Reading with Phonics
by Julie Wingo and Charles E. Hay
Reviewed by Anna1111
I found Reading With Phonics when I was researching how to best teach reading. I read the 1955 classic book Why Johnny Can't Read and What You Can Do About It by Rudolph Flesch. (I think every adult American should read this book!) It recommended Hay-Wingo's book. It is out of print, but I was able to find it on Amazon for a reasonable price.
I have been thrilled with this book. Three months in, my little one can sound out words like chemistry, Christmas, milkmaid, morning, horse, swimmer, printing, chickens - etc. She is getting to be a very proficient reader. By the end of the year, progressing at this pace, I think she will be able to read anything she picks up.
It is - to me - the "perfect" phonics book. It has mostly drill, with a few stories to practice the new words being learned. The pictures it has are beautifully done - in a 1950's textbook sort of way. But, there aren't so many pictures that they are distracting.
Best of all, it is a one-year complete phonics program - and inexpensive. Other well known, expensive programs spend four to five years to teach the same material!
For us, the best method is to drill with this book - which is getting progressively easier and more fun as she masters the concepts, then to practice with leisure reading - Bob Books, Starfall Books, and Starfall website. I also download youtube videos that emphasize certain concepts - like the SH sound, when "two vowels go walking", etc.
The book has a couple of minor drawbacks. Older editions are illustrated only with white children. (New editions have multiracial illustrations) And it has words that were considered appropriate in 1948 but aren't now - like Squaw (which was the "appropriate" term for an American Indian woman at that time. As a person of American Indian descent, I still don't find it offensive, but recognize that others do.) and Jap (which was necessary to read the newspaper in the 40's!), and words which have changed meaning - like gay. These are things we have to discuss with our children at some point anyway, but if it disturbs you - white-out always works. I'd rather have a great, effective text I need to modify a little than an ineffective text.
If you can only find the teacher's edition, it also has the complete text inside. The teacher's edition is not a necessity - it has a lot of activities for large groups of children, and suggestions for things you'd probably intuitively do yourself - like using words in a sentence if the child doesn't know them. It also has some extra phonics tips.
Recommendation: In summary, I think this is hands-down, the best phonics book out there!
HomeschoolChristian.com resources related to this review:
HomeschoolChristian.com's Language Arts Resources Section for tips on teaching spelling and more!Review of Bob Books
Review of Starfall Learn to Read
Review of Meet the Phonics videos
Review of Rocket Phonics
Review of Sing, Spell, Read, and Write, Pre-Kindergarten
Review of Sing, Spell, Read, and Write, Kindergarten and Level 1 Combo Kit
Review of Sound Beginnings
Review of Phonetic Zoo spelling program
Review of Calvert's Interactive Spelling & Vocabulary
Review of Sequential Spelling
Review of Watchword
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