Dear Carrie
Why did Heart of Dakota choose to carry The Reading Lesson and Reading Made Easy for phonics?
Dear Carrie,
My daughter is 3 1/2 and loving Little Hands to Heaven! As I like to look ahead, I am currently researching phonics programs. I am looking at Reading Made Easy and The Reading Lesson. However, it is very difficult for me to decide what I want to use. This will be my first time teaching a child to read. I just don’t want to screw it up, lol! So, why did Heart of Dakota choose to carry The Reading Lesson and Reading Made Easy for phonics choices?
Sincerely.
“Ms. Please Explain Why You Chose the Phonics Programs You Did”
Dear “Ms. Please Explain Why You Chose the Phonics Programs You Did,”
When choosing Reading Made Easy and The Reading Lesson, we looked at SO many factors that affect how well a phonics program works. We also sorted through the many methodologies out there, although I’d seen and read much already about the various methodologies during my 11 years of being doused in a big variety of phonics programs during my public school teaching days!
Demanding a child’s fine motor skills to keep up with decoding skills can cause frustration.
I’ll be very up front in saying that if you are of the “writing as a way to learn to read” methodology or the “learn every phonics rule and drill it” methodology, then the two programs we carry will NOT suit you well. Then, you’d want to look at something like the Writing Road to Reading or the Orton-Gillingham method of phonics instruction instead. Our philosophy is that writing can actually come much later than reading. Demanding a child’s fine motor skills to keep up with the decoding skills needed to read can cause much frustration. Our own boys each read very early and wrote much later. Had I held them back, waiting for them to write each word as it was read (or learned), I would have made reading an overwhelming task at an early age.
We’ve discovered knowing some rules is beneficial, but using an eclectic approach to covering those rules works fine.
When teaching early readers, we’ve discovered that knowing some rules is beneficial. Using an eclectic approach to cover those rules works fine. Our experience is that not all children need to be able to recite every phonics rule in order to apply it. Many rules are just too tedious and have too many exceptions to be worth memorizing. For example, we used Alphabet Island for phonics/spelling with my first son. While the rule coverage was amazingly complete, little of the rules were retained. His learning to actually read didn’t come out of that experience. We had to use yet another program to teach that!
However, we do believe in giving a thorough treatment to phonics, rather than stopping as soon as kiddos are reading quite well. Programs such as 100 Easy Lessons drop kiddos off before phonics is finished, leaving a parent to fill a gap by finishing out phonics on their own (which can be done easily but requires some creativity).
We like that both phonics programs provide coverage that is complete enough without being tedious.
We chose Reading Made Easy and The Reading Lesson because we find the phonics coverage to be complete enough without being tedious. The combination of gentle introductions to the various rules applied right within the reading material gives kiddos an “I can do this” feeling. It gets them reading early in the lessons and keeps it entertaining without being overly flashy.
We like that both programs take into account children’s short attention spans and provide necessary reading material.
Both programs also work well with Heart of Dakota‘s Charlotte-Mason approach to short lessons that capitalize on kiddo’s short attention spans. Both programs provide stories right within the guide, having Teacher’s Guide and Student Book in one. This feature saves much time searching for developmentally appropriate books, since the reading material is already there.
We like that each phonics program focuses purely on phonics.
Each guide is just purely for phonics, rather than throwing in all sorts of other language arts skills too. This keeps the focus on learning to read and allows the parent to move more quickly or slowly through the program without feeling like they may be missing other skills if they change the pace. We’d used the Blue Book for LLATL with my oldest son early on and felt tied to its slow pace of learning to read due to the multiple other skills woven in the lessons. For that reason, we had to abandon it.
We like that both phonics programs transition well into the Emerging Reader’s Set.
Reading Made Easy and The Reading Lesson also transition very well into our Emerging Reader’s Set. This solves yet another difficult problem for parents. The question about what to do after phonics is easily answered by the HOD sequence from phonics program to Emerging Reader’s Set to independent reading using Drawn into the Heart of Reading.
We like that both phonics programs make teaching your child to read easy to do.
Reading Made Easy is more teacher intensive and The Reading Lesson is more open and go. Both make teaching your child to read something anyone can do, rather than requiring the parent to take a course first or wade through how much to do each day or how to pace the program.
We like that both phonics programs are highly recommended both by other homeschoolers and by reviewers.
Both of these programs come highly recommended by other homeschoolers and reviewers alike. Reading Made Easy is currently in Cathy Duffy’s Top Curriculum Picks. The Reading Lesson has won many awards as well. Both have been used to teach thousands of children to be good readers. My own mother (who was a first grade teacher for 25 years) really likes The Reading Lesson. She’s read it cover to cover and was surprised at how well laid out it is. She’s a tough critic! She also likes Reading Made Easy, but thinks The Reading Lesson could easily be used by anyone!
The teaching style of the parent is just as important as the learning style of a the child.
With all that being said, there are other good programs out there that work equally as well. The teaching style of the parent is just as important as the learning style of the child, when choosing a phonics program. If the parent is not inspired or doesn’t feel confident with their choice, then the phonics program most likely won’t get done.
We’ve discovered the best phonics program is the one that consistently gets done.
In the end, we’ve discovered that the best program is one that consistently gets done in the day-to-day. The two phonics options we offer make that possible. While many phonics programs are wonderfully in depth or very full content-wise, if they just sit on the shelf because they’re too overwhelming, the benefit is lost.
Parents often find the best phonics program is the second or third one they used.
I hope this gives you some good areas to ponder when choosing a phonics program for your situation. Interestingly enough, most parents find that their second or third phonics option worked best, after struggling with their first option. In truth this is largely due to the child just being more mature and more ready to read by then, and also due to the fact that the child has some phonics instruction under their belt to draw on when heading it a second or third round of phonics! For those parents who only used one phonics option, celebrate!! You are VERY blessed!
Blessings,
Carrie
