What have you used to teach reading?

[mo2]

We're getting burned out on trying to teach our 6yo to read. I just can't figure out how to make it click. We've tried Phonics Pathways, ETC, and Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Just curious what you all have used, what worked for you, and why.

 

Thanks!

[rafiki]

.

[Pongo]

2 oldest with only SWR, still using for spelling. My third is learning to read with 100EZ as my lesson plan adding in SWR phonos. We are almost done with 100EZ (a few weeks left). Then she will only be using SWR and reading easy readers.

[WABeth]

Currently using OPGTR with K6. Half way through and going great. We supplement with ETC which really reinforces each new sound.

[Beth in Central TX]

My oldest learned to read in ps. My middle son used 100EL & Phonics Pathways. I tried the same approach with my youngest, but he couldn't get past lesson 72 in 100EL. I tried the program twice thinking he just needed more time, but both times, he got stuck. I switched to Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading & PP, and now he is sailing along although he does need more practice with new blends than my middle son did. Every child is different; I usually have one child at each extreme and one in the middle.

[Mrs Mungo]

Sing, Spell, Read and Write. The little songs and such really helped it stick for my middle daughter and it was much more entertaining which helped.

[Elm in NJ]

with my twins at age 5. That worked out pretty well. Fully scripted. My middle ds used the Calvert K program. Also worked out pretty well.:D

 

Elmeryl

[Pat in MI]

For my ds who had a hard time learning to read I tried Alphaphonics, Phonics Pathways, ETC, Reading Reflex, a couple of others I can't remember and many games. For him it really just took time and exposure to words. He finally kicked in about 3rd grade after I had him read through many books beginning with simple Dr. Seuss books. For my dd, MFW 1st grade is working beautifully, but she is a totally different learner than ds was and probably would have learned with any of the above mentioned programs, but I do love MFW. I say try Peggy Kaye's books Games for Reading, take your phonics very slowly, try having your child read out loud to you from simple books and you supply the words they don't know and give plently of time and don't forget the all so important read alouds. My son has made mention of knowing words by sight because he had heard them read to him so many times. Not all children can pick up reading easily, some just need more time than others. With some kids they just all of a sudden are reading whatever they want. This is how my ds was, he took longer to get there but is doing just fine now. Good luck to you. HTH

Blessings,

Pat

[LisaKinVA]

I tried two others, but Abeka worked best for my oldest, and my 6yo and 4yo are coming right along without any hitches. We also have the LeapFrog videos which provided a fun baseline for phonics.

 

I thought about switching to OPGR, but have all of the Abeka stuff through 3rd grade -- hate to spend money when what we have seems to be working.

[Susan in TX]

The problem may not be the curriculum, some children just aren't ready to read at age six. It is possible that if you just stop the reading instruction for now and come back to it is 6-12 months that what you have used will work.

 

My son struggled with learning to read and I didn't even start teaching him until he was seven. We wasted a lot of time struggling and just spinning our wheels. Looking back now I wish I had waited even longer. (He's eleven now and reading just fine.) I could have saved myself a lot of grief.

 

Anyhow, this is what I've used to teach reading:

 

Rod and Staff (moves really fast. Works great for kids who don't struggle with reading but did not work for my struggling reader.)

 

Explode the Code (Again, didn't work for my struggling reader)

 

The following did help my struggling reader:

 

Dolch sight word workbooks

Scholastic's 100 Words Kids Need to Know workbook series

Ginn Basic Readers (from the 1960s)

Click n Read online phonics program

http://www.clicknkids.com/Phonics.asp

 

Susan in TX

[Maria/ME]

Loving SWR for my dd who is now almost 10. We started this fall. She was struggling with OPG. She was sturggling with reading. She's now doing really well, and almost at "grade" level (whatever that is) That is not to say it's totally SWR, maybe reading just clicked with her at this point, but I notice some major things about the program that are working for us.

[Pata]

For my dd, we tried ABeka, which was great for learning letter names and sounds, but not for her for reading. Next we tried Sonlight's readers and have ended up using HOP which is working very well for now. :D

[Kathie in VA]

worked great for both my boys. We liked it because it was low key and simple... no flash cards or manipulives. We just sat together on the couch and read a lesson. It was quick too, about 10-15 min a day. Although in the beginning I sometimes used a white board. I supplemented with ETC and Bob Books.

 

hth

[whitestavern]

I used Simply Phonics with my daughter and it worked great. My son wasn't quite as fluid so I switched to Progressive Phonics and also using old readers (like Dick and Jane) The extra phonics practice from PP and the extra sight word/repetition from the reader has improved his reading enormously in just a week. So for him, we'll stick with these programs.

[GreenKitty]

We just use ETC, Bob books and Nora Gaydos books. My kids are all natural born readers, they started very young.

[magistramom]

1. We began formal book reading once the phonograms were down, and sight recognition of familiar signs and advertisements happened (Home Depot, McDonald's, Target, etc.)

 

2. For "formal" reading we primarily used: Teach Your Child in 100 EZ lessons and Bob Books (the first set only)

 

3. My son was terrified/blocked with reading books from the library, but he enjoyed reading the ABeka reader series. He felt like he was reading chapter books even though he was really reading short stories.

 

DS is in second grade and still reads from the ABeka readers. He only recently, began to enjoy library books. He is currently devouring a book about pirates that reads at a considerably higher level than his ABeka books.

[Guest]

I have looked at, but not used Happy Phonics. It is a Cathy Duffy Top 100 pick. I am considering it for my two littles who are coming up.

