Phonics

About a month ago, I picked up a cheap (relatively cheap anyway) set of the "Hooked on Phonics" program for the kids. Mary has been a bit behind on reading (due to a school in another unnamed city that completely failed to prepare her for our current school district), and I thought this would be a great thing for us to spend time on.

First, I have to say that I am VERY impressed by the program. It has five levels and steps the kids through all the basic reading skills...and it is a lot of fun. Mary breezed through the first level and is now halfway through the second level. She actually can read at a higher level, but I really wanted to review some of the basics with her. I'm beginning to see her problem: either her brain is going faster than her mouth or her mouth is going faster than her brain - I can't decide which. She knows the words, but she gets going so fast that she starts to guess instead of actually looking at the whole word. This reading time has really gotten her to slow down and sound out words instead of trying to memorize the word as a whole.

I started Isaiah on the first level and he is going at a slow but steady pace. He should be well ahead of the game by the time he starts first grade next year. He is much more methodical about reading than Mary in any case. He still slurs much of his speech, making it hard to understand him sometimes, but at least his reading skills are growing good.

Even though Rebekah is still another year away from kindergarten, I've also started working with her on letter recognition. She does great when she does them quickly and in order (thanks to the ABC song), but still has trouble identifying many of the central letters. Eh...no rush. But she needed something to do with Dad since the older two now have their reading time.

And all this isn't to say that I don't include Mom. A big part of our reading is that the kids go out and read their workbook story or book to Leslie after they practice with me. She is amazed at how much they all are doing.

As for Emma, 'Bekah and I sing the ABC song to her...at least until one of us gets tired of it....and that usually isn't Emma. "Again! Again!" is the constant refrain.