R&S Phonics/Reading

[AudreyTN]

Has anyone used this to teach phonics/reading?

What do you think of it? What does a normal lesson look like?

TIA! :)

[Beth in Central TX]

I use OPGTR and PP to teach reading & phonics which starts in preschool. This year I'm using part of the 1st grade reading program by R&S to supplement the reading work we are doing in Kindergarten. R&S uses a combined phonics and whole word approach to reading, so I don't use it as our main program. I'll finish R&S 1st grade reading program next year (in 1st grade) and stay on grade level until 4th grade. In 5th grade, R&S separates their reading and Bible programs, so I drop the reading portion and continue with the Bible component.

What I like best about the R&S program is that it combines reading, phonics, and Bible study into one subject. Each lesson has a 2-page phonics lesson and a 2-page reading lesson. I don't require all of the writing for each lesson in K & 1st grade.

We only do lessons 4 days a week, so working through the 1st grade books over 2-years has worked well for us. In addition, I don't purchase all of the workbooks for each subsequent grade level. It's a lot of work and is written for a classroom setting.

To see samples of their program, you can call R&S at (606)522-4896, and they will send you a grade level curriculum booklet.

[Ellie]

Has anyone used this to teach phonics/reading?

What do you think of it? What does a normal lesson look like?

TIA! :)

It's divided into two parts: phonics and reading. The phonics is true phonics; the reading is sight-reading. I don't do sight reading.

It's pretty easy to use. The TM has scripted lessons, telling you exactly what to say and which flash cards to use and which workbook pages to have your dc do. There are several workbooks and readers, as well as the phonogram, word and phrase flashcards.

As I said, it isn't my favorite. I would use something else to teach my dc to read, then, if I thought vocabulary controlled basal readers were important, use the readers in second grade and above.

[jail warden]

However, I really like the R&S reading program as our Bible program because it has helped my sons reading finally to take off in the last year. I love SWR because I really believe in what they are doing, however with R&S their stuff starts off nice and easy and gave my son some confidence and just helped him realize he can read by himself and answer questions, not just ones from mom. It's definitely not fluff and they stick very true to the Bible, which is what I love. I would love them to read directly from the Bible, but this is the next best thing. I also have had to not have him answer all the questions in the 2nd grade book.

[cin]

My daughter could already read words when I started it with her. I wanted her to do it because of the Bible stories in it. She is learning a great deal about the Old Testament, which I never learned until I was MUCH older. I also had her do the 1st year phonics so she would know how to sound out words. I, personally, think their phonics books are phenomenal (That is compared to no others, and based on a public school career). In 2nd grade we discontinued the phonics, adn I had thought about dropping the reading and moving to independant reading, but her comprehension stinks and this is an easy way for me to assess that. Plus, she is still getting great Bible stories.

My only complaint with R&S in general is that with it being written by Mennonites, we occaisionally run across things that we (yep, I said WE) don't know. I've found this more in the grammar, but it has happened in reading once in awhile. Such as: Look at these pictures and write the first letter of each word...In those cases I just ask her what the pciture is, and if she wrote down the correct letter for where her brain was going, I said fine.