Reading Horizons

Since we've officially begun our homeschool journey, I wanted to elaborate on some of the great things we do and the great programs out there.  My absolute favorite, by far, is Reading Horizons.  It was a very fluke-y thing that I came across when I was researching curriculum for R's first year of school.  One of my choice academies, if I had more money than I knew what to do with, offered this phonics program as part of their curriculum.  Since I was dreaming (and I do mean dreaming) that I'd be able to afford this academy, I looked into this program.  And I fell in love.  Reading Horizons is an amazing program that actually teaches the rules of phonics.  Most of which I didn't know, and I consider myself a good reader.  They only teach sight words when necessary, and they really focus on teaching children how to read and write well.  It goes almost agonizingly slow.  R knows how to read, but this week we started on learning the letter "A."  Yes, she knows it and it's sound.  And she has for a while.  But, what I like about the program is that it doesn't rush through the important things just to get to the pinnacle of reading.  She's going to get practice (lots of practice) writing her letters, she plays computer games to help her discern the sound of "A" in words, and we'll start a foundation of learning how to properly sound out words.  She loves the computer games, which aren't too high-tech for her, but still engaging.  She gets to play but she is getting lots of good drill work without knowing it (*wink*).  RH encompasses all aspects of phonics - reading, writing, and listening.  They don't assume your child knows anything when you start.  R started on learning to discern separate words in a sentence to begin with, which is amazingly difficult if you've ever thought about it.  How do you describe what a word is?  How do you explain that "cookie" is a word, and "mayIhaveacookie" is not just one word.  And from there, they start discerning sounds (not letters) in words.  And now, 7 weeks into school, we're getting to actual letters and letter sounds.  Seems slow for me, but it's perfect for R.

We use Intensive Phonics at Home.  It's designed for homeschoolers or for kids who just need a little extra help reading.  They have an online workshop for parents that is an overview of the program and shows you how to teach it to your children, which is great for a newbie like me.  It comes with three gigantic manuals, 2 CDs, posters, books, copy-able pages (for multiple kiddos!) - everything you need to teach your kids.  It has daily lesson plans written out verbatim - no wondering how to word the concepts to explain them well, just read the book.  I do, and R doesn't even notice.  Another great thing is that it's a one-time purchase.  The program is geared for kids age 4-9 (they also have one for older kids age 10 and up), and as long as it takes your child to get through the program, no rushing, or plodding through.  It will take R about 3-4 years to get through, but if we started when she was older, we might get through in 1 1/2-2 years.  It's extremely flexible, and I love that.
So, if you're considering homeschooling or if your child just needs a little extra help reading, consider RH.  It's a great company and worth every penny!

**I wasn't compensated in any way for this post.  Reading Horizons doesn't even know I exist, except in their database as a paying customer.  I just like sharing things that work for us, because it might make your life easier.