Hooked on Phonics

[tikilyn]

Is it worth it to buy this program? My dd 4 is ready to learn to read ( I think). Ok she showing some signs and I want her to get a head start and not hold her back. Is it hard to use? I was looking on Ebay and there are some that are priced pretty good but they are older versions. Should I invest in an older version or should I pay more for a new version?

Anyone care to share you experiences with Hooked on Phonics?

Thanks Sabrina

 

[meandtheguys2]

We have an older version, and I like the SRA reading program. My kids were all bored out of their skulls with the HOP itself. I don't know what has been added, but frankly any work you do with your 4 yr old and letters would be sooooo much more interesting!
(My opinion!)

Why not just make up some letter cards ( or purchase) and spend time with her, if she really is interested in them. Much cheaper, and the time with you is so much more oimportant than that insipid audio tape!

 

[staci]

well, in my reading and writing methods course at the university (course for learning to teach reading and writing) my professor said that even though those programs can work, there are equal (if not greater benefits) from reading quality literature and teaching the phonics lessons using those books. (like picking out small words like 'and' and challanging your child to pick them out as you read, and then seeing 'sand' and pointing out similarities).

However, my professor was very much a supporter of the whole language approach, which is pretty much the opposite of anything named hooked on phonics!! I know once I got into the schools locally they are using a much more phonics based approach than we were taught to use.

I dont know if my rambling will help you, but I thought I would offer what I know!

Good luck in your choice! your daughter is lucky to have a mom so interested in her success!

 

[bengalbelle]

I used to teach the HOP program to 4-5 year olds and some schoolagers, and it does work. It can be boring, but 4 out of 5 kids that I taught really looked forward to the lessons. I've also seen schoolage children who were failing reading make significant improvement (like reading at or above grade level in just weeks or months).

We would use the tapes, workbook and HOP books, then once the child mastered those sounds we would find a well known book with those sounds (like Dr. Seuss) and read it together. I added lots of other activites to make it more interesting as well. The workbooks also address frequently occuring sight words that can't be sounded out. There are flashcards for this.

To determine if a child was ready for the program, I showed them all letters of the alphabet (upper and lower case, not in alphabetical order) and they had to tell me the name of the letter and the sound. If they got most of these right, I'd start with Level 1. If they didn't know most of the letters, they typically wouldn't do well in Level 1 and we'd just repeat lessons on letters and sounds. It's also important for them to know the short vowel sounds as that's what HOP starts with. The program we used came with a computer CD and the kids really loved it.

I'm also struggling with buying the HOP program. My son (4) has known his letters and sounds for quite some time, but I'm not sure he'll sit long enough to do it. He started PreK this year and they'll be eating their way through the alphabet (phonics based) so I'll probably hold off on buying the kit. There is a website www.starfall.com that has phonics activites. If you've never tried it you might want to.

 

[Pooh Crew]

As a mother of five, the very best thing I have found to teach our children the letter sounds was the Leap Frog videos called Letter Factory and Word Factory. My three yr old knew all the letters, what sounds they made, and then all the words on the word factory video. He was even able to spell words! You might try these first before investing in HOP.

 

[bengalbelle]

well, in my reading and writing methods course at the university (course for learning to teach reading and writing) my professor said that even though those programs can work, there are equal (if not greater benefits) from reading quality literature and teaching the phonics lessons using those books. (like picking out small words like 'and' and challanging your child to pick them out as you read, and then seeing 'sand' and pointing out similarities).

I totally agree with this. Phonics is just a part of being a successful reader. Don't forget about other skills like comprehension, inference, predicting, rhyming, etc.

 

[eeyore45]

I totally agree with this. Phonics is just a part of being a successful reader. Don't forget about other skills like comprehension, inference, predicting, rhyming, etc.

at 4 you do have a wide variety of other cheaper materials to work with, Leap Frog is what got my dd reading at 4. HOP does take time, and it is heavily audiotoral (is that a word?) so if your child's main form of learning is hearing, this is fine, but if your child is prone to ear infections, it will be a hard way to learn...

its been awhile since I worked, and I have forgotten some of the other negatives with this program, I did see it at Sam's club so I understand wanting to help your child that is showing reading readiness!! Spending time, reading to them is the most valuable tool you can have, trying to push a child to learn who isnt ready may cause more harm than good (and You have NOT indicated this to be the case btw, just in case others read the thread!)

Also, my DD did learn to read and comprehend before Kindergarten, her teacher told me she doesnt have time to work with kids that read, and they taught on the Iowa Univ program of phonics/ sounds (I truly have forgotten that program, it was wonderful for those kids learning to read, those that knew how to read didnt 'get it' nonsense words, based on sounds )

It really was a hard 2 years for her since she was so far ahead of her class for both kind and 1st grade... when she took a basic skills test they accused her of cheating!! lol, luckily her 2nd grade teacher actually "listened" to her and adapted a program!!

Good Luck!

 

[dtsaos]

I used to teach the HOP program to 4-5 year olds and some schoolagers, and it does work. It can be boring, but 4 out of 5 kids that I taught really looked forward to the lessons. I've also seen schoolage children who were failing reading make significant improvement (like reading at or above grade level in just weeks or months).

We would use the tapes, workbook and HOP books, then once the child mastered those sounds we would find a well known book with those sounds (like Dr. Seuss) and read it together. I added lots of other activites to make it more interesting as well. The workbooks also address frequently occuring sight words that can't be sounded out. There are flashcards for this.

