I recommend Explode the code. We used 100 Easy Lessons, then used Explode the code. 100 easy lessons was great for us because it taught how to blend, which I did not know how to teach. I used it reluctantly after failing with other programs. What was nice about it for us was that it is designed for one on one and interaction between teacher and child. I used it at night before bedtime. We would do the 100 easy lessons lesson and review as needed, then play a card or board game for a few minutes. It was part of the night time wind down and at a time of day when my full attention was welcome even in the form of school. LOL I had resistance toward reading with both of my students until about 6.5 or 7 years old. They were reading but guessing a lot and getting frustrated or bored, or whatever. Then all of the sudden they were reading a huge amount. THey jumped right into reading multiple volumes of fiction series from the library. THen they started voluntarily reading non fiction that related to their favorite novels. Between 7.5 and 8 my youngest read all of the Harry Potter novels from cover to cover in addition to several other series. And she was a kid who swore she hated reading when she was 6.5. She is 9 now and read the Hobbit but stalled a bit on LOTR series, finding it a bit dry. She is currently reading the Narnia novels, and has already read almost every series the local library has.
Thanks Jackie. In my opinion, if Learning to Read is mixed with fun activities like playing games & puzzles, singing songs etc. Children absolutely love it and they don't even realize that they're learning to read and it all fun
I mentioned on another thread that I'm teaching a class at co-op called Primary Math Fun for grades k-2. We do fun stuff like simplified Sudoku games, logic puzzles, sorting/counting/graphing candy, surveys and graphing the results, geometric designs (ie: construction paper "quilt patterns), etc. The mother of one of the kids told me that her daughter said, "Mommy, it really isn't math at all! It's just fun!!!"
