taught herself to read. 100 Easy Lessons worked very well for DS1, though. I started it with DS2, but he's not quite ready for blends; however, he's totally getting the idea of sight words from Dick and Jane and the Batman phonics books. DS3 is probably just going to pick up reading by osmosis, because he is usually glued to DS2's side.

[jennynd]

hooked on phonic.

it is easy to teach, has all elements. Cd, computer and come with a set of hilarious books that my DD wanted to read again and again

[LLMom]

100 easy lessons for kids with no special needs.  Cheap and easy. 

[Chris in VA]

Ours was snuggly and all that, for the first bit! Dd was interested in letters when she was three, and often we'd snuggle in the "big bed" (my bed) together. One day I wrote out her name, told her what it said, and she was thrilled. She wanted all the names in the family. Every few days, she'd get a letter or two. It was easy for her. She blended her first word before she had all the letters, when she was a week shy of 4. Later, we used Phonics Pathways, supplemented with Bob Books, Primary Phonics readers (a few), homeade books, and Montessori Command Game and Object Boxes. She made a huge leap in the first 3 months of kindergarten, going from not being able to read a Henry and Mudge book to reading Little House books by December.

 

Ds didn't read until he was 7. He went to Monti school and started on the Bob books after doing the Monti exercises with the moveable alphabet. I always read a ton to all my kids, too.

 

Other ds learned in K, using a weird combo of phonics and whole language. He probably has some dyslexia, but he compensated and learned to read in K.

 

There is no best program. :D

[FriedClams]

The Letter Factory DVD, followed by a phonics program.

 

To me, the consistency of doing it every single day of the week, once or twice a day for 15-20 minutes at a shot, until they're seriously fluent, is the key. (By fluent I mean a solid 2-3rd grade reading level). Unless there are learning issues - I see consistency of practice as the success factor.

[Amy M]

I don't know what's the best program. But I've used 100 EZ for my almost-5 year old, just for relaxed K4 for a few months, and he did great. We also used Confessions of a Homeschooler games and Letter Factory DVD to learn letter sounds, so 100 EZ went great until about lesson 30-something, when it started introducing long sounds, and he had no idea about that. In K and 1st, we are using ABeka phonics, and my just started 2nd grader reads well, except for some lazy issues, like wanting to read faster and so guessing or skipping some words. We also use AAS for spelling, so I guess we're getting all sorts of phonics methods in our menagerie of curriculum.

[mamamin]

Logic of english foundations-my 5.5 yr old DS is coming along so nicely. I highly reccomend it. 

[petepie2]

I've only used OPGTR, and it's worked so far for 3 of my children. I also supplement with ETC. For each of them, I started when I felt they had good phonemic awareness (They could hear letter sounds in words.). My oldest DD was 3.5 and my two boys were closer to 4. My youngest DD will be 4 next month and currently has little phonemic awareness. So I'm not sure when she will be ready. For all of them we worked a great deal with a white board and magnadoodle in the beginning because they had an aversion to reading straight from the book. Once they could tackle a Bob Book, I threw those in as a reward for reading directly from the book. Once we got to the VCE lessons, I started them on Sonlight Grade 1 readers. And then we just went from there, doing a lesson (or part of a lesson at times) and reading some from a Sonlight book.....5 days a week. My DS5 just finished the silent letter lessons and is currently on r-controlled vowels.

 

Now my youngest may throw me for a loop. Right now we're doing http://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/, which is just an exercise in phonemic awareness and snuggling with Mommy on the couch. It's "puter" time, as she calls it. :)

[El...]

OPGTR.  It just... worked.  It was easy for me, not too hard for dd, and it clicked.  We went as slowly as she needed and backed up when she lacked confidence.  Now she is reading very, very well.

[SeaConquest]

Progressive Phonics has been working great for us. And it's free!

[Murrayshire]

I have to give more thumbs up to OPGTR!!

We started in grade K and used it along with ETC books a, b, c, and book 1.

Continued OPGTR & finished in 1st grade.... Used with ETC.... mid year we started AAS doing levels 1-3. He is a strong reader even though he'd rather build & create things.

 

We are now stretching LOE Essentials over 2nd & 3rd grades.....then continue with LOE advanced list or Phonetic Zoo.

