phonics with The Reading Lesson

[blessedmommyof4]

I was considering using this for phonics with my K daughter next year. I was wondering if this program normally lasts for K and 1st grade or if you have to use another program for 1st grade after you finish The Reading Lesson. I used Abeka phonics with my son when he was in K and 1st. I like the method used by Abeka, but at times it was overwhelming. I think this is because it was created to be used for a classroom. It had so many cards to gather and games to play. I know that one does not have to do all these things, but it was my first time teaching phonics and I did not want to leave anything out. The Reading Lesson looks more streamlined than Abeka, so I have considered using it. I just did not want to begin with it and then have to use something different the following year. I would love advice from any of you who have used The Reading Lesson.

[HappyMama]

When I did The Reading Lesson with my oldest son, I did it it one year for his 1st grade year (we did something else for his K year). I would think you could easily spread it out over 2 years though if you want. Sorry I'm not much help, but that's just how we did it.

[Tidbits of Learning]

With my ds9, we started The Reading Lesson his 1st grade year after an abysmal introduction to reading in public school kindergarten. We worked at his pace and he did hit a plateau around lesson 10 where we took a break sojourn into reading just to read with easy readers to build his confidence and for him to see that he could "read". Last year (2nd grade) he finished the last 10 lessons of The Reading Lesson pretty quickly. We went at his own pace so we read until he was ready to put it away every day and we moved on to the Early Readers and he finished the Bible for the early readers as well as a few of the readers.
We are finishing up the Early Readers this year and he would do DITHOR after that. I guess I would say don't stress planning to finish your phonics or reading instruction according to a set schedule. Follow your child's lead and take it at the pace that feels right to them. The answer about whether the Reading Lesson is a one year or two year phonics is going to be different for every child. No two children learn to read at the same pace.
Once you finish the Reading Lesson, you are done with phonics instruction. Your child is reading well and you can move straight into the Emerging Readers. Whether it takes you one year or two to do the Reading Lesson, your child will be ready and won't need more phonics. They will just move forward to the Emerging Readers Set.

[MelInKansas]

I totally agree with the other poster(s) (so maybe I don't need to post, huh?) It really depends on the readiness of your child. If your child is ready, and has the attention span to tackle more than 1-2 pages of it each day, then you may get through it in a year or even less. My 5YO DD can't do more than 2 pages, so at that rate, 4 days a week, it'll take us longer than a year to do it (she may speed up later on, but I'm not going to stress about it). But as Tidbits also said, once you finish, you can move on to the Emerging Readers, or any approximately 1st-2nd grade reading level program that helps the child transition to reading independently and learning some of the more obscure phonics rules.

I hope you enjoy the Reading Lesson!

[KristinBeth]

We did The Reading Lesson for 5 minutes per day, and that was IT for phonics instruction. We did borrow readers from the library for fun, and I had a few readers at home too. No other "official teaching" or curriculum purchases, however. We started when dd was 4 (because she asked), did a few sessions a week, and finished a few weeks after we started K. Now we're just going through the Early Reader's set that Carrie scheduled in the Beyond guide. Granted, we're on the first book in the ER set, but reading is going very smoothly.

[blessedmommyof4]

Thanks to everyone who has given me information about how many years The Reading Lesson takes. Now, I have another question. For those of you who have used The Reading Lesson for K level, how did you like it? I used Abeka K and 1st grade phonics with my son. I liked the way it taught phonics, but it gave many activities to do. It was my first time teaching phonics, so I felt compelled to do everything. When I was teaching my son phonics, I only had two children and he was the only one in school. Now, I will have four. Praise the Lord! I thought I may need something simpler for phonics for my K dd. I just wanted feedback about The Reading Lesson because I am trying to decide between that program or just doing Abeka again and trying to simplify it.

[momofabcd]

The Reading Lesson is not going to be as complete as Abeka. It teaches to about a 2nd grade reading level and doesn't cover all the sounds like Abeka eventually does in 1st. FWIW, I used Abeka's Handbook for Reading and the basic phonics flashcards with the Letters and Sounds workbooks.

[momtofive]

So glad to see you're getting some good advice on The Reading Lesson. We started out homeschooling our first child with Abeka's phonics program. It went okay, but like you said, it was kind of overwhelming with so much to do each day. It was stressful for me as well as my little student!

Fast forward a few years and a few kids later, we began using HOD about two years ago. We also decided to give The Reading Lesson a try instead of Abeka. It was unbelievable how easy to use it was, and how stress free learning to read was for my child. It was so nice to just open up ONE book and begin our lesson cuddled on the couch together. It is key to go at your child's pace and not worry how much or how little you do each day. Just being consistent with the lessons and having fun while learning. You may decide to hit the "pause" button and just hover over a few pages and review for a while until your child is ready to move forward.

