Placement, phonics advice for 1st grader

[TraceyF]

I have a 5 yr old currently doing A BEKA K for all subjects. She is doing well (although her handwriting is not great) and should finish K by the end of the school year. She will be 6 in June and I want her to use BLHFHG next for 1st grade with the ER set (assuming she continues to do well through the K program). I have a few questions about what might be best for her:

1. Do I need to add a phonics program to BLHFHG? Based on this forum and other reading, it looks like she should have additional phonics instruction possibly through 3rd grade? I have considered continuing the A BEKA phonics(expensive) or using Explode the Code. It appears that the two phonics programs you can purchase through HOD might be for younger readers.
2. If I do need a phonics program, what are your recommendations for a 1st grader? Would it continue through 3rd grade?
3. Should I add a handwriting program? Her writing skill are not very good right now (although I know she has 7 months before she would start 1st grade).
4. If I do need to add a writing program, what are your recommendations? I have looked at HWT and A Reason for Handwriting.
5. If I did add these programs, would it be too much for a young 6 year old? i.e should she be in LHFHG instead?

Thanks so much for any recommendations or comments!

[MelInKansas]

First of all welcome to the HOD board! I hope you find it a good place to discuss and get answers about HOD!

I will try to answer some of your questions in short.

The general phonics progression through HOD is basic phonics learning through one of the phonics books suggested, and then Emerging Readers once the child has mastered basic phonics. Continued phonics is learned as the child is reading with you and you go over rules and they 1) hear you reading aloud all of the great books you will be reading to your child and 2) encounter new things in the Emerging Readers and other books they read and you explain to them the different sounds/blends.

Some people do supplement with Explode the Code or other workbook based phonics, but HOD is designed to be complete and both of my DDs who can read learned to read very effectively without any supplementation. I added ETC with my oldest for a little while but it was very repetitive and she did not really need it.

As far as writing goes, you should probably wait until late spring or summer and then check where your daughter falls on the placement chart with regards to writing and narration skills especially. Math and phonics are easier to customize to the child's level, but the guides have History, narration learning, and writing as core parts and if your daughter is not ready for the writing in a guide it may be best to look at the one below it. In Beyond the child should be able to form all letters accurately in print. They work up to doing several lines of copywork each day, along with writing spelling words and occasionally copying sentences for grammar or narration. Also with a transition from A-Beka to HOD which are two very different styles of teaching and learning, starting with something easy might be the best idea.

[Nealewill]

If all you have completed is grade K with Abeka, then no your children will not be ready for the emerging reader set. The emerging reader set is really a 2nd-4rd grade reading level books. If you want to shift everything over to HOD, I would purchase one of their phonics books and you could start somewhere inside it instead of continuing with Abeka. It would probably be a pretty smooth transition and cheaper than continuing on with Abeka. But if you like Abeka and wanted to stick with it, that would be fine too. The goal is to get them reading either way. If you do continue with Abeka, then you will want to use it for 1st and 2nd grade (which are also part of their phonics years) and when you finish that, your kids would be ready for either the level 2 or 3 book packs depending on how fast your child reads (level 3 books seem a lot longer than level 2).

Hope that helps.

[my3sons]

I have a 5 yr old currently doing A BEKA K for all subjects. She is doing well (although her handwriting is not great) and should finish K by the end of the school year. She will be 6 in June and I want her to use BLHFHG next for 1st grade with the ER set (assuming she continues to do well through the K program). I have a few questions about what might be best for her:

1. Do I need to add a phonics program to BLHFHG? Based on this forum and other reading, it looks like she should have additional phonics instruction possibly through 3rd grade? I have considered continuing the A BEKA phonics(expensive) or using Explode the Code. It appears that the two phonics programs you can purchase through HOD might be for younger readers

2. If I do need a phonics program, what are your recommendations for a 1st grader? Would it continue through 3rd grade?

Children do phonics 1-3 years, depending on how well phonics goes. Once dc can read Level 1 books quite smoothly (i.e. Frog and Toad books), they are ready to begin the Emerging Reader's Set. If your dd finishes her beginning Abeka phonics, I'd either have her go into "Reading Made Easy" (which takes dc to approximately a second grade level of reading) or have her start the Emerging Reader's Set if she is able to read Level 1 readers quite smoothly (i.e. 1 mistake a page or so). You could have dd do Explode the Code workbooks, a few pages a day from Levels 2-3 if she needed a little review along with the Emerging Readers.

