C'mon in here, I really need some advice.

[JJsMom]

I have most of my first year curriculum figured out. Here's what I have so far:
Horizons math
Story of the World
some random science stuff (like earthworms)
Grammar (I can't remember what it's called)
Kindermusik

I just need phonics. I have read reviews for a lot and I don't like anything I've seen so far.
:help

[illinoismommy]

teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons ?

[JJsMom]

We made it to about lesson 42 and we stopped. The stories are so ridiculous to me. Like "The fish ate a rock." :scratch Plus, I had to fight my ds to do it. Maybe I could try again though. I liked the idea but I just didn't like the stories. I know that seems picky but my ds would look at me like :hunh so it wasn't just me. :giggle

[Leslie]

My kids loved the silly stories . . .

Maybe you'd like Teach a Child to Read with Children's Books (http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Child-Read-Childrens-Books/dp/1883790255/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238805842&sr=1-1)? It seems like a more natural way to teach reading, although I looked through it and decided to go back to 100 Easy Lessons with Miranda, since I've had success with it and learning something new seemed intimidating. In my case, it was a case of "why fix something that ain't broke?"

[Rabbit]

Our entire phonics package is hand made.

[newday]

I love the Teach Your Child to Read in 100. It is just so simple. (We don't do their written work...boring!)

And we don't do grammar. Instead we focus on hearing (reading) grammar that is proper and using it. We will get more technical as needed....

[Gentle Journey]

Teaching phonics has left me through many MANY curriculums and books and I finally feel like I struck gold with The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading

[christineka]

I love each Your child to read.... , but it doesn't work for all kids. So far it has worked for 1 out of 3 of mine. It was the really young, super determined kid that got through the whole book. I transitioned to McGuffey's primer, making it about halfway through the book, then using phonics readers, then beginning readers. My 6 year old went that route and he's now at 2nd grade reading level. Why Johnny can't read and what you can do about it is a good read with phonics instruction in the back.

[Grover]

We use The reading lesson.The stories are not that intresting and it took a while for Nate to get that some pages had un connected sentances .We also use Jolly phonics-but we found that a bit to disjointed and rapid in places.It was good for teaching letter sounds but it suddenly lept to 'when two vowels go walking...' when we had not gone through vowels and consonants-its okay as an addition in later stages.I used a few bob books too,but again the stories were not intresting enough.We also use starfall and BBC bitesize on the web

[veggiegirl]

We like Explode the Code for helping with phonics and reading.

[Teribear]

I have a child for whom trying to teach reading via phonics was an unmitigated disaster. I am not a fan of reading programs at all now. Read him good literature. Let him read whatever interests him. Don't worry if he doesn't read for years. My daughter (11) just finished reading all FOUR of the Twilight books...did I mention she could barely read at all until she was 9 or 10? Reading will come. Keep reading to him and observe how he attacks words. If I had realized that DD learned by whole word I might have been able to help her along some, but then again maybe not, I'm of the belief that kids will read when they're ready and not one thing you can do before that will do anything except maybe frustrate them. JMHOYMMV.

[newday]

I have a child for whom trying to teach reading via phonics was an unmitigated disaster. I am not a fan of reading programs at all now. Read him good literature. Let him read whatever interests him. Don't worry if he doesn't read for years. My daughter (11) just finished reading all FOUR of the Twilight books...did I mention she could barely read at all until she was 9 or 10? Reading will come. Keep reading to him and observe how he attacks words. If I had realized that DD learned by whole word I might have been able to help her along some, but then again maybe not, I'm of the belief that kids will read when they're ready and not one thing you can do before that will do anything except maybe frustrate them. JMHOYMMV.


I know more than one parent who says this. One lady whose opinion I respect is the mother of 11 children and owns a used book store (very cool!) and her second born didn't learn to read until 9 years old. No problem, no learning difficulties, just didn't want to read until she could "do it" without struggling, so that is what she did!