Any luck with hooked on phonics?

[5kidsforME]

Has anyone ever used Hooked on Phonics to teach reading? Did you like it? Why/why not? Thanks so much!

[The Governess]

Yes, we used it and loved it! It was very straightforward and came with lots of books. After each lesson my dd4 was able to read either a complete book (the first ones only have 1-2 words per page, but still!) or a little story in the textbook. We started last fall and it took us about 8 or 9 months to get through the whole thing, which covered levels k-2 I believe.

 

If you use it though, I would make sure that your child already knows all of the letter sounds well. HOP does not really cover them other than go over them on a (very boring) tape. There are better resources, like starfall.com, to learn the sounds. I would start HOP once it's time to start blending sounds.

 

Dd4 also loved playing with the cards. There are letter cards you can use to spell words, and cards for the sight words. We didn't use any of the tapes, I just did all of the sounds for her myself.

 

I will say though, that dd4 was very motivated to learn to read. So I'm not sure how much of the success we had was attributable to the program and how much was due to her sheer motivation.

[Melissa B]

I have an older set, but I used it to teach both dd10 and dd8. I am currently using it for dd5 and she is doing just fine. I will begin it again with ds3, maybe next year. I really can't compare it to anything else. It was the first thing I purchased. It has worked quite well for me so I've never looked at any other materials. I've never used the cassettes. I do use the booklets, the readers, the flashcards, etc. The only other thing I have used is the Leap Frog Letter Factory DVDs for the younger two children.

[Tabrett]

I used it some when my 14 year old was 6. The reading books it comes with are wonderful. They are like Bob books. The tapes only read the word list to your child and have them echo. I don't have any idea why they call it "Hooked on Phonics". I thought the phonics would be set to some kind of classical music, but it is not. HOP uses word families to teach phonics, similar in nature to Alpha Phonics. Here is an example:

 

an, can, man, tan, ran

 

This method works well for most, but not all. It did not work with my dd. I would help her sound out the first word and then she would just look at the first consonant and rhyme the ending.

 

It also comes with a lot of flash cards. If your child is visual, than the flash card would be great. Unfortunately my dd was aural and not visual(probably the reason she was so good at rhyming). Is your child a visual learner?

 

HOP is like using Alpha Phonics with Bob books, phongrams flash cards and Dolsh sight word flashcards.

 

I think the newer HOP comes with a CD Rom with phonics games. I never had the CD Rom, so I can't give you a review.

[Pata]

We used it with success! :iagree: with what others had to say.

[athena1277]

I have 2 homeschool friends who started out with HOP. Both of their children were frustrated and bored at the continual repetition. They told me that it says to go over the same lesson until they can do it easily. If your dc pick it up quickly and can move on, it may work well, but it did not work for these 2. Both switched to OPGTTR and now their children are reading well.

[khope1]

I have the old 5 box program and started using it when my daughter turned 4. I have taken it rather slowly (even though she could have flown through it). I also have SSRW and she loves HOP much better.

[Mom0012]

I used HOP, along with another program called Funnix, to teach both of my kids to read. I would work in one program until they got stuck and then switch to the other until things started getting hard. It was kind of nice to have a change when we started to get bogged down.

 

I would have to say that Funnix was what I considered my main reading program, though.

 

Lisa

[calledtobehome]

Although I'm new to homeschooling, so far my boys like HOP.

My 5.5 yr old just finished the K deluxe set which comes with extra books and a cd-rom. I really like the way the cd-rom re-enforce the lessons. My 5.5 yr old is so amazed that he can read over 25 books now, Of course these are the books that come with the set. He also loved the sticker chart. Although I started out with the cd we don't use the cd much anymore. I really like the K set. It has good reviews from amazon and rainbow resources. I hope I like the first grade HOP as well.

We also use Bob books, starfall, and Houghton Mifflin books.

SO far so good.

I stared my 4 yr old a few weeks ago and he like it as well. Trying to keep up with big brother

I hope this helps!

Edited November 13, 2008 by calledtobehome

[74Heaven]

I have a very old set I bought at a garage sale. I don't like it. The speaker puts a "uh" sound at the end of some the letter sounds and that was a bad habit I didn't want to have my child pick up. Like "buh", "duh" etc. The sound makes "baby" "Buh-aaa bee" which can be overcome but was something I found annoying and possibly detrimental. (I think my set is copyright 1992 so it is old.)

