Phonics

Phonics Pathways

Book cover: 'Phonics Pathways'
Author(s): 
Dolores G. Hiskes
I picked up Phonics Pathway because Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer recommended it in the first edition of The Well-Trained Mind. When I mentioned to a friend that I had bought this book, she wrinkled her nose and said, “Let me know what you think,” implying, of course, that I probably wouldn’t think much of it. Nothing could be further from the truth. I love Phonics Pathways. Ms. Hiskes presents a systematic approach to teaching phonics.

Kindergarten Phonics for Young Catholics

Book cover: 'Kindergarten Phonics for Young Catholics'

Unit one has twenty five lessons. The first eleven are Listening skills (stories and poems), Visual Discrimination (broad similarities, detailed similarities and detailed differences), and Motor Skills (straight and curved lines, detailed dashed, detailed straight, and slanted lines and geometric shapes).

The next nine lessons are on auditory/visual discrimination. There are then three lessons on visual discrimination involving capital and lower case letters, letter identification and tracing. Then there is a another motor skills lesson and one on nursery Rhymes.

Sound Beginnings

Author(s): 
Julia Fogassy
Sound Beginnings is a reading, spelling, handwriting, phonics and listening program. We have been using it for many months and it's amazing how much our Kyle has learned. It is an intensive program and it works. No color pictures or flashy pages. The program includes step-by-step dialogue and well organized daily lesson plans.

Teach Your Child to Read In 100 Easy Lessons

Book cover: 'Teach Your Child to Read In 100 Easy Lessons'
Author(s): 
Siegfried Engelmann
Phyllis Haddox
Elaine Bruner

The 100 EL is a direct instruction program. This means that the teacher's dialogue is scripted. The sessions are designed to take 20 minutes per day. We found them to take 15 to 30 minutes a day. If it takes any longer, I recommend to stop using the program for a few weeks to let things "jell" then go back to it. I did this periodically with both children and they did not forget any of the previous material when we went back to it.