Recommendations from homeschoolers

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Allegra

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My two older children are very interested in letters and reading. My oldest is five and will enter kindy this fall. My second is 3, but is really interested in learning to read ad has already memorized over 200 words just by studying picture books. I think they’re both ready to start learning phonics so they can sound out words, and I’d like to get them some inexpensive workbooks or even a fun game that will teach that and they can use during quiet time during the summer. Any suggestions?
 
We started with Bob books and then graduated to Little Angel readers.
 
I have used material from this website when I taught primary school aged children. The 5- and 6-year-olds loved the worksheet.
 
I’ll second letter factory!

We used it with all but one of our kids so far and the one we didn’t use it on had early phonics and reading difficulty. Coincidence? maybe… but it is now a staple in my tool bag.
 
I’m using Little Angel Readers with my 5 y.o. going slowly, mostly cause this is my first year homeschooling and I’m trying to figure things out. I am considering using Catholic Heritage curricula next year for him.
I like the idea of subtitles, I’m going to try that!
Good luck!
 
They know the letters sounds. They just need practice forming them together to make words.
 
  • I did closed captioning too when my kids were toddlers; It stuck with us though, my youngest is almost 10, and we still like watching shows/movies with CC on!
  • I labeled everything in the house, using index cards, markers and tape. One time a friend came over and saw the labels on the table, wall, lamp, ceiling, etc. She asked me if I was starting to forget what things are called. 🤣
  • We made frequent trips to the library to borrow books.
  • When we’re out driving, we encouraged the kids to read signs. There was a time when they did some kind of song/finish the lyric challenge using the words they recognized outside. It was hilarious! My 18 yo still does it when we visit IKEA. :crazy_face:
  • I also remember borrowing ‘Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons’ by Siegfried Engelman from the library. We didn’t finish it because I think my youngest figured out how to connect the sounds after a few lessons, and just started reading on his own.
 
One word of caution with subtitles: they don’t always “add up”

My older kids loved watching Arthur on PBS with subtitles simply to laugh at how far off the words were. I am sure the network did that so that young readers could read them. For instance, mom said, “I am very disappointed in you Arthur” and the subtitles said “I am mad”. In one episode Arthur said, “Look guys! I found a lizard in the garden. I think I will name her Lizzie.” The subtitles said, “Look what I found. I will call him Steve.” Their favorite (and they still say it to each other) was an episode where a butler said, “I do not like this uncultured philosopher”. Subtitles said, “I will not give you food”

So even though I follow the subtitle rule at home because it does help, they don’t always work out in the way you might expect.
 
Camehome4john6 said:
My kids learned with Sing, Spell, Read, and Write. They loved it! Pricey but I recycled it from child to child.

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If it’s not an antique I always try buying books second-hand (the US has probably the world’s best second-hand book marketplace on the internet), mostly the books are in excellent condition and some are brand-new having been traded between retailers latter getting discounts as let-outs.
 
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