I have used Alpha-Phonics to teach all my children to read. Some took longer and needed a more gentle approach. Some knew their phonics naturally, before I ever opened the book, but we went through it anyway, to reinforce what they had picked up along the way.
In the beginning I created a set of flashcards, based on a Readers as Leaders program that I borrowed from the library. I adapted them to suit the Alpha-Phonics program. I thought others might be interested in using them.
Alpha-Phonics Flashcards in pdf format.
They are designed to be printed double sided, on card stock, and then cut into individual cards. You may need to play around with your printer to figure out what will work for you.
A Quick Overview of How We Use Alpha-Phonics
Everyday (well, every day that we “do” school) I sit down with the child that is learning to read and we practice the flashcards. We usually have about 5 cards on the go at once. We will review cards the child has already mastered about once a week. After the flashcards, we snuggle on the couch and read a lesson from the Alpha-Phonics book. If the child reads the majority of the words correctly, with only a little prompting for me, I make a check mark at the top of the lesson. (Each lesson now has four check marks at the top – one for each child in my home that has learned read.) Then we read one of the Bob Books, or a selection from the McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers.
If a child cannot seem to get through a lesson without help, we put the book aside for a few weeks and just practice flashcards. With our oldest, she had great difficulty when we began introducing the sound of /e/ (in lesson 24). I would put Alpha-Phonics on the shelf for several weeks, pull it out and try again. This went on for over a year before something finally clicked and she passed the lesson.
LittlePage1 finished the Alpha-Phonics book after her seventh birthday. LittlePage2 was just over six. LittlePage3 will be almost nine by the time he finishes, and LittlePage4 is about halfway through at age six and half. I find that about two-thirds of the way through the program, they can beginning reading some short chapter books on their own. Some of the early books my children have read are:
Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat
Baby Island by Carol Ryrie Brink
Mother West Wind Stories by Thorton Burgess
Henry and Ribsy by Beverley Cleary (although not all of Cleary’s book pass muster in our home.)
The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary (although not all of Cleary’s book pass muster in our home.)
The Voyages of Doctor Doolittle by Hugh Lofting
…to name a few.
We tried to stay away from all those early “introductory” readers at the library which are more twaddle than literature. To find quality, age-appropriate literature for your children check out:
The Sonlight catalogue offers excellent readers for each grade level. I do not use their curriculum, but I do order literature from them.
Simply Charlotte Mason offers some excellent suggestions, as well.
Ambleside Online offers a complete curriculum based on living books, most of which are available free for download from The Baldwin Project. We print many of these off and add them to our shelves. Some of them are truly lovely books that we cherish.
I would offer a word of caution. Not every book is suitable for every family. These lists contain many books that we personally choose not to read in our home, for various reasons. Please use your own discretion when choosing books for your family.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to ask away.
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