Ordinary Parent's Guide NOT working....What reading do you use?

[FloridaMomTo5]

My 1st grader struggled with Ordinary Parent's Guide last year and now we are still struggling through it with frustrations and sighs!! There is no confidence being built as we struggle through this.

 

I thought of trying BJUP again (I did this with my dd several years ago), but I can't order new workbooks to go with the edition I have.

 

So... Now I'm at square one.... Which curriculum will work for my ds..... It is not fun to start a new year and realize you are not ready like you thought.

 

What would you use for a visual learner who is determined to learn to read? I would like to know what has worked for others so that I can shop around.

 

Thanks so much!!!

[Alice]

What was wrong with OPG?

 

My son HATED it but I found that he couldn't take looking at the page. Too much stuff on it and he got overwhelmed. He did much bettter if I wrote out the words and sentences for the lessons on a white board.

 

It still might not work for you, but you might be able to use it and save the $ of getting a new program.

 

Explode the Code also might be a good option for a visual learner.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

We love Phonics Pathways here. It's worked for both of my visual learners. I love it because it is visually appealing, has large print that is easy to read, is all contained in one book, and teaches the consonant sounds in conjunction with the vowels (ie. ba, be, bi, bo, bu). HTH

[Jennefer@SSA]

I was thinking Explode the Code as well. It is very inexpensive and simple to implement. You can use the Primary Phonics readers, Bob Books or any simple phonics based series to go along with ETC. The Primary Phonics books are printed by the same company who makes ETC and we really loved them. You may check to see if your library carries them. I found out that our library did only after I purchased the entire set. Sigh!

[Gretchen in NJ]

It could be like Alice said to much on the page. I had to use a sheet of white paper with one child.

 

With the other one, it was my delivery. :blushing: I was too boring for her. :blush: I had to jazz it up a bit.

 

Do you have the magnet board? That is a great help. Also, do you have Bob Books? Bob Books are great confidence builders.

[...................]

combined with either Hooked on Phonics or Phonics Pathways...

 

Or - just CLP Adventures in Phonics with TM- it works great! and is very very easy to teach! Not fun, but it works.

 

Readers:

Bob Books

then

CLP K Readers

then Pathway Readers

 

then...library books!

[susie in tx]

I checked out OPG from the library and the print was just way too small. So, I purchased Phonics Pathways. I'm also using the AAS phonogram CD to teach my youngest the phonogram sounds. Mostly, we're working on the vowel sounds, but she knows many of the consonant sounds from her sisters. I blend AAS with Phonics Pathways. AAS goes pretty slowly, but the girls seem to like using the tiles. So, we do that.

 

Leapfrog DVD's have also been quite helpful. :)

[neesek]

Have you ever looked at Sing, Spell, Read and Write? I went through it with my ds and he loved all of the songs and games. With my dd, I tried MFW K and OPG last year. Neither of those worked well for her, so I switched her over to SSRW. It is working great. With my next one I probably won't try anything else.

[FloridaMomTo5]

Yes. I think it is definitely overwhelming how small the text is, and the black and white nature of the book. I have the magnet board, but have not tried writing out the words seperately. I will give that a try tomorrow!

 

Also, I've heard a lot of people suggest Explode the Code. Is it the same as Ord. Parent's as far as set up?

[Diannab]

We tried all the above suggestions, and it just did not work out for my youngest dd. She constantly struggled. I couldn't get my hands on Bob books, but found a great site: http://www.readinga-z.com We love it. She is now on level 15 and reading 240+ words per sitting. In just 6 months. I love it!

[TMarie]

Have you tried a sight word based program?

 

After struggling through phonics for 2 years, we switched to Rod & Staff Reading. My son, who still can’t sound very many 3 letter words, can read whole books with sight words. He firmly knows his letter sounds but he just cannot put them together into words.

 

He is in 2nd grade now and I do occasionally pull out the OPGTR or Explode the Code. One day I hope he will get it. But, until then he is having great success with R&S books. He has started recognizing & memorizing words from other books based upon the confidence he now has.

