I have a friend with three boys.

5th grade - reading on 2nd grade level
2nd or 3rd grade - reading well
1st grade - not reading yet

Biggest concern is getting the 5th grader reading. It's now effecting other areas of his schooling and becoming more obvious among friends. She had a teacher friend work with him last year. Teacher's opinion was that he was having a hard time decoding and some other skill. She suggested having him read every day. He's still struggling.

1st grader - Friend tried 100EZLessons last year, but it didn't work. I suggested started again since boys often struggle. My own son couldn't get that book until he was 1st grade, unlike my daughter who picked it up at age 4.

I'm wondering if a phonics program would be a good thing for all of them. Since there are three children it would be easier to have them all doing the same thing. Fun would be ideal. Any suggestions?

Well, it's a tough one.

1. I would suggest that the Mom read "Why Johnny Can't Read" by Rudolph Flesch. Too often, a teacher/parent needs to understand the most effective processes of teaching phonics in order to use whatever materials most effectively. Not to mention, so many parents/teachers learned sight-reading themselves, and that makes it difficult for them to effectively teach phonics. I really can't promote the benefits of this book strongly enough.

2. For whatever it's worth - My personal opinion (and I know MANY here disagree) is that "fun" and some types of learning - including mastering phonics drill- actually hinder each other. I think the fun comes from mastery, but it may take some discipline to get there. Educators of 100 or so years ago commonly believed this, and turned out some great graduates.

3. Having said that, When our boys had trouble learning to read, I spent a summer with them at the amusement park where we had season passes. To go on any ride, or order any food, they had to read the signs/menus, etc. The drill itself may not have been fun, but the setting was! : )

(And, as a side note 100 easy lessons does not teach a full phonics plan - it's okay for a start, but doesn't teach all the rules. So, I don't know what the Mom's expectations were, but maybe she was just expecting more than that book was written to teach.)

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OH, and for materials, my favorites (with reviews on here & the old board) are #1 - Reading with Phonics by Hay-Wingo, and also, Meet the Phonics videos (which ARE a little fun), and practice with simply-written Bible story books. Of course, the Starfall website is a great supplement.

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The other side of this, is they may not be able to learn by phonics at this time. Some people just can't, and continuing with it may cause such a frustration level. People who need to learn my sight words when younger can go back and pick up the rules of phonics after they are fluent readers.

Brains are quirky things. Some people's brains really aren't fully wired for reading until they are young teens. No matter how much is done to "push through this" will not work. Once it is ready, they will "catch up" within a few months. No program will fix any of this. Only time will.

http://donpotter.net/reading_clinic.html

This is also a GREAT website! Especially refer your friend to the articles on whether dyslexia is artificially created in schools, and how to cure dyslexia.

Someone on the old board introduced me to this site, but I can't remember for sure who it was (Briva?). Anyway, I'm very grateful & have gotten a lot out of it : )

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One thing that was not mentioned here was....has their eye sight been checked? I can't remember who... maybe Martha R?" suggested a reading-sight program.

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Thanks for all the advice. I've forwarded it to my friend. She took him to the bookstore and let him pick out three I Can Read books. Two of them were level 3. There were some words that he struggled with. His aunt was sitting with him while he read the book aloud. He struggled with "prosthetic" and something else. She felt that if he knew the sounds and rules of when letters make certain sounds that he'd do much better.

All the phonics reviews are shown on our review page:
http://homeschoolchristian.com/curricul ... /index.php

Also, we hope to be reviewing another phonics program shortly that is good for all ages -- young or older remedial work.

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He may be having problems with his vision. I would highly suggest she checks into doing some therapuetic eye exercises with him. Did wonders for my struggling learners. She could check out this website for more info:

www.visual-edge.org

Martha and Mary L. referred me a book called "Seeing is Achieving" and it contains many helpful exercises that may possibly help your friend. I can't remember, but I believe the book is only $15-20.

I would encourage her not to wait too long in getting help, as we made that mistake with one of my children, and it was VERY difficult to get a teenager to do eye exercises. Now that she's living on her own, she is working very hard to overcome her reading issues and just recently started reading the 6 volumes of the Chronicles of Narnia all on her own. " )