Finished 100 EZ Lessons; Now what?

[MitchellMom]

We finished 100 Easy Lessons and I'm so glad! I had my dd read back through the stories over several days and she is doing great. But now I'm wondering ... what now? What would you more experienced homeschoolers recommend?

 

Thank you!

[inashoe]

Now you keep feeding her with books ! She is probably ready for easy readers.

Dr Seuss books are usually loved by this age group, Green Eggs and Ham, etc.

Encourage her to read quietly to herself, and then ask her what she enjoyed about the bit she read.

Also look out for easy readers on science topics, such as a book about penguins, etc.

You want to get her reading on a variety of topics.

[KellyGirl]

:iagree: When my boys finished 100 EL, that is exactly what I did. There is even a list in the back of the book for you to use.

 

 

From there, I used Sonlight's I Can Read It books (you could easily go straight to these). My second son was a pretty early reader, and for some reason, the Sonlight books didn't hold his interest. Neither did Bob books (which also worked well for my first). The ABeka first grade readers worked well for him. I just found old, used ones and didn't bother with a teacher's manual. We would just read and talk about the stories. I think Fun With Pets was the first one, but I'm not sure...

HTH!

[Beach Mom]

We used lots of I Can Read books from the library, easier Dr. Seuss books, some books listed in the back of 100EZ. Our goal after 100 EZ lessons was to build their confidence, their love of reading as well as their reading skills. It is such an exciting time to see a child emerge as a reader and see their wonder when they pick up a book and realize they can really read it. Enjoy it!

[amsunshine]

I agree with all the other suggestions. Some specific books we use(d) are: the Little Bear series, Owl at Home, the Elson Primer, Free and Treadwell readers, Henry and Mudge series and lots of easy readers from the library.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I agree with the above-wear out your library card. I also spent time reading one page/chapter of a book and then having the child do the same. Great for monitoring progress and correcting pronunciation.

[MitchellMom]

These are great suggestions so far. I especially like the idea of science readers. My dh and I never were big on science (I'm an English major; he's a History major!) but we really want to encourage it in our children.

[Tess in the Burbs]

after 100EL both my kids were hesitant to move into beginner chapter books. they had also gone through ALL the Bob Books along with 100EL....but they just needed more practice. So we started OPG after the letter sound sections, and both kids jumped in the their reading abilities doing it this way.

 

My daughter is only on OPG lesson 90 but is reading so much better than after the 100EL. Just more phonics help and lots of books her level available to read is the key. She just finished all the Pathway grade 1 readers and is moving on to Christian Light Publications, "I Wonder" reader this week.

 

since it only takes a few minutes each day this was something we could add in without a lot of sacrifice and it worked for both my kids to get past the new readers on to real chapter books and anything they wanted to read.

[MitchellMom]

after 100EL both my kids were hesitant to move into beginner chapter books. they had also gone through ALL the Bob Books along with 100EL....but they just needed more practice. So we started OPG after the letter sound sections, and both kids jumped in the their reading abilities doing it this way.

 

My daughter is only on OPG lesson 90 but is reading so much better than after the 100EL. Just more phonics help and lots of books her level available to read is the key. She just finished all the Pathway grade 1 readers and is moving on to Christian Light Publications, "I Wonder" reader this week.

 

since it only takes a few minutes each day this was something we could add in without a lot of sacrifice and it worked for both my kids to get past the new readers on to real chapter books and anything they wanted to read.

 

 

I'm going to take a look at the Christian Light Pub. readers! Thanks!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

These are great suggestions so far. I especially like the idea of science readers. My dh and I never were big on science (I'm an English major; he's a History major!) but we really want to encourage it in our children.

 

There are great science readers out there. Look for books by Seymour Simon and books in the Let's Read and Find Out series. There is also a series called MathStart or MathSmart that is pretty easy going.

[ElizabethB]

1. Phonics based spelling. I especially like Webster's Speller!

 

2. Another phonics program that covers more sound spelling correspondences. 100 EZ lessons is a great start, but does not teach as much as PP or OPG or Webster's Speller. (Webster's Speller covers both #1 and #2! Two for the price of one--and, the price is right, free if you teach from a white board, a bit of printing costs if you print it out.)

 

I you teach the syllable division used in Webster's Speller, you'll also be able to easily use these readers, they are a lot less twaddle than most early readers:

 

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

 

Note: I am not an experienced homeschooler overall, but I do consider myself an experienced teacher of phonics and remedial reading. I've been teaching phonics since 1994, have taught dozens of remedial students, and have personally taught 2 other K students besides my own K student and have advised and monitored the progress of friends teaching their children to read (mostly homeschooler friends, but some friends with children in schools who wanted to build a strong phonics foundation to make sure they were limiting the damage that could be done by sight words.)

Edited February 13, 2009 by ElizabethB

[MitchellMom]

1. Phonics based spelling. I especially like Webster's Speller!

 

2. Another phonics program that covers more sound spelling correspondences. 100 EZ lessons is a great start, but does not teach as much as PP or OPG or Webster's Speller. (Webster's Speller covers both #1 and #2! Two for the price of one--and, the price is right, free if you teach from a white board, a bit of printing costs if you print it out.)