 

Another sight word program is Pathway Reading. Here is the link to it on rainbow resource:

http://rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?sid=1219171093-27226&subject=6&category=925

 

p.s. I’ve successfully taught two daughters to read with phonics and do believe phonics is best for most kids!

[Kathleen in VA]

Have you ever looked at Sing, Spell, Read and Write? I went through it with my ds and he loved all of the songs and games. With my dd, I tried MFW K and OPG last year. Neither of those worked well for her, so I switched her over to SSRW. It is working great. With my next one I probably won't try anything else.

 

:iagree:If you're looking for fun, engaging, "when is it time to do reading, Mom?" then I highly recommend SSRW. I did not use it with my own children because it was pricey and there was no internet when I started out so finding anything used was very difficult. I did use it when I taught Kindergarten in a private school, though, and the children loved it.

 

If you are looking for something simple and inexpensive and sort of fun I would go with the "Learning Through the Sounds" books published by Pathway Publishers. I used those and Bob Books for reinforcement with all five of mine and they are all excellent readers. We moved into the Pathway Readers from there. The stories were sweet, but not sickeningly so - just right.

[Johanna]

We were going to use OPGTR, and I couldnt get excited about it. So, I am now doing HOP "Learn to REad" with my K'er and the second grade ed. with my ds7. We love it!

[Annie Laurie]

Explode the Code worked for my middle two also. That and Leapfrog videos and BOB books.

 

SL has a fun program with LA K and LA 1, there are games and activities and it's very gentle.

[FriedClams]

We've had GREAT success with clicknread.com It's been really great for my young kid who I don't care if he can write - but was very ready for phonics. It is a lifetime deal so you can transfer it from kid to kid, it's VERY phonics based and VERY thorough (a little too much so in spots - so we skip a little), with lots of feedback for mom and dad. It's really fabulous. When I signed up I got $10 or $20 off for putting a link on my blog (can't remember), and you can get $5 from a user (PM me if you want). You also get $5 back if you refer someone - so you can end up getting it free. Each lesson takes about 10-15 minutes and the 100 lessons are supposed to span K-2nd. I would say that the range is very accurate. Anyway - it's been a great alternative for us and DS is reading like a wiz with solid phonics training and no frustration over writing for a K-er - so I this it's great!

 

ETA - you can try out 2 full free lessons online - so you can see if it's a good fit before you commit. HTH!

[gandpsmommy]

We used The Reading Lesson with dd, and had great success. I looked through a library copy of OPG, and as a visual person I couldn't handle it. TRL was easy on the eyes, using large print at the beginning and gradually shrinking it to normal size. It also allowed my daughter to read words from the very first lesson, and to begin reading very simple stories in just a few lessons. It was a great fit for us.

 

You can find it new or used at Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+reading+lesson

[momtolgd]

Just wanted to add to what the others have said...my ds had a lot of trouble with the small words and the number of words on the page with OPGTR. When I started writing it out on the whiteboard and letting him erase it as he read each section, it got so much better for us.

 

ETC works the best for him though...those workbooks have worked wonders for his reading!

 

Hope you find what works for you! :001_smile:

[Blue Hen]

After the school told us that our then Kindergarten DS would never, ever read and there was nothing we could do about it I found Reading Reflex.

 

After going through their 12wk program he was reading at a mid-4th grade level --- that's where the PS tested him at and I totally agree with it being around that level.

 

I had several other moms to PS kids come and ask me to teach their kids to read after they saw what I was able to do with my oldest. Their kids learned quickly, and quickly were moved up to their classrooms top reading group.

 

So of course it is the one I always recommend to hs friends whose kids aren't enjoying or learning with another program. BTW, our library has a copy of Reading Reflex so maybe yours does too.

 

Carole

[Mom-ninja.]

I now use Explode the Code and Head Sprout. Head Sprout is expensive but it has helped so much.

