WWYD? Reading advice for 1st and 2nd grade? Debating a traditional vs WTM approach

[gamommy]

My first grader has been struggling with reading and phonics. We used 100EZ lessons with MCP Plaid in K and used MCP Plaid level A this year in 1st grade. For reading we went through Bob Books last summer and at the beginning of this year and have now been just choosing easy readers from the Library. We're also using Sequential Spelling, but at a very slowed down pace. She just doesn't seem to like reading at all though she enjoys other subjects. We're also more than midway through FLL1/2 and like it.

 

On a whim I purchased a huge lot of Abeka readers at the flea market a couple of weeks ago at $.20 a piece. I'd intended to gift them to a friend who uses all Abeka with her K'er. Lo and behold my dd picked up their "Handbook for Reading" and some of the early 1st grade readers and hasn't put them down since!!!! We're absolutely going to read through the rest of the 1st grade ones I bought in the remaining weeks of this year and over the summer, but I'm wondering if a program change isn't in order?!?

 

I was planning to use MCP Plaid level B, finish up Sequential Spelling 1, finish FLL, and use more easy readers next year. As a matter of fact I was all set to place my RR order. Any thoughts or experiences with switching to Abeka? We use SOTW for History and living books with science so are literature is pretty intertwined currently.

 

I'm also wondering if I would want to switch to their phonics, handwriting, etc. depending on how closely it is all related. Any Abeka users that could help me out?

 

We've only homeschooled for a few years so my olders went through grade 5 in p/s. When we first brought them home we tried Abeka with them and they didn't care for it at all, then we read the WTM and have been happily heading in a more classical direction ever since.

 

So WWYD?

[gamommy]

Thanks for your thoughts, I appreciate it.

[MamaBlessedThrice]

Glad your dd is liking the readers, but honestly, I would steer away from A Beka/textbooks. She probably likes the readers because of the controlled vocabulary that enables her to read them easily, but maybe a different approach to explicit phonics is the answer, so that she can more easily pick up ANYTHING and read it and not just the readers?

 

I'm finishing up Kindergarten using Spell to Write and Read (SWR) with my daughter this year, and she's reading at a third-grade level. She began reading the "I Can Read" books after just three months of Kindergarten. Now she's reading Black Beauty, only stopping when she comes to unfamiliar words (sounding them out correctly, just lacking background knowledge).

 

I think it really worked for her to learn all the phonograms up front, instead of the more gradual, incremental approach of many programs. Now I'll be the first to admit that most Spalding-based phonics programs are a huge pain in the neck to try to implement, and SWR was a disorganized program to sort through and made me mad, frankly. BUT, it turns out it's really not hard at all to do--the method itself is pretty simple, it's just packaged in such a way as to make it appear incomprehensible at first! (Sorry to SWR fans, but just being honest!)

 

If I were going to use it in your situation, I would just go quickly through the alphabet phonograms and then on to the multi-letter phonograms, doing three or four a week in conjunction with the spelling lists. (I'd start at List A and move quickly through them--maybe 40 words a week--until you get to your daughter's level. You can place her with the diagnostic test in the back of the book.)

 

Anyway, I'd probably go for a plan that helps her avoid possibly becoming dependent on readers. I'm not sure how far you might be considering going with a traditional reading program, but IMO, reading whole books is so much more meaningful than the disconnected snippets you get in reading textbooks.

 

If you do decide you want to go this route, e-mail me privately and I can help you work out a plan, if you want, so you're not overwhelmed with the WRTR or SWR method when you first open up the book (like I was!).

 

HTH!

Edited April 21, 2009 by MamaBlessedThrice

[Tabrett]

I don't use Abeka, but it teaches reading the way WTM suggests; phonetically. I don't think it matters which phonetic program you choose. If you teach phonics as your method of reading, you are following the WTM approach. Abeka is a solid program. If you like their handwriting, try it. If FLL is working, keep doing FLL.

 

Abeka is designed for a classroom situation. It has extra work to keep children "busy". It also has activities designed for a classroom full of children that is hard to modify to a homeschool setting (tried some of their K curriculum a long time ago and the classroom activities are what made me choose a different curriculum).

 

I think you could easily do Abeka for reading and handwriting, FLL and WWE for 2nd grade.

[ElizabethB]

The A Beka readers are not controlled vocabulary, they are decodable readers based on the phonics that has been taught. They are some of the best readers out there for preventing guessing, the pictures are chosen to complement the story, not to aid in guessing, and the character names and cadence of the words is good for not guessing.

 

We don't use A Beka, but I've used some of their readers in the past when we were using readers. (I then switched to just a focus on phonics until we worked through Webster's Speller and my daughter was able to read anything.)

 

I have a friend who uses A Beka, she likes the way it is integrated, their handwriting and spelling and other subjects are integrated with the phonics being taught. I also like how it divides up words into syllables in later work and reviews phonics yearly. They teach a few more sight words than I prefer, but at least they don't emphasize them and they teach the phonics first, they also don't teach as many most school phonics programs, which use all 220 Dolch sight words.

 

Personally, it's too school like for me, but my friend really likes it and her daughter is doing well with it.

 

If you keep with it, here's how to teach any sight words they introduce phonetically: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/sightwords.html

[MamaBlessedThrice]

Oops, I think I was unclear. Just to clarify: the above poster is absolutely correct that A Beka does teach phonics. There are several ways of teaching phonics, though--incrementally, in word families, or all up front, usually--and I weigh in on the side of teaching them "all up front" as being more efficient. Many people have success with A Beka, but if a student dislikes reading, I've observed that it often stems from having a reading level that lags behind their interest level, KWIM? Such that they don't yet have the decoding skills they need to keep up with the books they WANT to read. I think the "all up front" approach to phonics may work better in that case, because it seems to get them past the reader stage faster. Or at least that's my experience--just my two cents! And of course, I may be misunderstanding the situation . . . ? Of course, previous posters are correct that "classical" simply means "phonics"--whichever approach to phonics you employ.

