faiths13 Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 What is a good phonics program, that isn't too expensive, but really easy to implement? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WahM Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 There isn't a best one, one size fits all. There are many great ones, but not all work for every family. We like Phonics Pathways. For us it's easy to implement, one book covers entire phonics instructions, easy to read for child because if larger font, straight to the point, no fluff, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WahM Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I also prefer PP's approach to blending words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamawaabangi Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I use to teach kindergarten and I've used the following programs either while teaching or with my own children: Sing Spell Read and Write Phonics Museum Phonics Pathways Ordinary Parents Guide All About Reading I have favorable thoughts about everyone except Ordinary Parents Guide (similar to 100 Easy Lessons, I believe)... we both cried after every lesson, it was not fun and we both hated it... I wouldn't used Phonics Museum unless your child is very high functioning... as I don't think it should be called "phonics" museum... because it relies heavily on memorization and doesn't do a great job at true phonics, but it can be a great resource as the readers are very interesting and historical. Sing, Spell, R and W... is nice, but costly and is most like a traditional school program, it is effective and works well. We liked and found Phonics Pathways to be effective, but it didn't seem to have enough or to cover the concepts in as much depth as I think (and my student) needed and I ended up spending a lot of time either repeating lessons (because she wasn't ready to move on) or trying to supplement. All that to say my favorite is All About Reading... it is the best of everything, highly effective and really nearly fool proof. My 1st and 3rd children are remedial readers (struggle to pick it up at age 5 or 6) and they have flourished since we switched to AAR. Our 1st goes to tutor who specializes in dyslexia and she said it is the best packaged phonics curriculum she has ever seen and is very similar to how she was trained to teach dyslexic or struggling readers... My 2nd and 4th children are also loving it, moving right along and making phonics/reading seem easy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clear Creek Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I like Rod & Staff phonics. It is inexpensive, very easy to teach, incremental, thorough, and best of all, it has worked really well for all three of my children....they all get compliments on how well they read when they read aloud in front of other adults. The first couple of units of grade one include paper letter tiles so the child can practice spelling and reading words until their handwriting has caught up to their reading level, and the last couple of units include spelling and dictation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 With my oldest, I felt like we spent so much $$ and overcomplicated things. With my youngest, I have started following the (FREE) word lists from Don Potter's Blend Phonics. Then -- for extra practice -- I've added some of the (FREE) worksheets from Sound City Reading. (I linked the Expanded Short Vowel book, but there are tons more, for more advanced vowel patterns and such.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faiths13 Posted June 24, 2014 Author Share Posted June 24, 2014 Thanks ladies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IfIOnly Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I like Rod & Staff phonics. It is inexpensive, very easy to teach, incremental, thorough, and best of all, it has worked really well for all three of my children....they all get compliments on how well they read when they read aloud in front of other adults. The first couple of units of grade one include paper letter tiles so the child can practice spelling and reading words until their handwriting has caught up to their reading level, and the last couple of units include spelling and dictation. This looks fantastic! It doesn't look inexpensive though. It seems like the workbooks for the whole series would add up. Maybe I'm missing something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IfIOnly Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Okay, I see that only that Grade 1 and 2 are the phonics program and the rest of the grades are reading comp. and stuff, so using just those grades wouldn't be too expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clear Creek Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 This looks fantastic! It doesn't look inexpensive though. It seems like the workbooks for the whole series would add up. Maybe I'm missing something? The grade one materials cost $43.50 (I never used the flashcards and I don't use the reading workbooks). Comparatively, the first level of LOE is $268. Even if I purchase the R&S handwriting books to make the courses equivalent ($33.85, though the TM is unnecessary), the cost isn't even close. To me, that is inexpensive :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IfIOnly Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I really like the thoroughness of the R&S, but I'm having a hard time figuring out the actual costs if we used the whole program or how to pick and choose from it. The website shows that grade 1 is $116 with just a few non-consumable items. Thanks for your input! We pay $52 for all 8 of the Explode the Code books, plus HP was $50 and can be used for all our kids. The AAS Basic Phonogram non-consumable flash cards are $13. I'm really happy with that combo. but checked out R&S because it's usually so cheap, and we love their spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertflower Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 I like phonics pathways. Very thorough with no sight words. We supplement with AAR because he's a kinesthetic learner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 I'm a fan of a blended sight/sound approach. We use, and very much enjoy, PAL Reading (from IEW). We'll add in the sister writing program (PAL Writing) second semester. It's game based, thorough, and the TM is scripted. My son enjoys the worksheets too (pasting, lol). It IS a lot of prep work before you start, as you have to make all of the file folder games (I know they suggest making them as you go, but it was easier for me to just spend an hour a night, for a couple weeks before starting the program, doing all of them). My husband took the workbook CD to Kinkos to have it printed out, I put it in his own binder. I keep his reading practice pages in another binder. It is VERY open and go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IfIOnly Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 I also prefer PP's approach to blending words. I really liked that about PP, too. What PP, OPGTTR, Alpha Phonics, and similar programs don't teach are the syllabication rules. My son's ETC 4 workbook covers: syllable division between double consonants, different consonants, open and closed syllables, syllable division with open syllables, closed syllables, syllables ending in -y and -le, vowel digraph syllables, and syllable division with three-syllable words. Syllabication helps so much to know what sound a phonogram makes, especially in longer words. An example of this is "RULE: When -le is at the end of a word, it takes the consonant before it to make the last syllable. ap-ple ". So you would know that the a says it short sound in the first syllable because it's an open syllable meaning the syllable ends with a consonant so the vowel is short. I probably did a terrible job explaining that! Anyway, that is one of the reasons we like ETC so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventuresinHomeschooling Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 We like SSRW, and it's on sale 20% off at Christianbook this week if you are interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raristy Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 I love SWR. Spell to Write and Read Core Kit. http://www.morningstarlearning.com/Morning_Star_Learning/Spell_to_Write_and_Read_%28shop%29.html I also liked Potter's Blended Phonics recommended above. They'vebeen a blessing. Rosa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BatmansWife Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 One of my absolute favorites is Reading Made Easy. It's true...it makes learning and teaching reading easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosieCotton Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 We used SSRW first, then I bought Phonics Pathways and AAS - and used the tiles from AAS to build words and make it a little more fun. Both SSRW and PP are very solid programs. PP is the least expensive by far. But we have more fun with SSRW - so it's up to you! You can piece SSRW together on eBay for less than the full kit online if you want to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleeglaser Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 We use Phonics for Reading and Spelling. We've really enjoyed it and I easily taught my two boys to read using it. I'm now using it to teach my daughter who has auditory working memory issues. We learn the first 26 phonics cards and start reading Biscuit books and the McGuffey primer while we continue learning the rest of the 72 phonics cards. We also use the cards when learning to write the letters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Phonics Pathways Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 I'm going to throw out the website Progressive Phonics. It is free, you just print it. It is easy - little booklets you read with your student. OLD THREAD. Need more coffee... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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