 

However (!), I did find one very good use for it. I could set my 4 or 5yo in the recliner with an older sibling and put in the tape adn the older sibling could do the flashcards and in this way my 5yo who was doing 100 EL could get a quick phonics review lesson w/o *me*. This was very helpful. The better my young preschooler was reading, the less the "uh" sound was noticable to him. Plus, I warned the sibling to smooth it over.

 

I am surprised that so many people on this post like it, so it just goes to show that what works for one family may not work for another - or vice versa!

 

lisaj, mom to 5

[Garga]

Well, it started out ok, but my DS6 has gotten completely overwhelmed with the pages of words to read. He hates those pages of words.

 

The way HOP is set up, they learn a new sound, read 2 - 4 pages of words that use the new sounds, and then they read a story or a book that incorporates the new sounds.

 

He HATES reading those pages of words. We even tried doing it where I would make up a story around the words like, if the words were dog, fog, and log here's how it would go

 

Me: Yesterday I took my ...

DS: dog

ME: for a walk in the ...

DS: fog

ME: But we had to stop because there was a

DS: log

ME: in the way.

 

It got reeeeeal tiring for me to have to come up with stories using completely unrelated words.

 

So! We've changed things. We skip the word pages. I'm tired of fighting with him about it. He learns everything else I teach him very easily. So, obviously he is ABLE to learn, so something was wrong.

 

Currently I use the tapes to introduce the new sounds, we skip the pages with all the words and go right to the stories, books, and games (like where you use the alphabet cards to spell words.)

 

I have a much happier little boy and I swear he's reading better now.

 

Also, HOP is available at our local library. See if you can check it out of your library before buying it, to try it out.

[SkateLeft]

I started using HOP's first grade program last spring with my son, who had used K12's Phonics for a year and a half. He wasn't progressing and was getting frustrated. (Both of my girls used K12 phonics with great success.) He was recently evaluated by an educational psychologist and is considered "at risk for a reading disorder."

 

We've had great success with HOP. He's finishing up HOP first grade, and will start the 2nd grade kit in a couple of weeks. He enjoys the books and stories, and they're spaced through out the curriculum frequently enough that he always looks forward to the next one and never has long to wait. One of the best things about HOP, for him, is that there's no writing involved, which is what he needs right now.

[5kidsforME]

Thank you all so much! We are going to try it and see how it goes.

 

I did check it out from my library, so that helps too.

[Mommy22alyns]

We used it and loved it. We only ever used Get Ready to Read and the K level - Becca took off like a shot after that.

[Joanne]

I used it to teach my 3 how to read. I've just ordered it for my new, youngest student.

 

One suggestion, unless you are rolling in dough. Get it used, gently used or from an ebay seller. It's a great program but WAY overpriced.

[5kidsforME]

I used it to teach my 3 how to read. I've just ordered it for my new, youngest student.

 

One suggestion, unless you are rolling in dough. Get it used, gently used or from an ebay seller. It's a great program but WAY overpriced.

 

I am so thankful my library has it! I thought the same thing when I checked on how much it cost. :001_huh:

[Veritaserum]

I'm using HOP K deluxe with dd6 this year. I used 100EZ lessons with dd8, but HOP is a better fit for dd6. She likes the little books and the sticker chart. She's also doing Explode the Code 1 (she did Get Ready A, B, and C already).

[Didache Academy]

After teaching my three girls to read with Phonics Pathways, I've been using HOP with my 5yo son (I found it at Goodwill). It has been a nice change of pace for me and he loves it. I've tried using it without the CD, but that seems to be one of his favorite parts. He always giggles when she says, "Press the pause button, now." (Who can account for 5yo humor?) He knew his letters going into it and has been racing through the lessons. He seems to have learned the whole blending thing faster than my girls did.

[laurad1125]

We used it with older ds. He loved it. It's the system we were in when he learned to read. I don't know if I really have an opinion about it. It does have lots (and I mean lots) of practice on each sound combination. Then you read a book. All I know is it worked.

 

One caveat though. I suspect that a large part of our success was that he was ready to read rather than HOP itself. I started him too early and we'd tried several programs. This one worked....but any might have at this age.

 

With DS #2 I am currently using ETC primers (he's 5 1/2) as well as some phonemic awareness games. When we complete that we'll move to Phonics Pathways and Happy Phonics. If he's not ready at that time, I'll probably just spend time working more on phonemic awareness and initial/medial/final consonant sound worksheets. So far, I'm managing not to push this one. Yea me! :D