Phonics--so many choices!

[Aiden]

I'm looking for a phonics program that would be a good fit for my daughter. It will be for use in the fall, for K, when she's 5yo.

 

We've done several lessons in OPGTR, but she hated it, so it's back on the shelf now. It may or may not come back out at some point in the future.

 

We have a subscription to Reading Eggs, and she enjoys doing that 2-4 times/week. She does well with the games, though we have some frustration with the program itself not always working well on our computer--she'll know where to move a word for the game, for example, but the program won't respond properly to the touch screen, so I repeatedly hear her complain that "I need to put the word there but it won't let me!" I'm confident that she'd happily do two or more lessons a day if the technical aspects weren't so frustrating. Also, internet is not always reliable, so I don't want to depend on it so much. I'd like to keep it as a fun supplement for her to do when she wants, but I'd prefer it not be our primary vehicle for teaching phonics.

 

Snapshot of my daughter: She knows the letter sounds and names, though not necessarily the alphabet song/alphabetic order, and she's learned a very few sight words and vowel blends. She's pretty wiggly, always bouncing or climbing even while listening to stories. She enjoys games, but does not love a challenge--even if it's in the context of a fun game, if she doesn't immediately see how to do it correctly, she wants me to do it for her. She usually does not want to do workbooks, but if I show her a page and it's brightly colored and has animals on it, she'll decide she wants to do it after all. She'll do pretty much anything that involves animals, especially dogs. She's done HWOT preK for handwriting and loved it, partly because there was coloring on almost every page and because she could use the wooden pieces to make Mickey Mouse faces after she completed her lesson. She cried when we finished it; she was not interested in other forms of handwriting practice, only in HWOT. (Edited to add: She's easily reading CVC words in the context of games, though I know she's getting bored with the game when she starts telling me that she can't read the words, and she occasionally reads one of the CVC BOB books, though she usually chooses not to.)

 

I had planned to keep all the language arts components separate, so that she can develop reading, handwriting, spelling, etc. at their own paces. However, I'm now open to the possibility of programs that combine them, as long as I can modify if she's ready to move ahead in one topic but not in another. We may continue with HWOT even if the program we choose includes handwriting.

 

There seem to be so many good options, but I'm having a hard time deciding what would work well for her. I want something where I can buy a kit that includes everything I need. Although I'd personally prefer not to mess with games or other "extras," I know she needs them, so they should be included--I don't want to have to put them together myself. I'd rather keep it to less than 20 minutes/day--preferably shorter, but if it involves games that she enjoys, 20 minutes would be fine. I'm willing to spend some time over the summer learning the program and getting things set up, but when it comes to actually using it during the school year, it should be fairly open and go. It definitely should teach phonics, with few sight words. It would be nice if there were readers I could buy that correspond to the program until it's advanced enough for me to be confident picking out other readers. Budget is not a huge concern. It needs to be something we can use even when the internet goes out.

 

I've looked a little at Logic of English, AAR/AAS, Spell to Write & Read, and Reading Lessons Through Literature, but I feel like I haven't been able to get enough information about them to feel confident in making a choice. If you have experience with any of these programs--or any others!--I would appreciate your input about whether (and why) they would or would not be good choices for us.

 

Thanks for your input!

[73349]

Logic of English Foundations does have what you're looking for - lots of games, short activities, readers, and careful use of sight words.  We started with level B, and it sounds like that would work for your DD as well. (I didn't start it until DS turned 6 halfway through K, though. He'd been using Phonics Pathways before that, but was getting intimidated by how much was on a page.)

 

We also use HWOT instead of the LOE handwriting.

 

[Ellie]

Spalding. For a one-time purchase of less than $50, Spalding will be a complete literacy program. Sorry--no cute pictures or anything :-) but Spalding is flexible enough that you could still be successful with it.

 

Spalding teaches children to read by teaching them to spell, and simultaneously covers penmanship, capitalization and punctuation, and simple writing. It *can* do grammar and more comprehensive writing, but most homeschoolers prefer to change things around a bit (grammar and writing are taught at separate times from the spelling/reading/penmanship).

 

Spalding does *not* have basal readers; you use actual books--easy-to-find titles that you can find in the library or that are inexpensive to buy.

[marynamo]

Have you looked at Progressive Phonics. It has books you download, worksheets etc. Best all free.

 

My kids loved it.

[SFM]

I like Spalding or Phonics Pathways. I find them both inexpensive, easy to use (Spalding has a learning curve), and effective. I have used both with great success. 

[HS Mom in NC]

Phonics Pathways (PP)  is simple, thorough and efficient. It's open and go with a few games included for people who want that. Spelling is included along the way.  There are PP pyramid books that are sold separately and absolutely worth it.  Most 5 year olds shouldn't be doing phonics yet because they're not ready, but if your child is ready and you want a curriculum, I recommend that one.  Some people's kids feel overwhelmed by the volume of words on the page, but that's easily solved by putting a blank piece of paper over the part of the page the child isn't reading.

 

I you want to evaluate whether or not your child is ready to learn to read get A Homestart in Reading.(AHSIR)  ($4 at amazon.) It also includes how to teach reading with real books. Even if you choose to use a curriculum, AHSIR is a great primer to so you know what to look for so you can evaluate curriculum with confidence.

[Hkpiano]

We are really enjoying The Reading Lesson with our 5 year old DD who was at a similar starting point as your daughter when we started it this summer. You can download the first 3 "lessons" for free on their website. Each lesson is meant to take 1-2 weeks, so that gives you a good chance to try it out to see if it is a good fit. She loves to read the page then color the picture. I supplement with Bob Books, Handwriting without Tears, and Explode The Code.

