Help! Teaching my dd to read, it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

[nukeswife]

Hi all,

 

Let me start out by saying that my dd is 7, but just turned 7 in Nov, so if she were in PS she would only be in her 5th month of 1st grade. She is doing 1st grade work in all of her other subjects without problems. Reading is coming very slowly and is not easy for either of us. I've never had to teach a child to read as my older son went to PS for K and half of 1st, he picked up reading fairly easily.

 

We've been using HOP but it is going very slowly. She also uses Headsprout or Click n kids for fun phonics time. She has made her way through the first 5 BOB books and does fairly well, they are slow going but she can read them within a few minutes. The problem is the HOP wordlists. I have to admit they are boring and tedious. I'm wondering if I should just have her use the HOP books, BOB books and the computer games. Will she suffer if we don't read list upon list of words and instead just read the simple books a few times over (she's ok with this).

 

Anyone with a BTDT story or suggestions? I'm open to all. I don't expect her to read overnight or anything, but I don't want it to be so painful that she dreads doing it.

[Heather in Neverland]

Hi all,

 

Let me start out by saying that my dd is 7, but just turned 7 in Nov, so if she were in PS she would only be in her 5th month of 1st grade. She is doing 1st grade work in all of her other subjects without problems. Reading is coming very slowly and is not easy for either of us. I've never had to teach a child to read as my older son went to PS for K and half of 1st, he picked up reading fairly easily.

 

We've been using HOP but it is going very slowly. She also uses Headsprout or Click n kids for fun phonics time. She has made her way through the first 5 BOB books and does fairly well, they are slow going but she can read them within a few minutes. The problem is the HOP wordlists. I have to admit they are boring and tedious. I'm wondering if I should just have her use the HOP books, BOB books and the computer games. Will she suffer if we don't read list upon list of words and instead just read the simple books a few times over (she's ok with this).

 

Anyone with a BTDT story or suggestions? I'm open to all. I don't expect her to read overnight or anything, but I don't want it to be so painful that she dreads doing it.

 

I've used 100EZ lessons and Bob books with both my boys and it worked like a charm...no boring word lists!

[Linda...inOwasso]

I used Alpha-Phonics w/ my dd5 when she was 4 and she reads very well. But, AP sounds similar to HOP, (no frills, no color, just word list upon list) so I'm doubting the format is the issue.

 

I definitely believe some kids just "get reading" easier, faster, quicker, etc... than others. I don't know why?! I have limited patience so teaching my dd to read was not my idea of fun. The lessons were as you described -- boring, tedious and annoying.

 

However, they were fruitful. So, I kept dd's daily phonics lesson short (10 - 15min. max) and gritted my way through it. I'm forever thankful now because it's paid off. But I admit.... going through it was not a picnic.

 

My advice: keep plugging along. Do a short phonics lesson every day and before you know it... she'll be flying. :) Brevity & consistency are key.

[mama25angels]

I would just like to offer hugs, i'm going through the same thing with my son. He's 6 and in K (he was 6 in Sept.), he just wants to rush through and get done so he guesses at the words. I have to stop him and go back quite a bit, I have to tell him that slow and steady wins the race. We're using OPGTR, but i'm thinking of just moving to WRTR (I have it already). I do know that consistency is the key so i'm going to just keep plugging along.

[Tree House Academy]

We use Explode the Code books (almost to book 3 now), Explode the code online, Come Read with Me from Calvert (for fun...he likes the videos), and he is also going through LLATL blue with says 1st grade but totally is NOT...at least not for my ds who just turned 5 in Sept.

 

That said, some kids just are slower to learn to read. Many kids will struggle till they are 7 or 8 and then take off and be reading on a 9th grade level by age 9 or 10. Each child is different. If the program you have is boring for you and for her, then change it...but don't rush her to read. She will get it one of these days and it will click just like magic. :)

[Lizzie in Ma]

I used the flashcards to teach my youngest to read. Worked like a charm for decoding skills.

For example, eigh says long A, wow, a word like neighbor is instantly readable!

