Has anyone used Happy Phonics from Love to Learn.net? If you have, will you share your pros and cons on it? Thanks.
We used it for my oldest daughter when we first started homeschooling. I was drawn to it because of the games. We didn't use it long, We put it aside other because it felt unorganized and didn't fit us well. I also remember that it didn't seem like a complete program. This was the older version, the newer one isn't much differant because I compared with my friend who suggested I use it. She LOVED it and suggested it to everyone. I think it was one of Cathy Duffy's 100 top picks. It may work fine for you.
The lady that wrote it suggest using ETC with it. I think all the reviews on it say that it is unorganized. Other than that most of the people like it. Still just don't know what to go with.:?
I forgot that we did use ETC with it as well. I LOVE ETC. We ended up using it along with starfall after we stopped using Happy Phonics. It seems like there was a guarantee on the Love To Learn website. Something like 60 days or so. I did a lot of research on the curriculum and checked it out on the LTL website and then bought a used set from Vegsource.com I'm almost positive they have a guarantee.
We used it and it was great. It takes a while to organize it, but it's worth it. My then three year old loved it when I reviewed some games with his big brother and started begging for it everyday. He's a self taught reader though, it wasn't quite as effective for my struggling reader (but nothing has been). It is fun for the kids. I recommend setting aside a whole day to organize it. Buy some manilla envelopes to sort the games into, a file box to keep it all in, and a list with the order you want to use them in. That part was a little confusing.
Thanks for this info. I think this is what I am going to use. I hope I like it. I am not a game player with kids, love to play board games with olders ones, but my youngest two love to play games, so we are going to give it a try. Anyway, care to share your list to help me out?
I don't think I have it anymore. It was hand written and I marked things off as we did them. I wasn't a huge fan of the "big book" that came with it, so don't sweat it if your kids hate that part like mine did. The booklet that comes with the games does give a general idea if how to use it, but I found it confusing, so I laid everything out in the order that made sense, wrote out a list and went with it. Mark your envelopes well, it's a lot to rifle through to find the game you're looking for. We also have used ETC with it, and the ETC teachers guides are really helpful too.
It's a 90 day money back guarantee! Can't go work with at least checking it out. Thanks again for pointing that out.
I am working on incorporating it as part of our whole learning to read program, but I don't think I will use it as a stand alone. I love the games, which is the main reason I got this.
I have a ebook I downloaded called The Reading Lesson. I also am using the "Before the Code" books and I have a Scholastic Phonics I got from Goodwill that is a full program. I figure between them all I can pull together a great program