 

Eta: here is the website for the free sample downloads: http://readinglesson.com

[blondeviolin]

I'm looking for a phonics program that would be a good fit for my daughter. It will be for use in the fall, for K, when she's 5yo.

 

We've done several lessons in OPGTR, but she hated it, so it's back on the shelf now. It may or may not come back out at some point in the future.

 

We have a subscription to Reading Eggs, and she enjoys doing that 2-4 times/week. She does well with the games, though we have some frustration with the program itself not always working well on our computer--she'll know where to move a word for the game, for example, but the program won't respond properly to the touch screen, so I repeatedly hear her complain that "I need to put the word there but it won't let me!" I'm confident that she'd happily do two or more lessons a day if the technical aspects weren't so frustrating. Also, internet is not always reliable, so I don't want to depend on it so much. I'd like to keep it as a fun supplement for her to do when she wants, but I'd prefer it not be our primary vehicle for teaching phonics.

 

Snapshot of my daughter: She knows the letter sounds and names, though not necessarily the alphabet song/alphabetic order, and she's learned a very few sight words and vowel blends. She's pretty wiggly, always bouncing or climbing even while listening to stories. She enjoys games, but does not love a challenge--even if it's in the context of a fun game, if she doesn't immediately see how to do it correctly, she wants me to do it for her. She usually does not want to do workbooks, but if I show her a page and it's brightly colored and has animals on it, she'll decide she wants to do it after all. She'll do pretty much anything that involves animals, especially dogs. She's done HWOT preK for handwriting and loved it, partly because there was coloring on almost every page and because she could use the wooden pieces to make Mickey Mouse faces after she completed her lesson. She cried when we finished it; she was not interested in other forms of handwriting practice, only in HWOT. (Edited to add: She's easily reading CVC words in the context of games, though I know she's getting bored with the game when she starts telling me that she can't read the words, and she occasionally reads one of the CVC BOB books, though she usually chooses not to.)

 

I had planned to keep all the language arts components separate, so that she can develop reading, handwriting, spelling, etc. at their own paces. However, I'm now open to the possibility of programs that combine them, as long as I can modify if she's ready to move ahead in one topic but not in another. We may continue with HWOT even if the program we choose includes handwriting.

 

There seem to be so many good options, but I'm having a hard time deciding what would work well for her. I want something where I can buy a kit that includes everything I need. Although I'd personally prefer not to mess with games or other "extras," I know she needs them, so they should be included--I don't want to have to put them together myself. I'd rather keep it to less than 20 minutes/day--preferably shorter, but if it involves games that she enjoys, 20 minutes would be fine. I'm willing to spend some time over the summer learning the program and getting things set up, but when it comes to actually using it during the school year, it should be fairly open and go. It definitely should teach phonics, with few sight words. It would be nice if there were readers I could buy that correspond to the program until it's advanced enough for me to be confident picking out other readers. Budget is not a huge concern. It needs to be something we can use even when the internet goes out.

 

I've looked a little at Logic of English, AAR/AAS, Spell to Write & Read, and Reading Lessons Through Literature, but I feel like I haven't been able to get enough information about them to feel confident in making a choice. If you have experience with any of these programs--or any others!--I would appreciate your input about whether (and why) they would or would not be good choices for us.

 

Thanks for your input!

This is how it is with my current 5yo. She's about ten lessons into LOE Foundations B, which is actually a bit behind where she is. This means it's easy, but she's still learning a few new things and getting review. My older two are using Spalding, but she needs fun. (My older son does too but he's learning cursive before he moves to Essentials.). The only issue with LOE we've hit is the manuscript workbook is in an italics for handwriting so there is a slight slant. I just remind her of the HWOT prompts and write the letter next to the printed letter on each line.

[RKWAcademy]

When OPGTR didn't click with my 4/5 year olds, I did All About Reading 1.  That worked for them and we are currently on AAR2.  We started it at the beginning of Kindergarten (August roughly), and finished before Christmas.  It is pricey because there are so many levels.  My kids liked the pace and the readers; their readers are really nice.  There are also activities they can color, cut, and play.  My kids liked the activities in the first level, although their interest in making them has waned.  I'd say I'm about to sell my 1st level, but the kids like the readers (and can read them!) so much that they continue to go back and read them.  So we're keeping it for awhile, even though we've moved on.  There are many blogs that have reviews of AAR so you can see how a typical lesson looks.

[Mergath]

From what you've posted, I think she might do well with AAR.

[genny]

I would also suggest aar although it's a bit pricey. 

[frogerella]

We loved IEW's PAL reading & writing.  They are designed to be used together, but are 2 separate programs so if you want to keep it short just use the reading program.  It's fun, lots of games but loaded with learning.  The games are included and require minimal work to put together, in fact they recommend you do it with your LO.   They use a blended sight/sound approach.  I found this worked well for my right-brain daughter and really boosted her confidence.  She started her K year not reading, ended at a 3rd grade level.  

 

She is now in 2nd grade and is a very proficient reader and speller which I attribute to PAL.  PAL is intended for K-2 (to go at child's pace), but since she moved through it so quickly it left a gap for the 1st/2nd grade years which is why we switched to LOE essentials and LOE cursive.  I plan to use IEW again when we do more writing.  I think IEW and LOE programs are both excellent and don't think you could go wrong with either.

[genny]

I would start with level 1...I think the first couple of lessons should be pretty easy for her.  I think there's a scope and sequence on their website.  Don't bother with the earlier level...

[MerryAtHope]

As far as AAR goes, I like this article that explains the difference between AAR and AAS--it does a nice job of showing what each program teaches and showing samples.

 

This page has all the samples for all the levels of AAR & might be helpful. 

 

Hope that helps as you consider what might work for your family!