Tips for Choosing a Phonics Program for the Home

If you want to pursue a phonics approach to reading for your child below is a list of tips to consider when choosing a program to use with your little one in the home and some programs to avoid.

• A well planned phonics program does not rely on the parent to be the teacher, but rather the guide.
• The program you select should have your child reading words within days of beginning the program for the purpose of motivation.
• When a new sound in introduced it is first done with a picture. This makes it simple for the child to recall the sound that they are learning, since the picture helps them to identify it immediately.  In other words, phonemic awareness is taught. (e.g.  The first sound in "car" is /c/)
• The program is interesting to your child, rewarding and meaningful.
• Consider if your child will learn better using a phonics approach or if a whole language approach is more appropriate.
• Watch your child carefully for frustration or uncharacteristic behavior during instruction.  It might mean you need to send the program back.
• Look for a program that mixes things up and incorporates different learning materials in order to keep things interesting for your child.
• Flashcards should not be the center of a program, they aren't fun.  Flash cards should only be used to assess what a student knows, not for learning.
• Look for a program that combines a beginning consonant vowel approach with a word family approach.  They don't have to be one or the other

• 1. Beginning Consonant/Vowel Approach

  With this method, children are taught to blend consonants with the vowel following it. They practice saying all the short vowels sounds with one consonant at a time. For example, ba- be- bi- bo- bu-. After that is mastered, they add consonants at the end of the consonant/vowel blends. Other combination are added toward the latter part of the curriculum, such as double vowels and r-controlled vowels.
  

  2. Word Family Approach

  Children are taught ending sounds, and words are presented and grouped accordingly. For example, the children will learn the sound of -ad and then they will practice several -ad words such as bad, dad, pad, and sad.

• Looking for a great program...here's one I love.  Starfall is one of the best programs any parent can use from home today.