3. Should I add a handwriting program? Her writing skill are not very good right now (although I know she has 7 months before she would start 1st grade).
To start Beyond Little Hearts, dd should know how to properly form all of uppercase/lowercase letters; able to copy sentences; and able to study and copy spelling words. She should also be ready for a gentle introduction to the basic parts of speech, mechanics and usage (1 time a week). If she is not, I'd do Little Hearts for His Glory with her.

4. If I do need to add a writing program, what are your recommendations? I have looked at HWT and A Reason for Handwriting.
We loved "A Reason for Handwriting" both K and A. Level A has dc writing Bible verses - more meaningful writing than most handwriting programs.

5. If I did add these programs, would it be too much for a young 6 year old? i.e should she be in LHFHG instead?
I think I'd re-evaluate dc's placement at the end of the year, using the first page of the placement chart as a guide. Both LHFHG and Beyond... are excellent guides, but only 1 will be the right placement fit, and that's pretty important. A lot can change or not change in 7 months - so be sure to look at placement with fresh eyes then - or better yet, switch now!

Thanks so much for any recommendations or comments!

HTH - I think you'll really enjoy HOD, and welcome to the HOD Board!

In Christ,
Julie

[StephanieU]

We used Horizons for K, which is similar in scope and sequence to ABeka (we have friends that use it). My daughter just turned 6 this month, and although she could have done Beyond this year, we went with LHFHG for two reasons. First was maturity. We hadn't spent a ton of time reading chapter books or stories without pictures, so transitioning to that was a challenge for the first few weeks. Second, I didn't want to push too hard. If you do one guide a year with HOD, then LHFHG is actually the 1st grade guide. It is more than enough for for 1st grade. I initially had my daughter doing the spelling and grammar in Beyond, but I quickly realized it wasn't necessary. We are still doing Horizons 1 math and phonics (I love their math, so we probably won't change to Singapore unless she has issues), so she does have some grammar and spelling there though. She is about done with the first phonics book for 1st grade, and then we will start emerging readers while continuing the phonics book at a very slow rate.

If your daughter isn't ready for the emerging readers and you don't want to do ABeka, then look at Bob Books and I Can Read level 1 books to get ready for the Emerging Readers. Or buy one of the program (or look and see if your library has a copy) and start where she places in that.

[TraceyF]

Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond! All of the advice is very appreciated. I will wait until later in the year to re-evaluate her for placement. I do have a few questions based on the comments:

1. Am I understanding correctly that the suggested phonics programs would (might?) take longer than a year?
2. Are the phonics programs scheduled in the appendix of both guides (Little Hearts and Beyond) or do you just go day to day at your own pace?
3. If you finished the phonics mid guide, do you just move on to a schedule in the appendix for the ER set?

Sorry for so many questions, but I have never seen the actual guide (other than the sample on the website) to be able to flip through it. I am sure if I could see it that many of these questions would be answered, but I have not been able to find a guide to review without ordering and... I can't order until I figure out what guide I need!

Thanks again for any help.

Tracey

[StephanieU]

In both LHFHG and Beyond, the appendix contains information about the two phonics programs suggested by HOD. Reading Made Easy suggests doing 3 lessons a week for 36 weeks. The Reading Lesson suggests paces based on the age of the child. And both say to always follow the child's lead and show down or speed up as necessary. So, it could easily take 2 years to complete these depending on your pacing. There are also other programs like Reading Pathways, Explore the Code, etc that you could use instead of one of those two that might be a little more advanced in rules.

