teaching reading

[TravisandJill]

I want to start teaching my kindergardener to read!:) Any advice or resources out there? Has anyone tried "hooked on phonics"? I was interested but the price is so expensive there has got to be a cheaper way! We use rod and staff curriculum but they dont really teach pre-k and k to read. I think my DD is ready.


Thanks!

[topekaclark]

Hello,
I used Abeka's reading program which is phonics. I removed our dd 2nd grade to homeschool. At that point she was reading very little, pre-k books, that was even a struggle for her.
We just read and practice everyday. We would decode words, blends. I would give her "ar" and what words could she make with "ar".
She is reading now in 3rd grade.
Abeka is expensive, I buy used. I tried the hooked on phonics with her, ours was for the computer, CD's. It didn't help. Saying that, she was in public school so we would work with her at night, by then she was done with learning and frustrated because we just spent an hour on homework.
I'm sure other hs mom's may have better advice.

Good luck.

[lisaann]

I used Sing, Spell Read and Write with mine. They have a boxed set of K and 1st. The first grade actually covers about a year and a half to two years worth of material.

The pluses of SSRW:
uses songs to teach
uses games to reinforce
K had fun cut-out pages and gently led them into blending sounds

The minuses:
1st grade moved waaaay too fast for my ds who is a struggling reader
The 1st grade books got too hard too fast
the 1st grade word lists were overwhelming

I think this program would be an excellent fit for an accelerated reader but was very frustrating for my slower reader. If you could find one used for a very cheap price I think it would be excellent to use the good parts to blend in with other reading programs.

[wife]

I used Abeka for my oldest
For my second I used Horizons by Alpha Omega
For my third I am using ACE (school of tomorrow) I like that it takes it slow, because she really needs it

[jeshurun]

since we're on the topic of reading...Does anyone know if Photoreading works? If so, are there free resources where I can learn it on the web? When I was a young child, I could read a lot faster; go figure.

[kgreen20]

May I suggest "Sing, Spell, Read, and Write"? It's a great, fun way for children to learn to read and write, since it includes singing and music. And it incorporates the use of intensive phonics. Here's a Web site, if you wish to check it out:

http://www.greathomeschoolbooks.com/sing,.htm



Kathy G.

[mom211]

We used Happy Phonics and I was able to borrow HOP from the library.

[MochaMel]

Were using Hooked on Phonics -- and though it's slow going b/c dd doesn't really like to read; she is definitely grasping it with this program. Hope that helps! :)

[netters]

I want to start teaching my kindergardener to read!:) Any advice or resources out there? Has anyone tried "hooked on phonics"? I was interested but the price is so expensive there has got to be a cheaper way! We use rod and staff curriculum but they dont really teach pre-k and k to read. I think my DD is ready.


Thanks!

We used "explode the code". It's phonics based and we loved it! They also have "getting ready for the code" which goes over the alphabet and sounds. I'm using that with my 5 yr old sister and then will use explode the code after. She's doing really well with it. English is a second language to her(adopted). It's fun to do and doesn't seem like work. You can also find sight words on the internet for each grade level. If you can't. Let me know and I'll email them to you.

edit to add: Bob books are great. You can find them any where.


net

[Lorren]

We're using BJU for reading. She wasn't ready for the grade that I had when we initially started, and she was having trouble with it, so I took a step back for a while. She was ready this year and it has been a snap.

While I was y waiting to use her BJU book, we did a phonics workbook and read from the "Now I Can Read" series of books, which I think are a lot like the Bob books. We would read the first book until she could read it all by herself, then I would allow her to read from the next book, or read the other book. The worksheets and NICR books got her ready to read.

Last summer it became obvious that she was ready for a more formal reading program. She was reading all the words in her worksheets, even ones that she hadn't come across before, without much help.