[SilverMoon]

Three of mine used Phonics Pathways with great success. Solid, effective, easy to use, and got the job done well. It's a great snuggle on the couch book that you and your DC share. If you don't feel confident teaching phonics without a book telling you exactly what to say, this probably isn't the book for you.

 

My oldest, well, around 4.5 he figured out that letters had sounds and grilled us mercilessly on what sounds each letter makes for a week straight. And then he was reading. By the time I bought real curricula for him I got him a spelling book instead.

 

Spalding. :-)

 

It was tough with dd, because she is the world's most independent person, and there is NOTHING independent about Spalding. I'm not sure I would have done anything differently, though.

I have one of those. She's the reason I bought WRTR, because snuggling on the couch with Phonics Pathways irritated the bejeebers out of her. LOL The spelling output Spalding gave her something she could DO. Now she puts a halt hand up to tell me she doesn't need my help marking her word, thankyouverymuch.

 

I only have experience using this with one kid. The main difference I saw was this DD broke into multisyllable words sooner and more effortlessly. The only con I can think of is it's not as open and go as Phonics Pathways, but it did fall into a comfortable routine.

[strange_girl]

There is no best phonics program.

 

There is no perfect phonics program. :)

 

For us, programs that incorporate writing and reading work the best. DD learned with Adventures In Phonics, which was boring and had a lot of writing in it...but it worked like a charm and she reads beautifully.

 

I tried The Reading Lesson with DS. It is a good program, but he just kept forgetting and forgetting what he had learned. So I bought CLE's Learning to Read, which also has a lot of writing, and now he is remembering and progressing beautifully.

 

There's something about writing things down that just helps us remember :). I don't seem to have writing phobic kids either...probably because they've been writing a lot since they could first form letters. I never gave them a choice to write or not. We write a lot.

[MinivanMom]

Reading Reflex

 

I used it back when I tutored struggling students. It got them reading where nothing else worked. I also used it to teach reading from the start with my 3 oldest children (who are relatively bright), and they quickly and easily jumped to reading chapter books (at ages 5-6). It's inexpensive, simple, and straightforward - no bells & whistles. I just use early readers and journaling alongside.

[Tracy]

I have 2 kids that both learned to read by sight, that is, by memorizing the words.  They both did so at a very young age before I started reading instruction.  So by the time they were school age, although they were each way ahead in reading level, they had gotten in the habit of guessing new words.  I started Spell to Write and Read with my dd when she was 5.5yo.  The program trains children to sound out words by teaching them first to spell them.  It took over 2 years of this intense instruction before my dd could sound out new words on her own.  It was about that time that she started to read a much greater volume of material on her own.  

[Chelli]

With my oldest I used Reading Made Easy. Love the program got her reading well at the age of 5.

 

For my middle child I had the opportunity to beta test LOE Foundations so I jumped on that! LOE Foundations has been great we're starting Level C right now. I also add in Reading Made Easy for her. We do Foundations one day and Reading Made Easy the next. She hasn't hit any snags with either program.

 

I do agree with the some of the comments above. Both Reading Made Easy (writing sentences) and LOE Foundations (writing phonograms and words) use handwriting as reinforcement of the phonics lessons, and both programs have reading practice built in so they are always reading. To get in even more reading practice, this year for first grade I require dd6 to read for 10 minutes to her dad every day. When it come to reading I firmly believe that the mantra is practice, practice, practice.

[KrissiK]

There is no best phonics program.

 

There is no perfect phonics program. :)

I agree with this statement. A phonics program is good if it works for your child. I've taught 3 children to read and am working on the 4th with A Beka's phonics program. I like it, I know it, it is effective... My kids are good readers. I like the presentation, colorful curriculum.... A Beka is good for us!

[Woodland Mist Academy]

Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, patience, time, lots of good books. . .

 

[KeriJ]

Abeka has worked well for all 3 of mine who have used it.  They are solid readers, reading well above grade level, and they enjoy the program.  We use it for kindergarten and 1st grade.  

[Clear Creek]

I used 100EZ followed by Rod & Staff Phonics for all three of my children.  It wasn't exactly painless, but then again, working hard at a skill at a young age usually isn't.  All three of my children are excellent readers (my 1st grader is almost done with R&S phonics 1 and can read simple chapter books) and they get compliments on their reading skills from people outside our family.  I started 100EZ when the child asked to learn to read or during their kindergarten year, whichever came first, and we worked through it at the child's pace, and we began R&S phonics in 1st grade.

