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Do I really need a phonics curriculum?


KrissiK
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I'm teaching #4 to read this year. The 3 olders learned quickly and well with A Beka. They are all good readers. #4 - not so much. She doesn't do well with the vowel first approach. So, I got the homeschool adaptation of how I was taught to read as a kid - Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. She doesn't like it much, and I think it is weird. So.... I'm thinking..... I know how to do this. Why not just teach them the letters, blends, and the rules (I know them) myself with a white board. I just don't want to buy another curriculum.

 

Thoughts?

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My DD was pointing to letters in the books I read her, so I taught her the letters and letter sounds that way, and she taught herself to blend. After that we loosely used Progressive Phonics, but only for practice with the readers, I didn't really use the "lessons" (not that there was much) in the beginning of each pdf.

 

I kind of freaked out at one point because I felt like we SHOULD be using a curriculum, so I bought LOE Foundations B...Great program, but a complete waste of money for us. We went through a few lessons and I realized she wasn't learning anything from it that she hadn't already learned by playing around, so we just went back to co-reading, learning through actual books. When phonemes she wasn't familiar with came up, we practiced them on a white board and then went on. It's been working perfectly!

 

So...no I don't think you do need a formal program, it's possible to just wing it. You know what you're doing! You know how to teach, fool around with the white board, when she gets to that point just find some good readers and go for it!

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Will this help?

 

I have often puzzled about how one would go about creating a phonics program from the sounds up. It turns out that it can be done by anyone who has a good dictionary with a pronunciation guide. In this brief paper, we are going to follow the great phonics master Rudolf Flesch as he builds a phonics program from the sounds up.  

http://www.donpotter.net/pdf/natural_phonics_primer_make.pdf

 

More here

http://www.donpotter.net/education_pages/flesch_audio.html

 

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When it was time to teach my oldest two how to read, my husband was out of work, recovering from a broken leg.  This meant no money for curriculum.  So I used Progressive Phonics, which is available free, for the both of them.  It was a bit dry here and there, but it did the job.  

 

I reinforced with ETC (which I really don't like much, but for reinforcement and practice, it was fine) and Spectrum Phonics workbooks.  

 

Very low cost, and effective.  

 

I don't think you have to spend much at all to teach Phonics.  

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As long as there is no learning issue, like dyslexia, a whiteboard and your knowledge should be just fine.  I agree, you don't have to spend a fortune to teach phonics...  And you can use ElizabethB's stuff.  She has some great materials on-line that cost nothing and she posts on TWTM so you can ask questions if you have any.  Her materials are really helpful for NT and non-NT kids alike.

 

However, if the child has a learning challenge, you may need something much more in-depth and systematic that breaks things down into smaller chunks, like a true Orton-Gillingham based program (Barton Reading and Spelling or Wilson or Linda-mood Bell come to mind), or something like the High Noon reading/spelling program for some kids that don't do well with true OG.  Otherwise you both may end up spinning your wheels, taking far longer to progress and with far more frustrations.  Just depends on what the underlying difficulty might be.

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Will this help?

 

I have often puzzled about how one would go about creating a phonics program from the sounds up. It turns out that it can be done by anyone who has a good dictionary with a pronunciation guide. In this brief paper, we are going to follow the great phonics master Rudolf Flesch as he builds a phonics program from the sounds up.  

http://www.donpotter.net/pdf/natural_phonics_primer_make.pdf

 

More here

http://www.donpotter.net/education_pages/flesch_audio.html

 

 

Have you looked at Don Potter or ElizabethB's free phonics programs? We've used their resources with great success.

 

http://blendphonics.org

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org

 

ElizabethB and Don Potter have so much stuff on their websites. My current personal favorites from their pages are 

 

Blumenfeld Primer

http://www.donpotter.net/pdf/blumnfeld_home_primer.pdf

 

First Steps in Spelling

http://books.google.com/books?id=-0dAAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

And tables 1-12 from the Webster's Syllabary

http://www.donpotter.net/pdf/websterspellingbookmethodex.pdf

 

How to Tutor a Remedial Reading Student.

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/howtotutor.html

 

The first links I sent you were the ones about designing your own program. The above links are my favorite ready made resources.

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Just stick with Abeka!  It is one of the best reading programs available.  It's only September.  Take your time and she will probably get it just like your other kids.  You can always let her learn to read by sight on the side if she picks it up on her own, no one is stopping her.  But it is truly best if she learns with intensive phonics.  If, after half the school year you are still seeing no progress, then it's time to look around.  ...reading takes a little time for some kids.  

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