I tried OPGR but the pages are too busy. I think it might work better with the teacher pages in one book and the student pages in another. Less distracting for the child, IMO

Have you tried letting him play on http://www.starfall .com? My two have learned all the letter sounds that way. It progresses from there. They have downloads available for extra reinforcement. Best of all, it's FREE!

[gandpsmommy]

The Reading Lesson by Michael Levin, M.D. and Charan Langton, M.S. We loved it! It was so incremental that it was painless. From the very first lesson, your child gets to read words and short sentences. It has cute, fun, simple line drawing illustrations which enhance the text, but aren't distracting or overwhelming, and your child can color them in if he enjoys that. Beginning in Lesson 3, your child will be reading very simple "stories". There are some fun activities throughout the book, such as connecting letters or words to the right pictures, matching words, etc.

 

Overall, we really loved the book and used it with great success. The introduction to the book claims that upon finishing the lessons, your child will be reading on a second grade level. This was true for dd. I plan to try using it with ds next year when he is five. If you look it up on Amazon you will be able to find other products available to use with the book. I think there is a dvd and a cd-rom. We did not have either of those, but I can see where they might be useful when I teach ds.

[mo2]

Starfall was good for awhile, then she got tired of it. It did help reinforce the letter sounds though. Happy Phonics is actually on my list of things to buy when and if I ever get to place my next Rainbow Resource order.

 

I don't know...maybe she just needs more time. I know I was reading before I went to K in ps (so by age 5 at least), and I think I'm comparing her to that. I realize that lots of kids don't learn to read until later.

 

I hate scripted stuff, so OPGTR is out for me. I'm still considering SWR though.

 

Thanks for all the input.

[Guest]

One more...McRuffy's reading program. Haven't used it. I know zip about it. But it looks good. Gee...I am so not helpful....

[susie in tx]

With my first I tried just about everything. 100 EZ lessons and Phonics Pathways were the primary ones. The thing that worked best was to give her the time she needed. She knew what most of the sounds made and the rules. She would ask me about phonics rules constantly when we were in the car. At one point, she just started reading. I think we used Bob books. She's a natural speller.

 

My second was taught to read in the car, using street signs and other written material that can be seen in the car. Her older sister taught her. She cannot spell her way out of a paper bag. :) I'm sort of joking.

 

For my third, I am using All About Spelling, Lead Frog videos, Bob books and other similar easy readers, Starfall, a little bit of SWR, and we used another online program for a while. Headsprout. She's moving along just fine. She spells better than she reads.

 

My fourth is working on her phonograms. I'll start her with All About Spelling once she knows the first 26 phonograms. She probably knows most of the first sounds for all the letters, but I'm helping her to learn the rest of the sounds.

[chiguirre]

We've tried a lot of stuff. Both kids have done well with Calvert K for the final review of letter sounds and starting CVC words. LLATL Blue was great for cementing blending, but doesn't have enough practice readers. ETC are a super resource, we like them much better than Plaid Phonics. OPGTR was waaaayyy too busy last year, but I got it out of the library last week and, lo and behold, ds can read from it with no problem now.

 

If phonics is just stuck for you, try Pathway readers. They aren't phonics based but they build sight words slowly and are great for increasing fluency and confidence. We just finished First Steps and are starting Days Go By and I've already seen a real jump in ds's reading level. It's not that he suddenly learned all the phonics rules, it's that he recognizes lots of words and KNOWS that he recognizes lots of words. He's more willing to try to read library books because he's got more confidence.:) I don't honestly think he's learned more than 25 new words in the 140 pages of First Steps, it just made him see what he could already do.

[Bee]

I used the Pathway readers series along with the Learning Through Sounds workbooks,BOB books,and ETC.Flash cards with my youngest who didn't pick it up as quick as her older sister.We went over the names and the sounds of the letters almost daily for months.I think it's just a matter of readiness for most children.

[godpoetry]

I used Hooked on Phonics along with Explode the Code for two of my children. My third one coming along is learning with Leap frog videos then she will use Hooked on phonics too.

[Tutor]

My ds is 7 and just finally "got" reading. His two older sisters were reading when they were 4, so I was nervous at first when he didn't read early, but he had a mild speech impediment. Once he was over that and we began HOP, his reading took off... three months ago. Now he's a voracious reader. He still struggles periodically, but he's progressing quite well. He just finished HOP, and we are just reading for now. He loves it.

[Amy loves Bud]

With my son I used Phonics Pathways, with my daughter I used Veritas Press's Phonics Museum. They both were great, but my daughter is a stronger reader - not sure if it is her natural inclination or the program, but when Romy is older I'll repeat Phonics Museum.

[Annie Laurie]

Starfall was good for awhile, then she got tired of it. It did help reinforce the letter sounds though. Happy Phonics is actually on my list of things to buy when and if I ever get to place my next Rainbow Resource order.

 

I don't know...maybe she just needs more time. I know I was reading before I went to K in ps (so by age 5 at least), and I think I'm comparing her to that. I realize that lots of kids don't learn to read until later.

 

I hate scripted stuff, so OPGTR is out for me. I'm still considering SWR though.

 

Thanks for all the input.

 

David and Micki Colfax, (who wrote Homeschooling for Excellence), talk about how their kids didn't learn to read early, one son was 9. All four sons went to Harvard so it didn't hurt them in any way. I hope that's a little bit reassuring.

[SnowWhite]

I used the Pathway readers Learning Through Sounds series, Helping Yourself and Before We Read. For my younger boy, we're going to have a younger K program, (WinterPromise Basic K LA) but if I feel the need I'll pull out the old tried and true again. I've used it to teach 20 plus kiddos to read if you count the Amish kids I taught 20 years ago.