 

I wil say that I'm heavily biased against textbook approaches to reading. When I was teaching junior high and high school English in a private school years ago, my principal insisted we stick to one of the big-Christian-publisher literature textbook series. It was punishing. My students constantly whined, "When can we read a REAL book?" (I think we may all remember reading the obligatory short stories used to teach literary elements: "The Most Dangerous Game" for plot; "The Gift of the Magi" for irony, etc. They're great stories, and admittedly useful for teaching the elements in a sense, but my kids' eyes glazed over whenever they had to read another selection from "The Book"!)

 

That said, lots of people use textbooks and successfully supplement with living books. Have you seen the 1000 Good Books list over at Classical_Homeschooling.org? It's divided by grade, and we're having a fantastic time working our way through it. The books there are great supplements to readers, as well.

 

Hope you find a solution that fits your dd! :)

Edited April 21, 2009 by MamaBlessedThrice

[ElizabethB]

I actually think the all up front method is best, myself. My favorite program is Webster's Speller, it teaches all the phonics you need to know to be able to read anything--including 2 to 5 syllable words. And, it doesn't use sentences or readers. My daughter got through all the basic phonics with Webster in 2 or 3 months and then moved on to 2+ syllable words. By March of K, she was reading out of the KJV Bible.

 

That being said, A Beka finishes up quicker than many other programs. You should have enough phonics to read just about anything by the end of 1st grade. It's faster than several other phonics programs on the homeschool market that don't finish up for 2 or 3 years.

[scrappyhappymama]

We use A Beka for phonics and handwriting and that's it. I've been happy with it and have been amazed that little ones can actually start out learning cursive handwriting. At first I thought my husband would think it was crazy, but he informed me that when he first took Russian in college (which he ended up getting his degree in), day one they started out with the Cyrillic alphabet in cursive. His professor says that Russian children are all taught this way and claims that American students used to be taught script first too (who knew?).

 

Anyway, we use it for pre-K, K and 1st. I am SO ready to move on with my first grader, but he actually says he loves phonics and we will have covered all the phonograms by the time we finish this spring. My only complaint is that the program takes too long to introduce all the capital letters in cursive, but once my son got the hang of it, he taught himself the rest using the full alphabet chart, so now we've abandoned the handwriting portion for WWE.

 

I looked into using something simpler like 100 EZ lessons for phonics with my next son, but honestly my boys love the silly little games and the cheesy readers, so I decided to stick with it (plus it works!).

[BarbinTN]

We started out with K4 ABeka Phonics with my dd and have used it for 3 dc. Getting ready to start K4 with my 4th dc. We use the TM and all the charts/cards etc. It is so easy to use and easy for the dc to use. All of my dc read well and it was NOT laborous and no tears unlike other subjects we have tackled. I have very fond memories of K4 with my firstborn. We did the Arts & Crafts book too which was too cute! I have done that with the subsequent dc as well.

 

HTH,

Barb

[KrissiK]

We are using the A Beka phonics program with my 2 kinders and they are doing well. I think it's a very solid program and it's easy to use. It seems very thorough, and the material is attractive and well-written. I will continue to use it with the rest of my children as they come on up through the ranks.

[HiddenJewel]

I am finding Spell to Write and Read a much less complicated way of teaching phonics than Abeka.

[LisaKinVA]

I've got three who have gone through the Abeka phonics program.. and their reading "interests" have been based upon personality.

 

My oldest son does not like to read books... PERIOD. His evaluated reading level is significantly high enough, so that he could read any books in which he was interested, he just doesn't want to read a book. Graphic Novels,... he'll read, but that's not what I really WANT him to read :glare:

 

My younger two will sit down with a stack of books and read for hours. :D They are the ones who when you call for them to do X or Y, say, "but, MOM, I'm READING!"

 

I attempted switching my oldest to TWTM from readers in the 2nd grade. Oh, the agony. It was awful. As soon as I put him back into a reader-type series (we're using K12 now), the problems with school were significantly reduced (not eliminated completely, because the child does NOT enjoy reading).

 

Anyhow, if your dd isn't thrilled with books (and the problem isn't decoding, etc.), than I would recommend keeping her in a reader program. That will allow you to stretch her reading ability with the least amount of resistance, and hopefully, by providing plenty of books which might interest her, she'll read some for pleasure.

 

FWIW, I haven't completely given up on my son...it is just taking longer for us to get there than I had hoped. I will also keep the same structure (for now) for the younger two. I've purchased all of the materials, and until they are a bit older, or ask to do something different (like, these readers are BORING, why can't I read Swiss Family Robinson?), we'll just keep going.

[Homeschooling6]

My SIL children go to a private school who uses Abeka and they are all good readers.

She has passed on the readers to me and my children really enjoy them. I like that they use the Blend Ladder. We haven't used the whole curriculum but it looks really good.

Blessings,

[HiddenJewel]

My SIL children go to a private school who uses Abeka and they are all good readers.

 

She has passed on the readers to me and my children really enjoy them. I like that they use the Blend Ladder. We haven't used the whole curriculum but it looks really good.

 

Blessings,

 

My dd#1 learned to read with Abeka in private school. And she is an excellent reader. But when I brought dd#2 home I could not get in the flow of teaching Abeka. And now that I am using SWR and see how the phonograms work together to make words, I can see why it was so hard for me to teach Abeka. I never liked how they practiced with blends and partial words instead of real words. And I don't like how Abeka adds in so many extra charts that really aren't necessary.

Edited April 22, 2009 by HiddenJewel