[Kalypso]

I have used this sucessfully with 5 of my kids and am currently using it with #6. My MIL sent it to me when I was contemplating homeschooling. I added in other things after I became a curriculum junkie.

 

http://www.firstreader.com/

 

 

I have also used Spalding phonogram flashcards and Phonics Pathways for more practice.

[Aspasia]

Letter Factory DVD, then OPGTR supplemented with ETC. We started in kindergarten. I would say it clicked about halfway through, so 5.5 years old. I only used the first two or three ETC books, just to solidify the things we were working on. But once she really picked up on it, I felt like ETC became unnecessary busywork.

[lots of little ducklings]

I've used 100EZ successfully with four children (2 my own); and one child succeeded even in spite of dyslexia, though with him I incorporated a lot of additional "encoding" practice (sounding out and writing words, as opposed to decoding, or reading) with each lesson. It's been a gentle, inexpensive, easy-to-implement program for us. And with our oldest, we were able to seamlessly follow-up 100EZ with Spalding. In his case, Spalding would have been a rough place to start, at least at the age he started 100EZ. His fine motor skills would have been a monumental hurdle with Spalding. DD4, on the other hand, could easily launch into Spalding even now, but 100EZ has been fun for her (she begs for it) so we are beginning there again.

[Aloha2U]

Spell to Write and Read! My little man literally spelled his way into writing and reading.

[nerdybird]

DS1 learned to read in school between the ages of 5-7, somewhat. They used a whole language/sight words program in the special education program he was involved in. The emphasis was to get the kids to a functional place so that they could keep up in the classroom if at all possible. He did do well in grades 1 and 2, but when I pulled him out going into grade 3...it became apparent that he was not really reading. Just making a lot of educated guesses based on letter shapes and patterns!

 

So our first year of hsing was spent working through a combination of Teach Your Child in 100 Lessons + BOB books + a lot of comics, graphic novels, and easy readers. We used a V-Tech letter sounds board that I originally bought for my toddler at that time to work through the letters and their sounds. He is very audio-inclined and loved phonics once he realized that the sounds were related to the words and that there was a method to the madness.

 

Last year we worked through Spectrum phonics, years 1 and 2 and towards the end of the year, he finished 2. Didn't do phonics again this year because I feel that he has reached a point where the issues with reading are no longer mechanical, but motivational. Basically, he doesn't really like to read and would prefer to listen to audiobooks or flip through graphic novels.

 

With DD, she did some phonetics, letter studies, etc in pre-k and kindy, both outside of the home. Last year, we did some lessons from Teach Your Child in 100 Lessons + Spectrum 1 + mom-made word-a-day pages. We started S-V Spelling about half-way through the year and she whizzed through it. We still do some exercises from Spectrum 2 on occasion and we do a lot of assisted reading/read-aloud/orations because she is what I call a "rushin' reader". She likes to rush through her work.

 

With DS2, we have used Teach Your Child in 100 Lessons + BOB books since the winter of 2013. He has done very well with it and I think he will be finishing up around his sixth birthday next month. After we are done with that, I am going to let him do a test run with S-V Spelling 1 or possibly First Language Lessons. I have both, but I have never used FLL with my older kids because I didn't think they would do well with it.

 

If he takes to FLL, I will use with him next year. If not, he will do S-V and that will be all for the "mechanics of reading/writing" for next year....

 

Littles, I have not taught yet...

[kerilynn]

LOE Foundations! Also AAR.

 

My ds learned all the single-letter, blend, and digraph phonogram sounds early in a Montessori preschool, but then stayed stuck unable to blend for a couple of years. He had been language-delayed and just needed some time with phonological awawreness skills.

 

When he entered public K I hesitantly discontinued teaching him vertical phonics at home (had just used montessori materials) so as not to confuse him since the school started the kids with a horizontal phonics approach.

 

Now, in February, I really regret that. The school started with a horizontal phonics program but then immediately started sending home readers that were not phonics-leveled at all! He was expected to 'read' the books by recognizing a few sight words (the, like, play, etc.) and then figure the rest out by looking at pictures. I was killing myself trying to teach him all the phonograms he needed to know to actually be able to decode as many of the words as he could. I would cover up the pictures too. They are expected to 'read' one of these a night. Anyway, he quickly became frustrated and started to feel stupid.