[my2kidsmom]

100 EZ Lessons and add Phonics Pathways about 1/2 way through...taught both my kids to read with no headaches!

[mktyler]

It sounds like the reading is actually going along fine in that she is making progress. The problem is that the activities in HOP are boring for both of you? If this is the case there are a couple of things you could try:

 

1. Shorten the lists. Only do a few of the words.

 

2. Mix the lists up so you are not having to read a long list of rhyming words. (I remember that HOP has lists of rhyming words, correct me if I am wrong) The problem with rhyming lists is it induces a state of inattention. Children don't really have to think about the whole word to do the work. This habit can come back to haunt them later on as words become more difficult.

 

2. Only do the books. This might actually be a good idea as HOP teaches word families which are not the most effective way to teach reading. Word families tend to be inefficient in that if the child knows the constituent parts there is no need to worry about the word families.

 

3. Switch to a book-based program. BRI is a good program. You might know it as the "I See Sam" books. Each level has 20+ books and goes slowly introducing code. You can purchase them from several websites, including iseesam.com and roadstoeverywhere.com.

 

4. Switch to another explicit phonics program. Abecedarian at abcdrp.com is a good program. It is fairly inexpensive.

 

Melissa

Reading Program Junkie

dd(10) dd(6) ds(4) ds(1)

[Elm in NJ]

We used Reading Made Easy. Short and sweet and to the point. We used these with various phonics readers, such as the Bob books and Calvert phonics readers which we had at home. They picked up reading pretty quickly.

[Garga]

My ds HATED Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. We then started the HOP and he HATED those word lists.

 

In fact, we've used them for the first 3.5 HOP books and it was horrible. Finally (finally!) I told him he no longer had to read the lists. We just read the stories/books and use the tapes to learn the new sounds. We've only got one story in the workbooks and one separate book to do and we're done HOP.

 

He doesn't read very well, but he's actually reading better now that I've stopped making him read the lists, and it's not so excruciatingly painful.

[Nakia]

We used Reading Made Easy, Explode the Code, and http://www.starfall.com

 

I hope you find something that works for her. She will learn to read! :grouphug::grouphug:

[nukeswife]

Thanks all,

 

I'm going to look into some of the things you suggested just so I have a back up, but like someone mentioned I think I'll just ditch the wordlists and we'll read the stories in the workbook and the seperate little books. I'm also going to pick up the first few ETC books since she loves workbooks, so I'm sure they will help even if she just thinks they are for fun.

 

I appreciate all your support. I knew I could count on you all.

[Jenny in Florida]

. . . every time I watch a child learn to read, I'm amazed anyone ever masters it. This is a tough skill, especially with a language as wonky and inconsistent as English.

 

My daughter, who picked up pretty much everything easily and early, did not learn to read early or spontaneously (as I've heard many gifted kids do). She was almost six before it really clicked, and that was after a good long time of serious effort. And this was despite her having all kinds of signs of reading readiness: She loved to be real aloud to and had been able to write her name and some other words for a couple of years. But reading? Well, that was hard. Once she got it (had that "ah-ha!" moment), things picked up quickly. She was reading chapter books well above grade level within a few months. But those first steps didn't come easily.

 

My son was seven before the whole reading thing clicked, which I will admit caused me some concern after my daughter. We did much of 100EZ Lessons, Starfall, tons of reading aloud, etc., and he still wasn't "getting it." In his case, it finally clicked when I bought a set of those Nora Gaydos "Now I'm Reading" books. Actually, I'd had them on the shelf for months, and he'd shown no interest. Then, one day, he pulled them off the shelf and read the whole set. I bought the next one, and the same thing happened. And, from that point, he was off and running. He was onto Frog and Toad within a couple of months, then the Black Lagoon storybooks, then the Time Warp Trio . . . He's now 10 and reading on an adult level, when he chooses to do so. Keeping him supplied with books is a constant challenge.

