By Celeste M., USA
Have you ever tried ‘Hooked On Phonics’? I know this sounds cliché, but really, have you?
I started using it with my first daughter when she was four. She wasn’t really ‘taking’ to the Ladybird Peter and Jane idea and sight words were not her thing at all. I was a mother with three small children ages four, two and newborn and was determined to get them reading. But try as I did, she was just not getting it. Then I saw something about Hooked On Phonics. I decided to give it a try. It was a bit of an investment, but hey, they had a guarantee! Ha! They also claimed that your child could learn to read fluently in about 1-1 ½ years with only 10-15 minutes a day. Sounded good, I could manage 15 minutes a day. So I tried it and I am so happy that I did. Not only did it work, it worked great! She learned to read in about a year and my son who I started at four learned in less than a year and is a great reader!
I have had a bit of a slower start with my third child who is now six, but only a few months into the program she is already beginning to read portions of the MLK mags for kids. We are both thrilled. I plan to start my four- year- old son on it soon and DV will hang on to it (if the set doesn’t fall apart from use!) for my two year old as well. All in all I feel it is a great program, especially if your child is having a hard time with sight words. It breaks it down into such a simple form, small easy bites, and makes it fun too! While in other homes this same HOP set has been used to teach four other children to read as well, so the initial investment has paid off many times over.
If you can sit down for 15 minutes a day (we can all do that) one- on- one with the child, you can do this. It has been perfect for my busy life, well worth the investment and the kids have loved it too!
See www.HOP.com
