I am currently looking for a program to teach Courtney how to read. Matt and I have pretty much decided that we are going to homeschool her next year too, so why not get started now? If she was going to school, I would just let school teach her how to read, but if she stays home, I think we are going to start working on it next semester.
We have already been working on her letters. I found her letter flashcards and we have been working on those pretty hard. She has the most trouble with lowercase and uppercase I, J, and lowercase d. She had trouble with lowercase q until I had to her think of "cutie patootie" and now she never misses it. :)
I think the next step up is sounds, but this is where I get stuck. I want her to learn short and long vowel sounds along with hard and soft consonant sounds. I want to teach her right from the beginning, not just teach her and then go back and reteach her the proper rules.
I have been looking all over the internet for a program and I just cannot find one that fits my needs. Here is what I want:
1. Phonics based. Short simple rules, learn different sounds of vowels and consonants
2. Simple, yet challenging. I want a simple page layout, nothing too busy that is overwhelming.
3. Short stories so Courtney could practice reading as we learn the words
4. Some writing to go along with it.
5. Not a program that teaches letter by letter, we already know our letters.
6. Something that moves along pretty quickly. not 160 lessons.
I actually want something that I can teach her how to read next semester. I could then start her in some readers next year for kindergarten instead of taking another year to teach her how to read.
Any suggestions??
Have you thought about Time4Learning.com They have a great program on Learning to Read I am going to be using it w/ my daughter next year. We have started the preschool program and she really seems to like it a lot.
ReplyDeleteWe tried the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with my son and did not have much luck w/ it. We might try that with my daughter, too. But not leaning toward it at the moment.
Good luck and enjoy the adventure of homeschooling.
Lil Momma is that Crazy Homeschooling mom of 3 who is happy mow grass, vacuuming, and even do windows...just don't ask me to be my kids' creative writing tutor check out our family adventures at Five in Training for HIM