I looked at 100 EZ lessons and hated it and looked at phonics pathways and wasn't impressed (LOL) We went w/ ssr&w and I'm not that happy. We did the K version and are on lesson 7 of the 1st grade and no site words have been introduced and no long vowels. Ds is almost 7, in feb, and really struggling w/ his confidence and I'm just wondering if I should switch. I thought about it this summer and so many people said don't switch just adapt but I'm still struggling. We have some explode the code here but I haven't looked at it enough to know if it's complete? Does it come with instruction to explain rules? A friend used reading made easy last year with her young 5 year old and now he just turned 6, is in first as well, and is doing llatl the second grade version. Any thoughts would be great.
thanks

I used 100 Easy Lessons with Bryce and while I think it's a good "get you reading quick" program it's very lacking in basics. He struggled for many years with reading. Looking back I realized he had very little foundation. So when Blake was Kindergarden I used 100 Easy Lessons, Expolde the Code and Phonics Museum. We finished up 100 Easy half way thru the year (we started in the summer) and just did Expolde the Code and Phonics Museum.

I absolutely love Phonics Museum. It was kind of pricey, but I bought the k/1 combo kit and figured that divided by Blake and Marlie using it, it was well worth the price. It starts off the 1st grade year with a quick review of letter sounds (6 lessons) and moves right into ing/ang/ong, then to R blends, L blends, S blends, tw/dw blends and on....It dosen't teach rules in the sense that you memorize rules, but Blake is definitely getting the rules using this program. There's 2-3 worksheets a day, they are super easy and don't have many "problems" on them. Wednesday Blake had to; copy 6 S blend words, read 6 S blend words and draw a line to match them. That was the 2 worksheets. They aren't colorful, just black and white, but have old world style pictures all over them that Blake loves to color in. There's a cd with songs that go with the "rules", most of the time we sing them, but not all the time. There are simple games to play, puzzel pieces to put together to make the blends, art progects involving the blends or rule. It's all planned out for me, the pieces for the games are all there, it tells me exaclty what to do, (which I love :-) The best part are the books. Right after they spent a week working on ing/ang/ong blends, the book they read was, "Ella sings Jazz" (it was all about Ella Fitzgerald) "Ella sang her song and the fans were dipping and rocking to Ellas singing". It totally reinfored what we had worked on. I really like that the books aren't stupid, see spot run junk. Oh and it dosen't take us long to do it, probably only 20 min a day, maybe 30 if we play the games every time. Anyway, you know I'm close if you want to come see it...Oh and he dosen't "need" ETC after doing PM, PM is enought by itself. I just like to add it in so he gets the extra practice.

We are using Saxon phonics for grade 2 and it is very thorough with tons of materials for review, games, etc.

I really like Learning language arts through literature and Explode the code.
We quit a little over half way through 100 easy lessons.

Ordinary parents guide to teaching reading, nak more later

Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading - We love it! I have used 2 other programs and G just didn't get it (including 100 easy lessons). We started using this and I don't know if it is the program or his age but it clicked and we both love it!

Thanks everyone. For right now I decided to stick w/ SSR&W and we are doing language last and it seems to be helping. I'm definately keeping these in mind though:-)

Ordinary parents guide to teaching reading, nak more later

I completely agree.

I am able to use it with all three of my boys - depending on what the needs are. We are loving it. :) AND... it was only $30 - and you have the scripted words all right there for you.

try readinglesson.com
I have the big book and the CD roms and K has picked up and retained it so far!!! I highly recommend it! I remember picking up 100EZ and was like what the heck!

To me, (hope I am not stepping on any toes here) I don't think rules really need to be introduced at his age. Just simple phonics. Teaching too many rules may turn him off of reading.

With mine, I use Explode the Code, Bob books (soooo simple, yet they read them quick and feel like they are accomplishing something) and very simple Rod & Staff workbooks (just for fun).

My oldest is an excellent reader (7th grade with a 12th comprehension-he's back in PS now so I get those goofy comprehension test scores just so I can beam as a mother and they get to think they have taught him something ;))
I never "taught" him the rules, just how to read and the rest came in the later grades.

English is such a difficult language to grasp because of all the "rule breakers". My son loved it when I would say "this word is a naughty rule breaker". He just thought that was sooo funny.

All this to say, just try to relax and let the natural process of reading take over. If he likes doing workbooks, then let him, if not 100EZ lessons is great too.

Best Wishes