Worth doing a phonics program if kiddo can already read?

[macmacmoo]

I had plans to do Memoria Press with Middle son 6 turning 7 in the fall this past year, but life got in the way (new baby sister and deployment). Instead he spent the year playing reading eggs. We managed to work through book A of the first start phonics from Memoria press. We have just started book B, I'm wondering if I'm wasting my time going through the phonics program. I sat down over the past week: He read Little Bear and Frog and Toad with no problems. He read the I can read book First Flight well, he had the most troubles with the names of people and places. 

Do I keep going with First Start Reading? Switch over to something like Phonics pathways? Just have him read books? something else?

[Ellie]

2 minutes ago, macmacmoo said:

I had plans to do Memoria Press with Middle son 6 turning 7 in the fall this past year, but life got in the way (new baby sister and deployment). Instead he spent the year playing reading eggs. We managed to work through book A of the first start phonics from Memoria press. We have just started book B, I'm wondering if I'm wasting my time going through the phonics program. I sat down over the past week: He read Little Bear and Frog and Toad with no problems. He read the I can read book First Flight well, he had the most troubles with the names of people and places. 

Do I keep going with First Start Reading? Switch over to something like Phonics pathways? Just have him read books? something else?

Well, if you did something like Spalding, you could tie up any loose ends on his phonics knowledge plus work with spelling, penmanship, capitalization and punctuation, and simple writing, all in one fell swoop. :-)

But also, I have not used First Start, or held it in my hands and reviewed it, but just the description on the web site makes me think that yes, he needs more phonics instruction. I trust Phonics Pathway (although I like Spalding better).

[Roadrunner]

I don’t think so. I would just read a lot. He will get more “instruction” through spelling programs.

[ElizabethB]

Reading level is more highly correlated with earnings than IQ, and being able to read anything well makes everything easier.  I kept working with my kids until they were reading at the 12th grade level and did a phonics review for a few years after they learned to read well.

My syllables program is a good way to review all the phonics quickly, and Phonics Pathways is also good.  PP goes to a 4th grade level, my syllables program to a 12th grade level.

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

[Ausmumof3]

If you don't I would at least try to work on a bit of extra.  My six year old can read little bear and frog and toad (lots of sounding out) but is still working on some phonics stuff through apples and pears and phonics controlled readers and I don't plan to stop yet.  Though to be honest I don't really consider my kids done with learning to read till they are reading novels for fun. At that point I back off a bit!  The phonics in frog and toad and little bear books is still reasonably easy.

[Lecka]

I think he does still need phonics if he is not able to sound out names.  He may be reading a lot of words by some context combined with looking at the first letter.

How far did he get in Reading Eggs?  I don’t think you need to repeat content from Reading Eggs as if he never did it.

I think you can start where Reading Eggs left off, or take a placement test to see where to start him.  

If it turns out your program teaches phonics content but calls it spelling at a certain level, then I think if you are close to that point, you can just wait and do spelling.  

But I would look back and see what he’s covered in Reading Eggs and compare that to what is covered in your curriculum, try looking up “scope and sequence.”  

That should tell you more about what he has covered and hasn’t covered.  

[Tanaqui]

Quote

He read the I can read book First Flight well, he had the most troubles with the names of people and places.

 

Sounds like he's got a good memory combined with a great ability to guess from context, but yes, he could use more work on phonics. When confronted with unfamiliar and unguessable words, he's struggling. Which is normal for this age! But yes, more phonics.