Hooked on Phonics

[RavensEye]

Has anyone here used the program and if so what do you think does it help your child learn? I recall when it first came out that some people had opposing views about it ... SO just was curious to hear what people here have to say about it.

[Janjuh]

My best friends younger brother and sister used it and it worked great for them!

[RavensEye]

:) thanks :)

[Ceres]

If you are going to use a system to teach reading, its one of the better ones available. These are also good ones, and free: http://www.blendphonics.org/index.php
www.starfall.com

HOWEVER I really strongly adhere to the philosophy that reading is best when its self taught by the reader's own motivation. My own experience with children is that when we choose for them to learn something, even in the nicest most pleasant possible way, we send the message that its something they WOULDNT choose to do of their own volition and so send the message it is not something one would choose to learn for the pleasure of it. Above all, I wanted my own children to read for pleasure.

As for whether or not they will EVER be self motivated to learn to read, I now have three children of extremely variable temperments (one bordering on being Oppositional Defiant) who were entirely self taught, self motivated readers. They all learned at different ages, but far more important than when they did it was that they chose for themselves to do it. There is, by the way, no evidence that learning to read earlier is in anyway correlated to being more successful academically later on. In fact, some studies show kids are more reticent if they were brought up in flash card type homes.

Even if you choose not to wait for the child to choose to do it, one of the very best ways to ensure the child becomes a reader is to read aloud to him or her. I really recommend starting with movie tie in books like Prince Caspian or Inkheart to start with. How old is the child? I can recommend some age appropriate read alouds...

[angle kitsune]

they are not allowed to use that in schools in Alaska anymore, kids started having problems with spelling.