Has anyone used any of the Hooked on Phonics Learn to read software? If so, was it good teaching/learning tool? My daughther will soon turn 4 in just a few months, she love for us to read books to her everynight before bed. She is at the age where she is trying to learn to read, but I'm not good at teaching her becuase I don't know the proper techniques. What did you other mothers & fathers use to assist your child at this age?
Thanks everyone for responding, judging by your answers it seem as if I have been doing things right as I do point have her to tell me what each letter is in the title of the book she choose as her story. I follow up by putting out different scenes in the each picture. I also go through each letter of hte alphabet and have her to tell me the sound that letter make. In other words, I was teaching her and wasn't really aware of it. Thank Again Everyone! Also thanks for reminding me about Mardel's, they have an awesome education dept.
As a teacher, my advice is....just read, read, read to her. No special techniques or programs are needed. Another thing you can do is make sure she knows the names and sounds of each letter. These things will give her a great start toward kindergarten. :)
P.S. If you still decide you want the program...there are several of them listed on craigslist.org.
Starfall.com is good and it is free!
I used HOP with both of my boys. They LOVED it.
Don't forget to still have your SPECIAL time before bed though. She may be ready to learn to read, but bedtime is the time her brain is "winding down" from the day, so don't make HER read at this time just yet. My 11 year old STILL loves for me to read TO him. Our favorites are "Bridge to Terabithia" (we both cried) and "Dear Mr. Henshaw".
Have fun and be PATIENT.
Blessings,
P. <><
Go to a Mardel's (usually located near a Hobby Lobby) or any other similar store that has teaching supplies. Spend a little time looking through their materials and buy a couple of pre-reading books that emphasize phonics. That gets you started for about ten to twenty bucks without committing to an expensive set of CDs etc. You will get ideas from the books on how to do phonics on your own ... rhyming words, etc. The teacher's advice is good ... read, read, read to her. Begin to point out the letters as well as the pictures. Point out words that are the same but start with different letters so have different sounds ... cat, bat, rat
Now,Encouragement for you: Because she is interested in learning to read, you are already doing the right things for her ... keep at it and she will learn. Enhance in all of the ways suggested by responders. Get the Hooked on Phonics if you choose ... it is a good, reliable program and works. Meanwhile, you are doing fine on your own ... and so is she!
Blessings from Grandma GiGi,
a retired nursery school teacher
I have 4 children with the oldest being 12 and the youngest almost 6 years old. I didn't send any of them to preschool or daycare. I used the Hooked on Phonics system with them all and everyone of them have flourished in school and are excellent readers. I highly reccommend the program.
We used this for our oldest son. He attends a private school that teaches phonics. When he was in the PreK class he was struggling a bit with reading, but once we began using Hooked on Phonics he flourished. I would reccomend it!
