My oldest dd went to ps for K-2, so I'm relatively new to homeschooling younger children who are just starting to learn to read. My son is attending half day preschool at our church this year, but we will be homeschooling in the fall. He'll be 5 in mid-August. He's already covered each letter individually in preschool, so he knows what they look like, the sound they make, etc. He's ready for phonics.....ready to start sounding the words out in order to start reading. He's very eager to learn....and mommy is completely overwhelmed by all the choices of phonics/reading curriculums. I've looked at complete curriculums such as Veritas Press Phonics Museum (pricey!); we have 100 Easy Lessons; we have BOB books; I've considered Explode the Code, etc. So, give me some input...where would you start? Is Explode the Code a complete approach to phonics or is it more of a supplementary workbook? Is Phonics Museum worth the $$? I would love any and all input!

Thanks!

My input won't be a surprise to many. lol

I am really really liking Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. It's comprehensive, it has activities to engage (with a magentic board and letters), and it works for a variety of levels.... even for some remedial work with older kids. The kit (including a spiral bound book, magnetic baord and letters and flash cards) was $55 from www.peacehillpress.com

We tried a few other things, but this is one that is working for all of my kids right now preK - 3rd/4th grade.

oh, and we do use Explode the Code for 'extra' work. The kids enjoy it... and it can give me some time to work with someone else on something. :)

I am pretty much in the same place - my 5yo is very close to reading and starting to do a bit on his own (bob books etc) but he needs some phonics learning to really pull it all together. I posted a similar question last week and Heather jumped right in with the ordinary guide.....I did order the book only from amazon last night and the rest of the stuff is sitting in my cart at rainbow resource. I was really really tempted by phonics museum.....*sigh*......but ended up deciding to try OPG first since the cost difference was so great. I'll be kicking myself in 3 months if I'm ordering phonics museum then LOL!

I am really really liking Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. It's comprehensive, it has activities to engage (with a magentic board and letters), and it works for a variety of levels.... even for some remedial work with older kids. The kit (including a spiral bound book, magnetic baord and letters and flash cards) was $55 from www.peacehillpress.com

oh, and we do use Explode the Code for 'extra' work. The kids enjoy it... and it can give me some time to work with someone else on something. :)

I've looked at OPGTR and it's also sitting on my wishlist at RainbowResource as a possibility! I'll give it another look!

In terms of ETC for "extra work".....where would you start a 4 1/2 year old who knows his letter, but is not yet blending them together? Which book would you start with? A,B, C, 1? I'm going to ask around our homeschooling group of moms to see if anyone has these so I could actually look thru them and choose the appropriate one for my son!

Thanks for your input!

I was really really tempted by phonics museum.....*sigh*......but ended up deciding to try OPG first since the cost difference was so great. I'll be kicking myself in 3 months if I'm ordering phonics museum then LOL!

That's what I'm afraid of....to spend less money on something that doesn't end up working for us and then having to go back and spend more $$ on the original curriculum that I wanted! Ahhh....the trials of homeschooling on a budget!

Regarding explode the code - I'd start with book A if your 4 1/2 year old identifies letters well but isn't blending yet. They are relatively inexpensive so even if he/she sails through books A, B, and C fairly quickly the review and practice is worthwhile I think. My 5yo is in the middle of book B, and is going through pretty fast....but he enjoys workbooks and it's been good for him to get all the practice writing his letters as well.


And yes - my fear with buying OPG is that then I'll be a two time drop out LOL! I've already bout 100EZ and it didn't fly for us......so if the same happens with OPG then I'm a real dork! :rolleyes: My dh actually thought I should go for Phonics Museum but he didn't know about the other $100 of stuff in my cart at rainbow resource that I needed - ha!

My dh actually thought I should go for Phonics Museum but he didn't know about the other $100 of stuff in my cart at rainbow resource that I needed - ha!

ROFL! My rainbow resource cart is crazy---I think I have almost $550 worth of stuff saved in there (but then again, that covers all three of my children)...plus another $250 that I want to buy from Math-U-See! YIKES! I'm trying to narrow it down at rainbow, but man, it's hard to decide!

Regarding explode the code - I'd start with book A if your 4 1/2 year old identifies letters well but isn't blending yet. They are relatively inexpensive so even if he/she sails through books A, B, and C fairly quickly the review and practice is worthwhile I think. My 5yo is in the middle of book B, and is going through pretty fast....but he enjoys workbooks and it's been good for him to get all the practice writing his letters as well.


Okay...good to know...I'll probably go ahead and order all three....we're thinking of starting with those now and continuing thru the summer....and then start with something like OPGTR or Phonics Museum or 100EZ Lessons or something else in the fall and continuing to supplement with ETC.

I *soooo* know what you mean about not wanting to spend the money and then regret it. I have a few shelves of regrets.... sigh...

We had used 100 EZ Lessons, and had also used K12's phonics when we were in the charter school, and had also started using Phonics Pathways before OPGTR came out. OPG is similar to Phonics Pathways in a way - the parts that I really liked about it. ;) And we are really having good luck with it for remediation, too.

But... I haven't looked at Phonics Museum, not more than reading the description over and over in the Veritas catalog. ;) But Kelly uses it and she really likes it. And, personally, I respect Kelly a LOT and would value her opinion. So... if you would rather go with Phonics Museum, then go for that - because I think that either way, you would be getting a top notch phonics program!

Phonics Museum is an awesome program. While it is a little expensive, I took the price of the K1 combo and added the cost for 2 extra workbooks, then divided it by the number of times I'd be using it, which was 4 (2 years for Blake, 2 for Marlie). Figuring it like that made it more affordable in the long run.

It also incorporates reading, writing and phonics (spelling in 1st too) so you don't need seperate programs for those areas.