Different Approaches to Teaching Phonics
I have been using Starfall.com for a couple of years now. The children really like it and that program helped my second son learn phonics pretty quickly. I still use it but my daughter (who is almost 4) is actually learning her letters and phonics better with flashcards.
My 4 year old (who will be 5 in a few days) is a beginner reader; so we have been reading a lot of beginner reader books from the library along with working our way through the McGuffey Primer. I have also printed some easy books off of Ed Helper for him. But I have to say that I am extremely disappointed with Ed Helper and I will not renew my subscription when it expires.
Anyway, a lot of times we read through all of the beginner books a week or more before it's time for us to return to the library. And we only do about 3 lessons in the primer a week to prevent boredom.
Free Printable Phonics Books
So, today I did a search online to see if there are any free printable phonics books online. And I'm glad I did. I found Progressive Phonics. This site almost seems too good to be true. But it really is completely free and it offers a comprehensive phonics program complete with free printable phonics books.
Today I printed out the first book which covers the short "a" sound. It is 45 pages long so I didn't think we'd get very far. But my son and I read the book for about 15 minutes until I had to start dinner. And after dinner he asked if we could read some more. We read for almost an hour. The book really held his attention because it is full of silly stories. And since I do most of the reading and he reads a few words here and there, he didn't tire of it like he does with McGuffey after about 10 minutes.
I am so excited about this program that I am going to print out all of the books over the next couple of days. Starfall used to have free phonics books as well. I printed out the first one and after my son had completed that one I went back to print the next one only to find out that the free books were gone and are now only available for purchase. So, I won't make that mistake twice.
Worksheets to Go Along with Phonics Lessons
On Progressive Phonics there are also worksheets that you can print to go along with the books. I'll check those out as well. So with the following resources you can teach your child phonics for just the price of your internet connection (which you're paying for regardless), printer ink, printer paper, and gas (for traveling to and from the library).
- Starfall.com
- Progressive Phonics
- McGuffey's Eclectic Primer
- Word Mastery: A Course in Phonics for the First Three Grades
- Beginner Reading books from the public library
- Flashcards
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