 

So, Mama is back in control of the reading instruction (and loving it). We are starting way below his level for review/foundational purposes, but moving through at a quicker speed, and like many moms above, I'm bribing him. I told him once we finish the first workbook he can get a light saber. (This is a big deal for him because he already got a light saber from santa. He really wants a second one, but we are not the type of parents that like to just go out and buy things for the sake of buying things.) So he's motivated, but also feeling so proud because with actual phonics readers he can really read lots of stories. I am actually using both AAR and LOE Foundations with him right now because I think they both have strengths and I like the overlap. If it becomes too much in the future (especially since we are afterschoolers), I will drop one, or maybe do LOE and AAS.

 

Logic of English is an amazing program. There is so much research included. I am currently a speech and hearing sciences undergrad student and have always believed in the OG methods. Unfortunately a child only gets exposure to such great, explicit instruction in public school if they are really struggling. All kids should have such a foundation for reading. As a Speechy I just love that he is learning voicing and nasality, etc.

 

AAR is great too. I love them both for different reasons.

 

(And for the OP...I know what you mean by getting jumped on about there not being 'one perfect or best' anything, lol. I like to ask questions about what people think is best as well, so that I can have a list to go research and see what suites our needs. People often get a little excited about that, ;-p )

[umsami]

Ds1 and 2 did really well with Click-n-Read phonics.

 

DD did a combo of Hooked on Phonics Pre-K and Reading Eggs.

 

All are great readers.

 

(NB: We started with the LeapFrog Letter Factory DVDs.)

[IsabelC]

What sort of learner and what 'program' (book/curriculum/whatever!) really clicked with them.  

Also what age it seemed to click, or what you would have done differently.  

 

 

First kid - very reluctant reader, I started teaching him at 3 and it didn't really come together until he was about 7. He was equally reluctant with any books / resources. I think he  actually got started by reading road signs and other "useful" things. My biggest mistake was stressing about it too much and pushing him too much. I think I should have waiting until he showed signs of readiness. I'm convinced he was going to read when he was going to read, regardless of when I started him, so I probably wasted heaps of time.

 

Second kid - wants to read but has reading difficulties that defy categorization. I have tried many things but at age 8 she is still struggling to sound out words, and has been hampered by a school teacher who allowed (encouraged) her to guess instead of sounding out. I am actually working on nonsense word lists with her to remediate this, and it seems to work but is a slow process.

 

Third kid - natural reader, started sounding out words by herself shortly before her 2nd birthday and now reads fluently at age 5. She practically taught herself, racing through whatever I put in front of her. We now need to work on broader language skills, because her reading has outstripped her vocabulary to the point where she'll try to read adult books (I mean textbooks etc, not "adult content" books!) and have no idea what she's reading about.

 

As far a programs go, I have done OPGTR and Fitzroy Readers (with Fitzroy Word Skills) for all the kids as their main reading "spines", together with many other readers, cards, games, programs etc. The only thing I found a complete dud was Reading Eggs, which didn't work for us at all in spite of most people loving it.

[Aurelia]

I never found one program to be a magic bullet. I ended up using several things that ultimately meshed well. The Leapfrog Letter and Word Factory videos were excellent and painless, followed by a combo of WRTR and Dancing Bears.

[ErinE]

I used OPGTR for DD, but I didn't use the book during the lesson. Tears were a serious problem whenever the book came out. Lots of review, lots of reading, and patiently working through the times when learning seemed to stall.

[Matryoshka]

Reading Reflex

 

I used it back when I tutored struggling students. It got them reading where nothing else worked. I also used it to teach reading from the start with my 3 oldest children (who are relatively bright), and they quickly and easily jumped to reading chapter books (at ages 5-6). It's inexpensive, simple, and straightforward - no bells & whistles. I just use early readers and journaling alongside.

 

Yep, Reading Reflex.  All I ever needed for teaching my 3 very different kids to read was this one $16 book.  What I really love about it is it mostly taught me how to teach reading - yes, simple, straightforward, without bells and whistles.

 

[alisoncooks]

I tried soooo many programs with oldest DD, who struggles with reading (HoP, OPGTR, Phonics Pathways, CLE LTR, R&S Phonics, AAR, ETC).  Every now and then we'd make a little progress (R&S Phonics got her blending, finally, at age 6).  Dancing Bears is what clicked and took her a little further.  We are still struggling, but since DB is (slowly) taking us in the right direction... we're sticking with it for now.