 

One thing that made a big difference with both my kids was finding something interesting enough to make it worth working hard to read. Maybe your daughter just plain doesn't see why she should bother? What I did with my daughter was let her choose the books we'd use to practice reading. She hated those "early readers" and much prefered to buy storybooks with characters she recognized from PBS shows. Those don't have a controlled vocabulary, so it meant a lot more corrections and explanations as she sounded out words, but they told stories she liked. For my son, the key was the non-fiction, science stuff and then humor.

 

So, I'd say I probably wouldn't panic just yet. If it were me, I might try switching my approach.

[coralloyd]

I started with HOP with my oldest (dd6). We did not enjoy it at all. The books that come with it are cute and fun, but other than that I wouldn't recommend it. I fumbled around alot :blush:, ened up using some of the Weaver curriculums 123 Read program. This didn't cover enough phonics, so when we finished there were still a lot of gaps that I needed to fill in. I ended up using the list of phonics rules that came with Sonlight's LA to do this. Shockingly she reads very well now, even with all my blunders.

 

Well with dd4 (5 in March :crying:). I was scared to make the same mistakes. She was begging me to teach her how to read like sissy. I was not ready to teach her,"She's too little! :confused:" I told my self . As she continued to beg and try and try on her own with much frustration; I couldn't justify holding her back anymore. I purchased Phonics Pathways and we are slowly working through it, (skipped letter sounds,because she already knew these). I wish I would have had this for my oldest! It is very simple, no bells and wistles, yet very complete. When we get nearer to the end I will have my oldest dd look on as a review and a refresher. We also do Explode the Code along side. dd4 is learning with much more ease than dd6 did. Poor oldest child, has to deal with all your trial and error.

[the floating cottage]

We finally went to a reading specialist and she had auditory processing disorder. We have learned a couple of things that have seemed to make a huge difference. She taught her sign language for the short vowel sounds. I could not believe how much that helped and was very simple. She has us using Starfall and hubbardscuppard.org they are both great and free. The other thing is being consistent. That sounds easy and I thought I was but when I started keeping track I found out i wasn't as much as I thought.

I hope this helps. I do know how frustrating it is just hang in there. If it makes you feel better once she caught on she caught up pretty fast. It was like something just clicked.

[Ottakee]

I would certainly check out the I See Sam books http://www.iseesam.com or http://www.roadstoeverywhere.com/3RsPlusRead.html (check out the UK link on the right for a wealth of information). The books are a structured phonics series but have a lot of practice at each level. NO NEED for boring word lists, etc. The child just blends the sounds to say the words and reads the cute stories.

 

Email me if you would like a sample.

[Ellie]

In California, she'd be in second grade :-)

 

Although I have read that HOP has improved, I'm still reluctant to use it. I'm thinking that AlphaPhonics, PhonicsPathways, or Explode the Code would be better (none of them do lists of words, BTW).

 

Or you could take the comprehensive, in-depth path: Spalding (Writing Road to Reading).

[Jen the RD]

In California, she'd be in second grade :-)

Or you could take the comprehensive, in-depth path: Spalding (Writing Road to Reading).

 

:iagree:It would be well worth your time to read Romalda Spalding's book entitled Writing Road to Reading. Once I read it, I realized where our deficiencies were and began rememdiating. Check your public library.

 

HTH,

Jennifer

[nukeswife]

You know I did check it out once, but I didn't really get a chance to read it thoroughly. I think I'll see if the library has it available, it can't hurt.

[ElizabethB]

Some children need a lot more repetition than others. My daughter needs an insane amount of repetition for math facts, but learns her other subjects very fast. The remedial students I've taught to read have almost all needed an insane amount of repetition (drives you insane, not them. Small children really don't seem to mind repetition.) I use 4 or 5 different phonics methods with the ones that need more repetition so I'm not driving myself crazy.

 

Spelling is helpful, I'd work on having her spell some of what she's learning. Do both oral and written spelling. You can do the "written" spelling with magnetic letters if her writing is slow.

