BellaOnline Forums Education Homeschooling Does Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read really work?

Has anyone homeschooler ever used the Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read program and had success with it? Even though children are not required to learn to read until age 8, I thought I'd get it for my five-year-old who already has a great grasp on the alphabet, a couple of vowel sounds and most consanant sounds. She's tired of me reading to her and wants to read to herself. For now she memorizes the contents of her favorite books and reads them back to me. I've read that Hooked on Phonics is expensive -- $60! Is it worth it? Is it good for a variety of learners -- auditory, kinetic, special needs children, etc.?

I bout it on sale for my son when he gets older. He found it a couple of months ago and picked up on it right away.

That's great about your son! How old is he?
It's encouraging to hear that Hooked on Phonics worked for him.

He just turned four.

You can get the basic "Hooked On" programs for either PreK or Kinder for under $50 if you go direct to the source.

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All four of my kids learned to read without any formal program. I don't know much about HOP, but I have heard quite a few homeschoolers have been happy with a learn to read book called 100 Easy Lessons. It has a scripted lesson and appears quite dry, but apparently it has worked for a lot of families.

Unfortunately a person can't say it will or won't work because it's different for each child.

That said I have used it, I purchased it at Big Lots for $40 (it used to be MUCH more expensive in the $200 range for the whole program). It was a waste of my money, just as were all the other phonics programs I purchased.

My oldest child didn't "get" phonics until well after she learned to read using other methods, she was 8 when she learned to read and almost 10 before she understood phonics well enough to begin sounding words out. What this means is we wasted 3 years of her life teaching her how to read in a way that didn't mesh with her natural abilities and learning style. That's not a good way for a person to begin homeschooling

While she got a late start she can now read anything she wants without problem and thankfully no lasting scarring from all my goofs with the phonics programs and tears they produced.

Meg

That was our experience with the sight based reading programs. The DS just couldn't hack it. Even the blended programs, which were predominantly sight based but did include some phonics, were an issue. Pure phonics is working for him. Thankfully!

I'm not a parent or a teacher, but I'm going to chime in here because I've had a bit of experience with HOP. I learned to read early and easily, without a lot of help. But my brother, seven years my junior, had a lot of trouble. In retrospect, his greatest problem was probably parents who assumed both kids would learn at the same pace and pushed him too much and too hard. It was a multi-year struggle to get that kid reading.

One of the things my parents tried was Hooked on Phonics. It did absolutely no good for him. He was bored and frustrated through every teaching session. He eventually learned to read from his teachers, but has never really enjoyed it. He was simply too pressured and stressed out at a young age with learning to do so.

Based on my experiences watching my little brother's struggles, I implore you to let your kids take their time. That little boy is almost 20 now, and still only reads what he must. Countless literary worlds have closed off to him because he learned young that reading isn't fun. (The wrestling match of him vs. HOP played a part in that, but I assume HOP would be a boon for other children, so I don't advocate against it.) I encourage you all to let them find their learning style and to do so at an easy pace.

Sorry to ramble and rant, but when I saw a Hooked on Phonics thread on the right side of my screen, it brought back all those unpleasant memories of my brother's childhood.

Marie Rippel - the Reading Editor - has some great tips on promoting reading.

See her article at http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art39587.asp.

I hear you, Myrabeth. Children are not all ready to do the same things at the same time. One of the coolest things about homeschooling is that parents can pay attention to their child's own internal timetable, and not insist on the child being able to do X by age Y. I've heard of many a "late" bloomer who didn't read until seven or eight, but quickly became proficient once they began.

I've used 100 Easy Lessons on my 3 who are in school. My 4 year old was doing the lessons when I was teaching it to his 6 year old sister. My 12 year old learned to read at 5 with it and doesn't shy away from large words that he has never read before. I don't have any experience with hooked on phonics but most of my friends have and they prefer the 100 Easy Lessons book. They especially like it for younger children.

When my husband and I decided to homeschool our two girls, 1 1/2 years ago, everyone freaked out. Family o both sides shared numerous horror stories of kids that they knew who were homeschooled and turned out unable to cope with the world, ending up in jail, etc. Which I responded right back with all the peoploe I knew from public school just like that, okay so I didn't win any brownie points that day!

Anyway, once they realized that nothing they could say would change our minds, they begrudgingly accepted it. What else could they really do?

Then my Mother-in-law found the HOP Deluxe version on sale on E-Bay and bought it for us. And both my girls love it! They are both reading at a higher level than most of their friends that go to public school. They are reading all the time. So, yes, HOP worked for us! It might not work for everyone, we also don't do HOP everyday. I try to give variety and mix it up some so it's not the same things over and over again. We read everyday, it just doesn't have to be HOP.

HOP also helped tremendously with our daughters speech problems. Both had a little bit of a speech problem that our medical insurance would not cover and there was no way we could afford it out of pocket. I know that we could have gone to the school district and made them help us with speech, but I didn't really want to resort to that. Anyway, HOP helped them really learn the proper way to pronounce each letter and now you would never be able to tell that either one had a small speech delay!

Also, both sides of the family have come around to us home schooling and are quite proud of how well our girls are doing!

That's a great story, Marci. I'm glad your family is now supportive.

We used Abeka phonics to teach my son to read.

In my experience NO..not with my first child.
It would have worked great with my second child.

I did everything I knew of with kid #1, in the end I hired a tutor and within weeks my daughter (about to turn 9 at the time) went from reading nothing to reading on level. Years later she can read anything she wants BUT she still has to be encouraged to read books. If she could she'd stick with magazines and websites. I allow her free access to those sources but I also require her to read books in small time increments.

My 2nd learned to read on her own, but didnt tell me because she hates reading out loud. I didnt know she could read but knew phonics was for her so I bought her the first session of headsprout. She liked it alright but was bored...why??? because she COULD ALREADY READ *sigh* She's 9 now and can read whatever she wants, she's working through Ella Enchanted now.

For #3, who will be 5 next month, she's been reading little bits since she was 3. For kicks and because she kept asking for school I bought her the explode the code preschool pack, and she finished all 3 books in a month. She still looks at them now & again. I am going to look for some bob books or make her something like that, just to keep her reading until she's ready to move on.

For #4 & 5, we'll decide when we get there. I read to them daily (right now it's Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare) and will see how they are ready when they are ready!

I do not know about that product personally, but I do know that all children are different, find something that they love, but that challenges also. You will do fine!

I use word shark and number shark in my school and they Are FABULOUS!! and do K1 and K2 stages. (infant and junior!)