 

Youngest DD is using OPGTR.  We started with McRuffy but it was just too much unnecessary *stuff* for us.  We simplified back to OPGTR and have been plugging along fine.  (But I have always suspected she would not have the same difficulties that oldest DD would have.)

 

Honestly, I have yet to find the perfect program.  DB and OPGTR are sufficient for the moment... but I'll admit to looking around for something more, every now and again...  :001_rolleyes:

[Piper]

Bit of a combo here.  LeapFrog DVDs as toddlers taught them the letter sounds and introduced them to the concept of blending those sounds.  Then in K, they were taught the phonograms and we also worked through the SRA/Open Court K plans, including the readers (pre-decodables and then decodables).  Then in first and second grades we got more serious and used Saxon Phonics, which I *love*.  It gives them such a great foundation for both reading and spelling.

For both of them, it seemed to just click sometime while they were 6 years old.  They were both doing fine up to that point, but obviously sounding everything out fairly laboriously. Then suddenly it seemed that they just woke up one day and could read fluently!  My dd is an avid reader, devours everything she can lay her hands on, and is reading well above grade level.  My ds is less attracted by words/books (he'd rather watch a screen) but still loves to read, and is so proud of himself when he reads a book on his own.  Library visits always result in hours of silence from both of them as they read all their "new" books.

Gotta say it again, though - Saxon Phonics is fabulous.

[journey00]

I used a mix of things: Bob Books, HOP, Time4Learning, and Headsprout.

[JustEm]

Phonics Pathways.  At 3.5 my ds asked me to teach him to read so I bought it thinking he wasn't actually ready and would lose interested easily.  He turned 5 in Dec and will be done Phonics Pathways by May and is reading incredibly well.  My dd will be 4 in May and she asked to start phonics a few months ago.  She's having a blast with it and is learning to blend very well.  I should mention that I make a lot of very simple games that gets teaches them without them knowing it half the time but there are also days that they just read the lists from the book.

 

Edited to add: My children tend to just do what is put in front of them without realizing that if they didn't enjoy it I would find something that worked better so I don't actually know if they like it or just think its the only option.

[Farrar]

Someone told me this joke:

 

The homeschool mom asked, "Which program will teach my child to read?"

 

The answer?  "The fourth one."

 

I say start cheap and light and move to something more intense and expensive as needed.  A mix of Bob books, real books, Progressive Phonics, Blend Phonics, games, and so forth all helped my boys.

[Ivey]

#1 learned to read in the first few weeks of public kindergarten. They started with letter sounds, and it just clicked for him. 

#2 is severely dyslexic and learned to read at age 10/11 using a modified version of Glass-Analysis. 

#3 taught himself to read at age 4.

#4 learned to read by overhearing and joining in on Ds16's reading lessons. 

#5 has autism and learned to read around the same time he really started to speak, at age 6/7. We used my version of Glass-Analysis, and he caught on much more quickly than I expected.  

[craftyerin]

Leapfrog DVDs and AAR pre-reading, and then Phonics Pathways with my twins.  They never struggled at all, but they both seemed to click with reading shortly before their 5th birthday.

 

My older son struggles, and we have not yet found the magic button for him. He did the Leapfrog/AAR pre-reading/Phonics Pathways thing, not it.  Has dabbled in some others.  Right now we're using something this speech therapist recommended that is out of print, but I really like.  I think we're finally making some progress.  I also think I finally have his phonemic awareness in a good enough place to pass the Barton screening, so we may go that route soon. ;) 

[ZeldaRules]

Going through this now. Allinonehomeschool.com- McGuffey Reader and her word videos. If they don't know a sound, I tell them...and the McGuffey Readers uses symbols for pronunciation. Love it. Simple and free. ;)

 

With my oldest I used Saxon. I like the simple method better.

[blondeviolin]

Abby used Funnix, Emmett 100 Easy Lessons. Abby took about two or three months. Emmett has been a lot more plodding progress.

[fdrinca]

Once the kids learned all of their letters and consonant sounds (which they just learned without my teaching, although probably mostly through Starfall, now that I think about it), we started with Explode the Code. They're pretty self-directed learners, so they really liked the fact that they could "teach" themselves how to read. I definitely waited until they were asking to learn how to read, which probably helped.