phonics curriculum

My son has enjoyed the Phonics Game tremendously. The game format keeps him interested and with constant playing he is really starting to learn and feel good about himself.

I used Ultimate Phoncis which can be purchased for under $100. I was very pleased with the program and it helped with computer skills as well because you can move around more quickly when you learn the shortcuts.

Thia was not purchased for a homeschooled child, but for my stepdaughter whose school system does not believe in Phonics. Hope this helps at all.

I guess the question would be - what are your kid’s LDs? O-G programs are different from less expensive programs in that they are a lot more structured and systematic, and use a lot of strategies and techniques you don’t find in other methods… and all of them are very carefully incorporated into the programs. Wilson is specifically designed for older kids and adults, so while it’s more user-friendly than some of the others I’d hesitate to grab onto it for a 5 1/2 year old. My experience is almost entirely with older kids — so frankly, my inclination would be to work hard on phonemic awareness activities and not push or hurry the reading and writing. Of course, I don’t know anything about your kid so that’s a great sweeping generalization. There are some excellent books w/ phonemic awareness curricula in the LD Store section of this site — the one by Adams & others is one I”m pretty familiar with and it’s verygood.

Somebody’s sure to recommend Reading Reflex to you — its advantage is that it targets the sound-symbol connection that is generally the “missing link” for LD kids. And while it does work well for a lot of LD kids, it is hyped beyond the reality; there are kids who benefit from more structure, more repetition, more of the multisensory work. (This is my bias as an O-G trained person — I’ve seen the long-term benefits of taking kids through skills thoroughly, butI’ve worked with kids who had a *lot* to unlearn and relearn.) As far as the training seminars go — there really isn’t a quick & easy way to go. I actually had a year of team teaching and a year of supervision included in my training (came with being hired as a teacher)… of course, I had to work with lots of different kids, while you can get to know *your* kid’s needs. If I were going to do it seminar-style I’d do Lindamood — it’s the full monty but it’s worth it.

The training can be invaluable for working with an LD kiddo beyond just reading. I learned a lot about teaching all subjects — language problems don’t just stop when you close the “reading” book.

If you’ve got specific questions, fire away :)

Okay, I’ll be the one to recommend starting with “Reading Reflex” rather than OG. :)

For one thing, Reading Reflex is easy for a parent to use at home. Although OG can be done by a parent without training, I have seen it used with semi-disastrous results this way. OG is best done by someone with training and experience. If you want to hire a tutor who has training and experience in OG, fine. However, IMHO that would be overkill for a 5-1/2yo child!!!

I would start with Reading Reflex and see how it goes. The book costs only $16 and is a wealth of information, even if you decide not to use the approach.

If Reading Reflex isn’t enough, then I would take a look at Lindamood Bell LiPS. This can be purchased for about $500 for home use. Although not as easy to implement as RR, it can be done by a parent without training.

I would not recommend doing OG unless you get at least level 1 training in it first. A friend of mine did it without training and made some big mistakes with it that actually set her dd back. She did not learn about her mistakes until she did level 1 training.

Especially with a 5-1/2yo, I think OG is big-time overkill. I wouldn’t even consider it unless the child does not respond to RR by age 7 or so.

Mary

I have had very good results working with the *Check and Double-Check* workbooks published by Scholar’s Choice, and available for about $5.00 each on the Web.

Your 5 1/2 year old would start with Book 1 (consonants and short vowels, and last 1/4 of the book analyzing common sight words from standard readers). In one-to-one tutoring, most kids can finish the first 3/4 of Book 1 and move into Book 2 (vowel combinations/long vowels/diphthongs and consonant digraphs) after about six months. On the other hand, if it takes eighteen months, you’d still be on grade level, so no need to rush.

You don’t need any special training and seminars if you simply *follow the instructions*, do *every* exercise, and remember it’s ORAL — do it WITH the child (never, never as silent seat work) and SAY the sounds as you go. For example, when doing the “b” page, you should be *saying* “b-b-b-b” at each exercise, and encouraging the child to say it too (kids like saying the sounds and playing games with them).

So here’s an answer for $10. a year (maybe $15. including shipping) and all it takes is your time and effort working with the child. Honest. Done it before many times.

If you go this route and need more advice, I’ll be glad to help.

A lot of people feel they have something somehow better if they pay a lot of money for it. Not necessarily.

Similarly, a lot of people have had great success with Readinbg Reflex — also inexpensive and simple and based on teaching the sound-symbol code. The workbooks which I recommend would actually pair up well with RR, as a supplement, since the RR book is only a manual, not including writen student work.

____________________________________________________
Whichever you choose, remember that phonics is a *tool* — a method of unlocking the sound-symbol code with the purpose of reading real books.

You need to get into real books as soon as possible. Personally, I start off on Day One with the Ladybird *Key Words* Book 1a, which has a grand total of seventeen words of vocabulary, and thus can be covered by most kids, even beginners, in a few weeks (and if it takes more, well, as long as you get there in the end!) I *sound out* and spell and have the child write (trace) every word, to show them how the phonics makes the reading clear; then when we go back to new phonics, I point out words in the books that illustrate the sounds we are studying. The two feed back on each other.

The Key Words series and some of its comprehension workbooks have recently been reissued by Penguin, again at a very reasonable price, about $4 per book plus shipping — less than $100. for a complete Grade 1 program) . These do not have enough phonics in them, but paired with a good phonics program the series is a real winner (1a to 6a and 1b to 6b only; after that, go to any first reader that you like).

Hi Monica! Okay, lots of good advice has already been offered I see, but if you are interested in an O-G program, I have just ordered and started using “Recipe for Reading” by Nina Traub which I purchased from www.epsbooks.com. She has a detailed manual which explains what to do and workbooks that go along, and you purchase a series of phonetic readers that correspond to the lessons. I was able to skip some as my son was older (had already done Reading Reflex) and so I didn’t need to purchase all of it, but I think it would be about $200 for all materials (and you don’t need training or seminars). I ordered the manual through my Interlibrary Loan to check it out first which I would suggest. I also had ordered the Writing Road to Reading which is highly recommended by some, but if you compare the 2 books, Recipe looked a LOT easier to understand! You can check out the brochure for this program at www.epsbooks.com and see if you would be interested (and they have a lot of other great materials to look at also!)

I agree with someone else’s post that recommended you not do an O-G program if your child is not learning disabled (my son has dyslexia), I think it would be way too much work for a child with no learning problems!

I have taught several learning disabled children phonics using the Abeka program out of Pensacola. I have found that it works well with both ld and non-ld kids. (Of course, this may depend on the ld involved. I used it with one dyslexic child, but she had outside help from our state university with the dyslexia too.) It can be found at www.abeka.com. This program worked with both of my ADD children as well as their “normie” sibs.