 

Here are some games and other things to make the learning more fun for both of you:

 

Here's my favorite game to play, it makes both nonsense and regular words, very helpful to keep students sounding out words from left to right, also shows that they're really learning the sounds and not just memorizing words:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/concentrationgam.html

 

I also play games with magnetic letters on cookie sheets. Give them 6-8 consonants they have learned so far and a vowel and have them see how many words they can make! Once they get good at this, see how many words they can make in 1 minute.

 

Read, Write, and Type is also a fun program. It's expensive, but you can download a demo to see if it'll be worth the money for you.

 

http://www.talkingfingers.com/

 

You could also try watching my free online phonics lessons with her. She's old enough to sit through them now, although I would only do one a day at that age. The phonics lessons are correlated with my phonics concentration game, each of the cards has a lesson number at the bottom. (Phonics lessons linked below.)

 

If she still needs more work after all of that, you could try Webster's Speller, while it is lists of words, there are ways to make it fun, and they start reading 2+ syllable words fairly early on, my daughter was really excited to learn to read such big words on her own. Here's the Webster's Speller thread:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70153&highlight=modern+phonics+syllabary

[Starr]

We played go fish with animal, alphabet cards and used the letter sounds. They loved the Bob books. Our library has a set of story books for each letter of the alphabet. We took turns reading. I kept my finger under the word that was being spoken. We also used Explode the Code. I used the work lists to see if I missed anything once their reading took off. It takes time. :)

[momofabcd]

I used Headsprout (all 80 lessons) without any other method when my dd & ds were each 5 1/2. When the lessons were finished, I had them read through the CLP phonics readers, easy readers and an early readers bible. After a couple months of doing that, I used MFW 1st grade to get the sounds not covered in Headsprout. I chose MFW because of the integrated Bible study and moved through it in half the time. But, Headsprout, alone, made the learning to read process painless. I just followed their suggestions for practice. You could just dump HOP, use Headsprout alone to give her a break, then move on to Phonics Pathways, OPGTR, Abeka's Handbook for Reading or a Orton/Gillingham based program to finish off reading instruction.

[Sweetpetunia]

Just thought I'd throw in my two cents- I didn't think my 2nd DD was ready to read at 6 but after lots and lots of pressure from my MIL, I caved. I had 100EL on hand and used it. It was a struggle, there were lots of tears from both of us, we even took a break but we got through it. Afterward I left her alone for a bit, didn't make her read much. Pretty soon, she was picking up books on her own and reading them! I started her on MFW K, did their phonics lessons as a refresher and now she's a fantastic reader. I hate to say this but she reads better than her 15 year old sister.

 

What's really odd is DD#2 has lots and lots of signs of dyslexia. She reverses letters and has a difficult time with everything else but reading. I really think it was 100EL that saved her from not being able to read at all.

 

Now my DS began teaching himself to sight read at 4 so I jumped right in with 100EL and he's doing great. We're taking it slow. He's on lesson 44 and is sounding out words everywhere he goes. Amazing what a $20.00 book can do.

 

I hear Alpha Phonics and Phonics Pathways are both good programs too.

 

Here's an interesting article about teaching phonics. http://www.donpotter.net/ed.htm I don't know if he's right or not, but I tend to lean that way after seeing what good, simple phonics instruction did for my daughter. I'm so grateful I stumbled on to 100EL. I bought it for nostalgic reasons. I was taught with the public school version of 100EL (SRA/Distar) so I thought it would be neat to have the book.

 

I hope you get the kinks worked out in your daughter's program. :)

 

 

Julie

Edited January 13, 2009 by Sweetpetunia

[SonshineLearner]

My daughter, in PS at the time, was taught with a modified WRTR and didn't learn to read well until 3rd grade. I HATED Harry Potter and she wanted to read it. As soon as I said, "Yes" she turned into a reader. Now, reading junk food compared to real food....gotta choose if you can be happy with your children reading the equivalent of marshmallows:-)

My 5 year old son can spell any simple word, but still says he can't read.