 

I'm looking into getting readers now. Nora Gaydos books were recommended to me. I now have them on my Amazon wish list.

[Matryoshka]

After the school told us that our then Kindergarten DS would never, ever read and there was nothing we could do about it I found Reading Reflex.

 

I used Reading Reflex to teach all 3 of my kids to read. I really, really like it. It was easy to use, quick, and I never had to use another program. After that we just moved to Bob books and readers. In 2nd grade I used Sequential Spelling to reinforce phonograms.

 

My library has it also.

[Colleen]

I've taught four of my five boys to read thus far and Reading Made Easy has been painless and effective for all of them.

[Alice]

Also, I've heard a lot of people suggest Explode the Code. Is it the same as Ord. Parent's as far as set up?

 

They are easy to use together, if that's what you mean. ETC has three primers (Go for the Code, Get Ready and Get Set...something like that). They teach the consonaut sounds. Then ETC book 1 starts with Vowels and CVC blends. It doesn't go in the exact order of OPGTR but it's easy to adjust or just use them to review each other. ETC is pretty slow (a lot of pages on one blend) so it can be a good review.

 

I have to say we had mixed success with ETC. Ds liked it at first but then got bored with it. But I think that was more about me pushing him when he wasn't ready than the program itself. :001_smile:

[Mrs Mungo]

We use Sing, Spell, Read and Write. I love this program. However, it can offer a little overkill, we kind of skip some of the redundant stuff.

[Stacie in UT]

OPG is absolutely my favorite book for teaching reading. I've used tons of stuff over the past 13 1/2 years, and OPG wins hands down. So it makes me very sad when someone has trouble with it. I would like to share what I do with this program that helps at our house.

 

First and most important is to use a timer. You only need a few minutes each day to learn to read. The key is to do it everyday for that small amount of time. Be sure you make it clear that you are going to have this lesson time each day for a short time, and when the child is done he can have a treat--playtime, singing time, food, etc. I always begin a little one with only 5 minutes maximum. Now that we are to the end of OPG reading lessons are only lasting 15 minutes a day, and that includes the child reading a short story from a book. My little guys love reading lesson time with mom because it was never a question whether we would do it, and I try to make it pleasant for both of us.

 

It's been said before, but here you go--the small print, and the combination of teacher prompts and student reading all on the same page of OPG overwhelmed my little boys. So I printed out the parts they had to read in larger print. Only the sounds, words, and sentences they had to read were on the paper. I would read the teacher instructions right out of the book. I printed them up from Microsoft Word in the font "Comic Sans MS" at a font size 36. As the stories in the lessons became longer, I began to switch to a slightly smaller font size of 26 to fit more on a page. Many lessons would be spread out of 2 to 4 pieces of paper. I used the larger print beginning with lesson 27 (Section 3) and continued on through about lesson 62. After that they proclaimed they didn't need the larger print any longer. We then went back to the book with no problems--but I waited until they asked to do it. Having less on the paper and larger print made all the difference.

 

I like to add the Explode the Code workbooks, Bob Books, and Pathway Readers. One thing I learned with the ETC books is to skip book #2 unless a child really needs extra practice with the short vowels, otherwise they get bored with the series. A child can easily go from ETC book 1 to book 2 and do just great. The Peacehill Press website has recommendations of when it would be appropriate to begin using some of the different readers available on the market. I used their suggestions for the Bob Books and found them to be right on. This list is on the OPG web page.

 

Be sure to use anthing that grabs your child's attention--you know, their learning style. Some of my children love being allowed to color in the Bob Books. A few like flashcards. They all like the magnet boards and magnets. I used the magnets from Peacehill Press and some glow-in-dark magnets from the dollar store. They were a BIG hit. Small candies and chocolate chips are a fantabulous insentive for a tired child. One last thing that works at our house is to sit real close on the couch. My 8 year old son like to have Mom's arm around him. His love language is touch. My 6 year old like to sit close with minimal touch and quiet while he reads, but needs lots of "You did great," and "That's just perfect," after each sentence is read. His love language is words of affirmation.

