{"id":1211,"date":"2010-06-18T03:03:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-18T03:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/"},"modified":"2015-03-12T02:39:01","modified_gmt":"2015-03-12T02:39:01","slug":"day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/","title":{"rendered":"day 164: summertime\u2014beginning reading help\u2014phonics programs to use with struggling young readers\u2014part i of iv"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span>
I have already described the difference between the ladder letter approach (ba says bah, be says behhh, neither of which is really true) and word families in phonics instruction. I recommend that you use a word family phonics approach, hopefully one that throws in sight words as it goes and as your child broadens his word calling list. (As opposed to something that uses sight words only, like a \u201cteach your baby to read\u201d program.) Again, sight words have their place, but let\u2019s give our kids all the tools we possibly can in their learning.<\/span>

<\/span>
When I taught our first six children to read (and many others through my private tutoring practice), I used what was described in the early years of homeschooling as \u201cthe Cadillac of reading programs.\u201d The program was called \u201cPlay \u2018n Talk.\u201d Eventually, many reviewers and reading specialists heralded it as superior to the popular, \u201cSing, Spell, Read, and Write\u201d because PnT used a strong word family approach, though it for sure did not have all of the bells and whistles of \u201cSing, Spell, Read, and Write.\u201d<\/span>

<\/span>
\u201cPlay n Talk\u201d is no longer available. The visionary who wrote it is gone, and, unfortunately, it is out of print. (And it would require some revising to sell it today since it was fairly old fashioned in appearance, text, pictures, etc.) PnT had records(!), then cassettes, then cd\u2019s, containing the word families, with coordinating books for the student to read and hear the sounds. It had many practice items with it, including one of the best phonics practices I have ever seen, the popular \u201cslide and sound,\u201d a cardstock system in which the word families were on the right and the beginning sounds were on the left, and the student practiced reading all of the words in each family with the various beginning sounds. (PnT is still available used in many places.)<\/span>

<\/span>
For my seventh (and last) child, who had fairly strong dyslexic tendencies (though not to the extent of our second child), I used a program that was developed using the Orton-Gilliam method of instruction, a method that was designed specifically for people with dyslexia. While it used that method of instruction, it is appropriate for all learners\u2014and has a remarkable track record. It is called Phonics Tutor, and I will give more details and links about it in tomorrow\u2019s post.<\/span>

<\/span>
I have had friends who have had great results with a program called Saxon Reading, from the creators of Saxon Math. This program comes with readers for each sound, which is amazing. (See details tomorrow.) Likewise, I have had friends who have remediated their older struggling readers with Saxon Intervention, a remedial phonics program that moves more quickly and is not so \u201cyoung\u201d looking and childish in its readers, etc.<\/span>

<\/span>
\u201cPlay n Talk,\u201d \u201cPhonics Tutor,\u201d and \u201cSaxon Phonics and Spelling\u201d are all expensive programs. However, I am under the belief that when it comes to teaching children, you get what you pay for. And learning to read well is a spot where I would truly invest whatever finances were necessary within my resources.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you teach your child to read, or finish teaching your child to read, this summer without an expensive program? Definitely. I know dozens of students who have learned to read with an inexpensive book called \u201cTeach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons,\u201d despite its unorthodox methods. These students moved seamlessly from that program into a word family spelling program and had great success in school. I know of others who were taught to read by Mom with only a list of phonics sounds and suggestions in a reading handbook\u2014and stacks of readers from the library each week.<\/span>

<\/span>
If your child is ready to learn to read, you work with him everyday, he is immersed in a reading environment, etc., you will likely help your child greatly this summer, regardless of whether you purchase an elaborate or expensive program. However, if my child were going into second, third, or fourth grade in a school in the fall and still couldn\u2019t read what the school expects him to read, I would spend the money and the time needed to help him catch up to his peers.<\/span>

<\/span>
Join us tomorrow as I begin reviewing the programs mentioned here in more detail and give links and comparisons. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have already described the difference between the ladder letter approach (ba says bah, be says behhh, neither of which is really true) and word families in phonics instruction. I recommend that you use a word family phonics approach, hopefully one that throws in sight words as it goes and as your child broadens his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[255,366],"yoast_head":"\nday 164: summertime\u2014beginning reading help\u2014phonics programs to use with struggling young readers\u2014part i of iv - Character Ink<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"day 164: summertime\u2014beginning reading help\u2014phonics programs to use with struggling young readers\u2014part i of iv - Character Ink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have already described the difference between the ladder letter approach (ba says bah, be says behhh, neither of which is really true) and word families in phonics instruction. I recommend that you use a word family phonics approach, hopefully one that throws in sight words as it goes and as your child broadens his […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Character Ink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/characterinkcompany\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/characterinkcompany?ref=bookmarks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-18T03:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-12T02:39:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Donna\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Donna\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/\",\"name\":\"day 164: summertime\u2014beginning reading help\u2014phonics programs to use with struggling young readers\u2014part i of iv - Character Ink\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-06-18T03:03:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-12T02:39:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/801ef5fa0749f7c8c379e32c743fba64\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"day 164: summertime\u2014beginning reading help\u2014phonics programs to use with struggling young readers\u2014part i of iv\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/\",\"name\":\"Character Ink\",\"description\":\"Home of the Language Lady & Cottage Classes!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/801ef5fa0749f7c8c379e32c743fba64\",\"name\":\"Donna\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a34d703c1b470108b3e0674490546317?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a34d703c1b470108b3e0674490546317?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Donna\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/characterinkcompany?ref=bookmarks\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/author\/cqlalady\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"day 164: summertime\u2014beginning reading help\u2014phonics programs to use with struggling young readers\u2014part i of iv - Character Ink","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"day 164: summertime\u2014beginning reading help\u2014phonics programs to use with struggling young readers\u2014part i of iv - Character Ink","og_description":"I have already described the difference between the ladder letter approach (ba says bah, be says behhh, neither of which is really true) and word families in phonics instruction. I recommend that you use a word family phonics approach, hopefully one that throws in sight words as it goes and as your child broadens his […]","og_url":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/","og_site_name":"Character Ink","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/characterinkcompany\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/characterinkcompany?ref=bookmarks","article_published_time":"2010-06-18T03:03:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-12T02:39:01+00:00","author":"Donna","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Donna","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/","url":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/","name":"day 164: summertime\u2014beginning reading help\u2014phonics programs to use with struggling young readers\u2014part i of iv - Character Ink","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-06-18T03:03:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-12T02:39:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/801ef5fa0749f7c8c379e32c743fba64"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/day-164-summertime-beginning-reading-help-phonics-programs-to-use-with-struggling-young-readers-part-i-of-iv\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"day 164: summertime\u2014beginning reading help\u2014phonics programs to use with struggling young readers\u2014part i of iv"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/","name":"Character Ink","description":"Home of the Language Lady & Cottage Classes!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/801ef5fa0749f7c8c379e32c743fba64","name":"Donna","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a34d703c1b470108b3e0674490546317?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a34d703c1b470108b3e0674490546317?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Donna"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/characterinkcompany?ref=bookmarks"],"url":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/author\/cqlalady\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}