Carrie:-)

[ElizabethB]

Just thought I'd throw in my two cents- I didn't think my 2nd DD was ready to read at 6 but after lots and lots of pressure from my MIL, I caved. I had 100EL on hand and used it. It was a struggle, there were lots of tears from both of us, we even took a break but we got through it. Afterward I left her alone for a bit, didn't make her read much. Pretty soon, she was picking up books on her own and reading them! I started her on MFW K, did their phonics lessons as a refresher and now she's a fantastic reader. I hate to say this but she reads better than her 15 year old sister.

 

It's not too late for you 15 year old! Nonsense words, my remedial phonics lessons (link below), Webster's Speller, and Don Potter's Blend Phonics Reader (it's designed for remedial students because it has words with similar configuration listed together.)

 

Here's more about teaching a remedial student:

 

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

[camibami]

You've gotten lots of good "how to" advice, so I thought I'd chime in with moral support. I've taught both my girls to read, and it is *not* easy. Or, not always, certainly! Different kids are different kids.

 

My oldest was reading fluently at 5, my youngest is 7 1/2 and just now really "getting it". Used the same stuff, same everything (if anything, I was more consistent with my youngest!) but it took a lot longer. If I had to do it over, I'd have shelved the Phonics Pathways and ETC at ages 5 and 6 for my youngest. Total waste of time, as she was not the least bit interested in reading, and merely being polite and listening, without actually learning a durn thing!

 

I have come to the conclusion that reading truly is a developmental milestone some kids reach later than others. DD could ride a 2 wheeled bike at 4, and turn cartwheels and back-handsprings at 5. Expecting every kid to do that would be silly, yet with reading we have a "one age fits all" window kids are expected to fit into. Its like potty training, IMO. (Lordy, I sound like an unschooler, but seriously- youngest DD has really opened my eyes about reading readiness!)

 

Keep plugging away- it will come! I promise!

[Christine]

Hi all,

 

Let me start out by saying that my dd is 7, but just turned 7 in Nov, so if she were in PS she would only be in her 5th month of 1st grade. She is doing 1st grade work in all of her other subjects without problems. Reading is coming very slowly and is not easy for either of us.

 

Anyone with a BTDT story or suggestions? I'm open to all. I don't expect her to read overnight or anything, but I don't want it to be so painful that she dreads doing it.

 

Without reading any other replies,

 

My 3rd son is 7, just turned in Nov also. He is not reading. Neither is my 4th (about to turn 6).

 

My older two were in public school to learn to read. I took DS2 out in 2nd grade and he still couldn't read.

 

Therefore, I really can't give you BTDT, but I can tell you you aren't alone.

 

I do know that when I took DS2 out of school the reading specialist had FITS. I have honestly never felt so berated in my adult life before or since. She essentially told me that I would fail, and wind up putting my son back into school under her care reading at a level lower than his (then) current ability.

 

He now reads fantastically well, thankyouverymuch.

 

But, when she saw that I was resolved to "ruin" him regardless of what she said I needed to make sure he didn't dread the subject. And here are her hints:

 

If he's obviously struggling with a particular word, read it for him and let him continue (don't make them belabor it -- that can make them feel "stupid").

 

Sometimes the material is just boring ("See Jane run", is not terribly exciting stuff.) It was definately "twaddle" but Captain Underpants got this particular son excited to read. Comic books too.

 

"Shake it up". Mom reads a line, kid reads a line, and so forth.

 

Well, I was not keen on the specialist as a person, but her hints were helpful.

[laughing lioness]

Teaching and learning reading are difficult!

I have always used Explode the Code and AlphaPhonics together. I am teaching my last child. All of my kids are very different but excellent readers. The word lists in AlphaPhonics are overwhelming-some days I wonder how we are going to get through them! But then we have the fun of going through ETC together. When we are done with the lessons we'll color ETC pages together. I always promise my kids a big toy when they are done with AlphaPhonics- we'll go pick it out- this never ever happens in our house, so it's a big deal. Sometimes I'll give stickers, candy, etc-small rewards-for a day of well-done work.

Keep smiling and encouraging and find a program that works:grouphug: