Reading Reflex

The hunt for the perfect advanced phonics program continues...but I may have met my match with Reading Reflex.

Chapters 1-4 are pretty standard phonics: you learn sounds, you blend them together in to words. It includes all the basic short vowel sounds, and double consonants (ll, etc.)

Chapter 5 is where it gets interesting! First, consonant digraphs are learned (sh, ch, th, & I think wh?) and follows the same format as chapters 1-4. Next comes the advanced sounds. First, you learn all the words that make the long O sound. You spend about 1 week on each sound. So week 1 would be the long O sound. You read words with o-e, oa, ow, etc. You study your words and put them down on paper. You read stories with the new words in them, etc.

Next, you learn the ow (as in ouch) sound. You read words with ow, ou and anything else that makes the ow (ouch) sound. Again, the words are sorted on paper (ow words go under ow, ou words go under ou, etc.) You read stories with those words in them. And then...you study these words from another angle. Notice that ow has now made 2 different sounds: long o as in snow, and ow as in now. Next, you do a sound sort. You have make a paper with 2 columns: long O on one side, ow as in now on the other side. You read a word, your child decides where that word goes according to sound. By the end of this week, your child can read long o sounds, ow as in now sounds, and can also tell you that ow can sound both ways.

Another trick in the method is to write the words on the white board and have your child underline the separate sounds in the word. NOW would be N OW.

By chapter 5, the book has the student writing these words, however - I spoke with someone certified in the method and found out that it is ok to use non-writing methods. We can sort words in our pocket chart, with magnetic letters, or on a white board.

I'm kind of excited because I think this might actually be THE BOOK. And its only $10-15.