To determine if a child was ready for the program, I showed them all letters of the alphabet (upper and lower case, not in alphabetical order) and they had to tell me the name of the letter and the sound. If they got most of these right, I'd start with Level 1. If they didn't know most of the letters, they typically wouldn't do well in Level 1 and we'd just repeat lessons on letters and sounds. It's also important for them to know the short vowel sounds as that's what HOP starts with. The program we used came with a computer CD and the kids really loved it.

I'm also struggling with buying the HOP program. My son (4) has known his letters and sounds for quite some time, but I'm not sure he'll sit long enough to do it. He started PreK this year and they'll be eating their way through the alphabet (phonics based) so I'll probably hold off on buying the kit. There is a website www.starfall.com that has phonics activites. If you've never tried it you might want to.

Wow, very cool website! Can't wait to show it to my son tomorrow. He's very anxious to start reading and will be starting kindergarden in a week. I don't have the kind of time I'd like to give of myself with DD3 and DD 8months but he's been in some kind of PreK program since 2 and is very ready for the next step. I've contemplated HOP too, but I figured that I learned to read w/out something like that at age 5 and there's no reason he can't too. I would consider it for an older child for sure if it was needed though.

 

[tikilyn]

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone. DD is very ready for reading. I think I'm going to hold off on the HOP for now and see what her teacher will be teaching her. Now I remember what her teacher said she was starting with and it was with sight words. (never heard of that). She also said that by doing the sight words she could tell who will be ready to learn to read.

We do read books together and boy does it take a long time. I'll pick out a short book and we go over every single word. She likes to say that she read it all by herself. LOL.

Thanks again everybody
Sabrina

 

[bengalbelle]

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone. DD is very ready for reading. I think I'm going to hold off on the HOP for now and see what her teacher will be teaching her. Now I remember what her teacher said she was starting with and it was with sight words. (never heard of that). She also said that by doing the sight words she could tell who will be ready to learn to read.

We do read books together and boy does it take a long time. I'll pick out a short book and we go over every single word. She likes to say that she read it all by herself. LOL.

Thanks again everybody
Sabrina

Sight words are words that occur frequently, and you often can't sound them out. Examples: that, the, of, to.

 

[staci]

you should be able to find some pretty good lists of 'sight' words somewhere on the internet. They really are a big deal for kids. If you think about it, from nearly day one of learning to read, words like 'the' and 'of' are not sounded out, but just known. We (even as adults) use phonics every day to sound out new words (same as kids), but if we didnt recognize basic sight words it would take FOREVER to to strictly use phonics to read anything.

Many times, primary classrooms will have 'word walls' (big charts) that list words children should know. Often these words are 'sight' words.

Let me look around at my resources, I might have a good list somewhere to help you out.

 

[ladyelle]

I purchased Hooked on Phonics and have had great results with all of my children. I also purchase alot of learning toys which reinforce such as leapfrog and items from Learning Resources.

 

[In Luv with Disney]

As a mother of five, the very best thing I have found to teach our children the letter sounds was the Leap Frog videos called Letter Factory and Word Factory. My three yr old knew all the letters, what sounds they made, and then all the words on the word factory video. He was even able to spell words! You might try these first before investing in HOP.

That is so funny that you said this!!! My 3 1/2 year old LOVES these...he is kinda bored with the Letter Factory one (with the letter sounds) because he has known these for sooooo long...at least a year or more! The Leap Frog learning bus taught him these. Anyway, now he LOVES the WORD FACTORY DVD! We have these in the car and he watches the WORD factory DVD over and over and over. He walks around the house spelling DUCK, CAT, FAT, STOP, etc, etc. All from the DVD! He is learning a lot from it!

 

[moopdog]

Our local libraries have them... see if you can check them out for 2 weeks, then renew for 2 more weeks and if you still like them after that - go buy it!

What I do is this: sit down with a magnadoodle with my 4.5 year old son. I write TOP and help him sound it out.... them I erase only the T and replace it with P then with B, etc. Then I'll change the middle letter a bunch of times... then the last. He's getting it - he really is. He enjoys it because after I write the word and he reads it I'll let him copy it underneath.

 

[Forevryoung]

I am a hearing and speech sciences major in college (yay senior year) and I taught preschool for kids with language delays.

Start off with rhyming ( what word rhymes with ___?)
Once that is perfected make a game out of "what's this word? C-A-T"
Then ask them to seperate sounds "what sounds are in the word cat?" They say "K-A-T"

Once they can correspond the letter with a sound (or a variety of sounds) they can sound out words. Sight reading is the opposite of this (its a whole word approach).

 

[DISLOVE]

I am a big proponent of the HOP program (being that I am a director for KinderCare, it's probably not a big surprise!). I have seen it do amazing things for children who were ready for it!

The most important thing is to remember that phonics instruction can't take place in a vacuum. You need to provide lots of whole language activities (notice all of the print around you!) and work with the HOP materials. My center currently has 14 hoppers and they are having a blast!

Good luck!
Kristy

 

[Madi100]

My daughter did Hooked On Phonics when she was four, and I think it is what pushed her over the edge and got her reading. She was very smart to begin with. We did the tape over and over again with the letter sounds where it said, "A, a, Apple. B, b, bell." The second saying was the sound. I've started doing that with my younger daughter is she is doing an excellent job.

 

[momsully]

I love HOP. I bought a set from ebay when oldest DS started Kindergarten. He has worked his way thru all the levels and is a great reader. Younger DS will be 4 in October and has started to ask to learn to read so we are getting ready to pull out the level 1 tapes again. I am also going to check out the videos that were suggested at the library.

 

[KimWDW]

Another recommendation for the Leap Frog videos. My son learned all his letter sounds from that at age 2.5. He's 3 now and can read about a dozen sight words and I help him sound out other words. He's very interested in learning to read and I think Leap Frog started that for him.