I'm looking at Explode the Code for my dd, who is...

[Melora in NC]

in Kindergarten and will be six in March. She is working through PP and on the second box of Hooked on Phonics, and we have some boxes of Bob books. She is doing fine with what we have, but I thought ETC would give her some nice variety, and also get her writing a little more. I am thinking of starting with the 1.5 level, but then I'm not sure whether we need the "half" level books or not. With the other stuff we have, would each level have enough, or will we missing something valuable if we skip the half steps?

[snickelfritz]

If you did page 14 in ETC 1, it might tell you that you could do page 15 in ETC 1 1/2 for extra practice.

I do think the 1/2 books are very slightly harder, but not by much. With your other programs, I would just do the whole books.

[Lenora in MD]

I agree, you really don't need the half books, especially since she seems to be making good reading progress. The half books are only for if they need extra practice.

[Jennefer@SSA]

I agree that you don't need the half books. They are slightly harder than the whole books and offer a little more writing practice (that's one of the reasons we did them) but as long as your dd is getting and applying the rules then you'll be fine doing just the whole books!

Blessings