 

Best wishes to you. Teaching reading is my number one favorite thing in educating my children. Such a happy time of discovery. Whatever you end up using be consistent, never give in to whining to end a lesson, be patient, and have fun sitting close learning to read.

 

Stacie--lovin' my 6 little men

[kalanamak]

I used ETC into the long vowels, but then switched over to Phonics Pathways, which introduces things like st- and -ck and ch- before the long vowels, because kiddo has more trouble with vowels than consonants. On top of PP, we are doing Bob and other early readers. He likes the scholastic readers I got in a box with linking cubes with things like st- or -ock on them.

 

The icing on the cake is that I've read and done my book for SWR. I find I'm asking "why the e at the end of apple" and he tells me it is silent and then we break it up into syllables and phonics and I explain there is a silent e because each syllable must have a vowel....it is just a rule. A couple times of that, and he's telling me. Also, was just shocked at how well he did with the first list of SWR. I did the fingers as I sounded it out, and he really watches, watches, watches and it focuses his listening. I think I will be moving into it just as soon as we are through the alphabet in handwriting lessons.

[Mom-ninja.]

I used Reading Reflex to teach all 3 of my kids to read. I really, really like it. It was easy to use, quick, and I never had to use another program. After that we just moved to Bob books and readers. In 2nd grade I used Sequential Spelling to reinforce phonograms.

 

My library has it also.

 

I've been wondering if I should get this. My library (or neighboring county) does not have it so I'd have to buy.

[deeinfl]

You can check out Reading Reflex at a Barnes and Nobles near you. That's what I did and fell in love with it for my eldest son and purchased it right then and there and for some reason, he took off with this method.

 

I only used part of it for my now 8 year old and then went directly to Tatras phonograms(similar to WRTR) and Let's Read, A Linguistic Approach, which is very similar to Alpha Phonics only it takes you farther than Alpha Phonics does. :)

 

HTH,

 

Dee in Sunny FL!

[Carol in Cal.]

Something that was important for us was for me to back off on the longer lessons a bit--we started to spread them over two days instead of one.

 

Also, it really can be a struggle to learn to read. If it is, it's important for children to realize how much they already know, so, for instance, later in the process when DD was really working at the edge of her learning every single day, I also made sure that instead of 30 minutes of struggling with all new material, she would have 20 minutes of all new material and 20 minutes of practice reading something that was already easy for her. She tended to think she was failing with the new stuff, and forget that she had already learned so much.

[PollyOR]

My opinion - not every child needs reading curriculum. I taught my girls the basic phonics sounds and then we used library books that were on their level. My girls have been on different ends of the whole word vs. phonics spectrum.

 

I'm not against reading curriculum. I think the important thing to remember is that you can't force a child to learn to read until their brain is ready. Plateaus happen and they can be frustrating.

 

Good luck! :)

[Renthead Mommy]

We started with OPG. It just about killed us! We both ended up hating it.

 

I found the Progressive Phonic online. It's a total of 14 books (actually a few more as some are split into book A and book B so as to not be so many pages at one time I guess). You download it and can either read it on the computer or print it out. The first five (short vowels) I printed out at Staples and had comb bound. Did it in black and whiteThe others I've been overseas for so we print them out ourselves and put them into binders.

 

Because you read it along with them, they have much more diversity and are more fun than the usual "The fat cat sat on the mat". There are two types of text on the page. The parents part and the child's part. They figure out quick which part is there and remind you when you forget to do 'your' part.

 

The big bonus is it is only something like $19.95. We've really enjoyed it and it has worked great for my son.

 

http://www.progressivephonics.com

[susie in tx]

My opinion - not every child needs reading curriculum.

 

My 2nd dd learned to read on her own. She and her older sister would sit in the back of the van and play sound games. Then, she learned to read. I was quite surprised. After that, we've had the spelling issue with her, but that may have occurred anyway.