And once they are ready for the ER, you can easily start that. We will be starting next week with unit 17 of LHFHG. One each day the guide just says to "do" phonics/reading. It isn't specific as to what to do, giving you the parent some options (which I love).

[MelInKansas]

The Emerging Reader schedule is in the Beyond guide but is not in the LHFHG guide. If your daughter is doing LHFHG but ready for Emerging Reader you would need the Beyond guide to have the schedule and discussion questions for all the books besides the Early Reader Bible which has its own discussion questions. Yes, you can start Emerging Reader anytime your child is ready. The math and phonics are two areas that are not linked to the rest of the learning in the guide so you customize those to where your child is at. Really this is excellent because children can be at such widely different levels for those subjects.

[Nealewill]

1. Am I understanding correctly that the suggested phonics programs would (might?) take longer than a year?

I just wanted to encourage you that it is okay if phonics programs do take longer than a year. My oldest two children took a full 3 years. My youngest only took a year. Every child is different and there is really no set amount of time that is standard for a child to get phonics.

[my3sons]

These ladies are awesome, aren't they?!? Great advice here. I enthusiastically agree with this statement...

... One each day the guide just says to "do" phonics/reading. It isn't specific as to what to do, giving you the parent some options (which I love).

Our 3 sons have started the ERS all at different times, and I have LOVED the fact that I can take their cues and move at a pace in LA/math that best suits each of them individually. Not having the phonics/reading program have to tie specifically to the daily plans in each of the guides is genius! I would have had to hold back some of my dc's progress in phonics based on their history cycle otherwise. Also, specifically having reading instruction for each level has done wonders to advance our dc in their reading skills (especially in light of required standardized testing and being prepared for high school literature credits work). The Emerging Reader's Set was just the right thing after phonics to help our dc really work on comprehending well what they were reading. Then, doing "Drawn into the Heart of Reading" for the next years through 8th grade advanced our dc's ability to comprehend, increase their vocabulary, identify parts of the story such as setting/plot/problem/solution, etc. and consider Godly character traits all along the way prepared my ds 100% for high school. What a blessing, and what a neat way to teach reading! It's easy to see why DITHOR has won so many awards. Yeah, it's THAT good. So, with HOD, you have a very flexible yet incremental in teaching skills way of teaching reading that can be matched well to each of your dc as needed. I think as StephanieU wisely said - you'll learn to love this too.

In Christ,
Julie

[TraceyF]

Thank you all so much for the advice and encouragement! May I ask which phonics programs you all chose? Also, are there suggested grade level readers in the appendix or do you just choose your own as they progress?

Thanks,

Tracey

[StephanieU]

As for readers, once they are to the emerging readers, then there is a set book list with comprehension questions. Before that, you can use anything. As for what phonics we use, we are suing Horizons for our oldest. But,, I don't think we will use it with the other two just because of how rigorous and handwriting intensive it is (it combines all areas of language arts in the phonics workbooks). I am considering Phonics Pathways for my next child, as I need something with the phonics rules spelled out. Reading Made Easy is also on my short list of options for him.

[nena3927]

We are using The Reading Lesson and my dc and I REALLY like it. I also use Explode the Code which compliments TRL very nicely. I had purchased Phonic Pathways and Abeka's Handbook for Reading and Letters and Sounds K because I was wanting more "rules" to be taught and neither were a good fit for our family. I really prefer the uncluttered pages in TRL and my dc love to read the stories that are included throughout the book without having to have separate readers. Another option would be The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading which takes your child to a 4th grade reading level. I would just look at samples online of all your choices if you have not already and let your child look with you and see what matches your teaching style and her learning style. HTH

[Tidbits of Learning]

I have done the Reading Lesson with both my boys and loved it. We did The Reading Lesson and then went into the ERS with both boys successfully.