You could definitely use The Reading Lesson over one year (maybe K, if your little student is ready), or stretch it over a longer period. However long it takes, just begin the Emerging Readers whenever you're done with The Reading Lesson. There really isn't a set "do this for K" or "do that for 1st". It's more about developing their skills and moving forward at their pace, as far as the reading instruction goes. The Little Hearts guide gives a suggestion of working on phonics instruction in the guide, Beyond and Bigger have the Emerging Readers questions to go along with the books, so really you have several guides in which your child can move along in their reading without having to be at any certain place by a certain time. I hope that makes sense!

I know there are many choices out there for phonics instruction, and you do have to find a "fit" for your situation, that will serve your needs and prefrences. For us, using The Reading Lesson has been a low stress, fun, and effective approach to learning how to read for my little ones. I highly recommend it, and then following up with the Emerging Readers from the Beyond or Bigger Hearts guides. I hope that some of this could be of some help!

Blessings!

[blessedmommyof4]

Thank you so much for your advice! What I seem to be hearing from everyone is that The Reading lesson is a complete phonics program. I was mainly afraid of starting it in K and needing to change programs for 1st grade. I want to stay with the same phonics program until dd is ready to read. So it seems that I can just go through The Reading Lesson, and then we will be ready for the emerging readers with out any other phonics instruction. Has this been everyone's experience? Thank you all for you help! Teaching phonics really stresses me. I want my children to have a strong foundation in this; and even though this will be my second time teaching it, I still feel so unsure of myself.

[KristinBeth]

I completely feel like my daughter can read after going through TRL. I was afraid TRL wouldn't be enough a while back, and bought Phonics Pathways to use after, but it seems to just be a "more review and busier" version of the same teaching. It has one or two other sounds (like 'aught', off the top of my head) that aren't in TRL, but I didn't need another phonics instruction book to teach that. HTH! I like the CM concept of short lessons, and TRL encourages short lessons. I was worried it would be too easy but it was quite thorough. Now I see the wisdom in NOT going over something again and again if the child "gets it". Carrie knows what she's doing when she makes a recommendation! I feel confident that the ER set is the right choice after completing TRL. If your child was struggling with something after completing TRL, maybe you could just go through the ERs and do a little bit of review with an Explode the Code book. We did not do this but it's another option.

[blessedmommyof4]

I really like your idea of going forward with TRL and doing review with Explode the Code if needed! Thank you!

[psreit]

I do use Explode the Code along with the emerging readers. Reason being, we started out with TRL. DD was having awful struggles, so, unfortunately, I bought another phonics program, plus I had ETC. We ended up only doing part of it. DD was beginning to read pretty well, so we began the Early Reader's Bible and kept working in Explode the Code a few days a week because I did not want to purchase TRL again. We are several books into the ERs, but I still have her do a page in ETC most days, just for my own piece of mind, since we did not totally finish TRL or the other program. I regret not just sticking with TRL, as I feel dd would have done okay if I would have stuck with it. I think the reinforcement with ETC is helping. She's in 2nd grade. I'm not sure how long I'll use it. Probably while she reads through the ERs, which she will finish sometime in 3rd grade. When she gets to DITHOR, I will probably stop it.

[Carrie]

The ladies have given you wonderful counsel in the tough area of phonics instruction! So, I'll just pop-in to mention that we're using The Reading Lesson right now with our just turned 6 year old, and he is really thriving. The ladies are so right about the pacing. The Reading Lesson guide does give pacing suggestions, in numbers of pages to be covered daily in its introduction, which are a great general guideline to get you started. We follow our little guy's lead and mood in how long our sessions are each day, however we always make sure to keep each session to 15 min. or less.

I did want to mention that we have found the CD to be hugely helpful to the program, so you may want to consider that option pretty strongly. You shouldn't need another phonics program after The Reading Lesson as it covers the needed sounds and sound combinations (without complicating the teaching with all of the rule-breakers).

Families often take a year up to two years to complete the program. Those who finish in a year are typically older students, or students who have had previous instruction in a different program prior to coming to The Reading Lesson.

You can always add something like Explode the Code if desired, but I would wait until your child has gone quite a ways through The Reading Lesson before adding anything to see if it is really needed for your child. After finishing The Reading Lesson, you should be able to head into the Emerging Reader's Set. That set has a choice of Bibles at the beginning, with one being easier than the other one. So, typically one of the Bibles will suit your child's level well.

Happy reading!

Blessings,
Carrie

[blessedmommyof4]

Thank you for all your helpful advice! Can any of you tell me the approach The Reading Lesson takes for teaching the digraphs. Abeka teaches all these as special sound which the students memorize. The samples of The Reading Lesson on-line only showed the first two lessons, so I could not find out how they teach more difficult concepts such as digraphs. Any insight concerning this would be a great help to me. Thank you!

[Dustybug]

The Reading Lesson is not going to be as complete as Abeka. It teaches to about a 2nd grade reading level and doesn't cover all the sounds like Abeka eventually does in 1st. FWIW, I used Abeka's Handbook for Reading and the basic phonics flashcards with the Letters and Sounds workbooks.

This is what we are using as well. I started out using ALL of Abeka's phonics materials but it got to be too much, so I purchased TRL. It seemed too easy after being with Abeka, so we switched back, but I'm only using the Handbook for Reading now.