 

I you teach the syllable division used in Webster's Speller, you'll also be able to easily use these readers, they are a lot less twaddle than most early readers:

 

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

 

Note: I am not an experienced homeschooler overall, but I do consider myself an experienced teacher of phonics and remedial reading. I've been teaching phonics since 1994, have taught dozens of remedial students, and have personally taught 2 other K students besides my own K student and have advised and monitored the progress of friends teaching their children to read (mostly homeschooler friends, but some friends with children in schools who wanted to build a strong phonics foundation to make sure they were limiting the damage that could be done by sight words.)

 

 

Thank you - this is wonderful information! To clarify, PP = Phonics Page?... Where do I find Webster's Speller? It sounds terrific!

[Ria]

Once my kids finished 100EZ, we had them read to us daily from the Pathway Readers (they are Amish readers...great stories, and you learn a lot about the Amish, too!).

 

Ria

[ElizabethB]

Thank you - this is wonderful information! To clarify, PP = Phonics Page?... Where do I find Webster's Speller? It sounds terrific!

 

PP = Phonics Pathways! I would have chosen PP for my page, but I guess I would have the put TPP now!

 

There is a information about how to teach Webster's Speller in the link below in my signature, along with a link to a movie showing how to use it.

 

There is also a Webster's Speller thread:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70153

 

and a more recent shorter one, there are now a few successful Webster's Speller's users that commented on a question about how to use it:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81693&highlight=ElizabethB

 

I would just print it out, not buy it. The ones you can buy are very tiny and many of them are scanned in, so the text is both small and fuzzy. The text on Don Potter's typed version ends up being bigger than the text in the original tiny books. But, with a young child, it's best to work from a white board anyway, at least initially, so you could just try work from an on computer version without printing it out, too. I like having a paper copy to look through.

Edited February 13, 2009 by ElizabethB

[gmroberts]

My ds' prize for her 1ooth lesson was her own library card. We go to the library and she fills her bag with books. I agree with previous posters...read the suggested books at the end of 100EZ. We are now doing FLL1/WWE1 and Elson Primer Reader. She finished 100EZ at 4 and is now 5 1/2. She can read anything you put in front of her, so we are focusing on comprehension which is done well through FLL/WWE and Elson Primer.

HTH.

Gretchen

[5Youngs]

My 5yo, who finished 100EL reads a chapter or story from a beginning reader each day (Little Bear and Frog and Toad, currently), he reads a few lessons from the original McGuffey first reader and does a few pages in ETC.

[hmschooling]

There is an emerging readers set you can get from Heart of Dakota that is meant to follow phonics. You can get a guide to go with it that has it all scheduled out in order of difficulty so there is a nice steady progression, as well as comp. questions for each reading session (all of which are based on Bloom's Taxonomy). It's a great next step and cuts out all the guess work as far as which books to read and when.

[profmom]

When my first dc finished 100EL, I tried the "just read" approach and found that I wasn't very good at finding and arranging books in a logical progression so that her skills continued to increase. I also found that she wasn't fully equipped to read -- she didn't know how to read words like "would, could, should" and "eight" that kept showing up in the beginning readers, for examples. When I thought about it, 100EL only promised to get them to a 2nd grade reading level, and I noticed that phonics programs seemed to go through 3rd grade.

 

So, at the time (about 8 years ago -- before OPG, etc.), I chose Pathway readers and a phonics program called Simply Phonics. We went through the first 1/2 or so very quickly and then slowed down when she reached new material. I was relieved that her reading skills began to build again.

 

When my second dc finished 100EL, I went with Funnix 2 instead. Funnix is a similar program to 100EL, and so we found Funnix 2 to be just right after 100EL. Ds loved it!! He enjoyed the stories and the software's bits of animation. Funnix is expensive, though. I had to think long and hard and tried to find it used for quite a while before I went ahead and bought it. It was worth it for us though!

 

With my 3rd, I plan to use Funnix 2!

[JennyL]

I just wanted to say, good for you! We are still going through it, I started it mid year.

[Julie in Monterey]

I had an old copy of Phonics Pathways which we used for awhile. It quite dry to that didn't hold interest long. It did help stretch those skills a bit further. If a friend has a copy, it may be worth borrowing.

 

What we really like are the Explode the Code series. Your child should be ready for about book 2 or 3. They have silly pictures, writing, matching, etc. It mixes it up and keeps the kids engaged. We are now on book 4 1/2 and reading chapter books.

 

It should like your child needs a bit more confidence to keep the ball rolling. We felt the same way and ETC and PP did the trick. I asked the same question about six months ago.

 

Julie in Monterey

[lydiasmommy]

When my oldest finished 100EZ, I bought Phonics Pathways and continued our instruction with that. I have to say it was kind of boring, but it was very useful. My DD got an outstanding phonics basis and is an excellent reader. We also started using Explode the Code 1 and have continued on through ETC 8. Most importantly, though, we got tons of readers from the library and read, read, read.