Homeschool Community

Hi!  I just found this site and am hoping someone here can offer some advice.  :)

 My name is Kristy and we just started homeschooling our oldest daughter.  She is 5.  In regards to reading I started by introducing the alphabet.  I figured she needed to know that an "A" was an "A" before moving on.  Now I'm getting mixed opinions.  Some people say NOT to teach "ABC" but to teach only letter sounds.  I'm also confused by what method to use.  The two I have been most interested in are Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and Explode the Code.  I'm very confused about which is best though, and can I use them together?

I'm getting worried that I'm going to "mess up" this very vital part of learning and I'd like to find a strong method rigth from the start to prevent any confusion. The 100 Easy Lessons seems simple enough, but it has a ton of mixed reviews that makes me very hesitant.  The ETC seems to be all positive.  I'd love some feedback from people that have used these (or any other programs) for beginner readers!  Did you do any previous learning before starting a program and if so what? 

 Did you teach the alphabet, just alphabet sounds, etc?  Or move right in to a phonics program? 

 We read a lot of books, play alphabet bingo, etc, but I'm hoping to start something more very soon.

 Thanks for any assistance!

 -Kristy-

Often you see advice against teaching ABC because of the confusion with letter names and sounds ( consider name W and the sound it makes). I  think teaching ABC's is fine, but it is best not to associate the letters with words ( The A, Apple method). If you teach ABC, and let your child begin to organize letter cards or tiles in order, you can play sound train and then have her learn to pick out the sounds she hears. Good auditory processing is closely linked to the strongest reading skills. Once your child can distinguish sounds then she can map words Consonant-Vowel-Consonant words. I would advise against teaching letters as "blends". It is essential to be able to hear each letter in words like "stop" and "play". Often when children are taught blends they are unable to separate them later and are thus unable to spell well.

We began with CVC words, then VCC (words like elk and elm), CVCC (nest) words and finally CCVC(drum) words. Once a child can organize the sounds in words "top" you can ask him/her to see whether he/she can organize the sounds for "pot". - even nonsense words work well for practicing sounds.  Once simple sounds consonant and "short" vowel sounds are mastered in this way, you can move on to digraphs.

 Hope this helps.

Best,

Kelly

Hi Kristy,

The recomendation that I make to anyone who's trying to teach a beginner how to read is to buy the LeapFrog movie "The Letter Factory" and just let the student watch that movie once a day (more if he/she really likes it!).  Usually, the student will recoginize the letters (upper- and lowercase) and the associated sounds in a short period of time without any struggles at all.  If it's successful (like with my son and my friends' kids), your daughter will learn both the letter names and sounds, but it will be completely painless :-).

 Hope this helps a little,

Corina

I agree about the leapfrog video. I bought that for my daughter when she was 3, and let her watch it once or twice a day. Now she is 4 1/2 and is reading. She learned all of the letters and sounds on that video.  After that, teaching her how to read was a snap.  I just used alphabet blocks, and started with 3 letter words. I have also used a little of hooked on phonics to help her learn to read, but that is not anything that I could not have done myself.

Have Fun!

Sharlene

LeapFrog Video is one of my kids favorite... they love it...and wanted to see it everyday morning or in the afternoon..

they can easily follow through on the video... love it!

Cheers!

LeapFrog Letter Factory