Phonics Pathways: Clear Steps to Easy Reading and Perfect Spelling, 10th Edition 10th Edition

I got this book when I had to teach ESL to students who had big vocabularies in conversation but couldn't read well at all. Clearly they had been taught vocabulary but not phonics! It's important to learn both and these students are a good example of that. Anyways, for the first 6 weeks (1 2-hour class a week) we hammered away at the first lesson, the short vowel sounds. I used the games provided in the appendix and lots of repetition, and it took that long to master those. I refused to move forward until they had them down, but the rest of the lessons went much faster and I saw clear results after 16 weeks. I feel it was just the thing to train these kids' ears to hear and pronounce English better. Now, I'm using it with an adult ESL student, who feels this system is simpler and more effective than any book she's ever tried. I always wanted to learn how to teach phonics, and this books lays it right out. Just follow the yellow brick road...

My son was diagnosed with dyslexia and learning disabilities in reading and writing. We struggled trying to get him to read, using many curriculums and books. We started using this book 2 years ago. He moves very slow, often taking many days to complete a page. But his reading has improved dramatically, and his spelling is much better than expected for his diagnosis. The Dr. actually commented that what they usually see in dyslexia is that the sounding out of words is worse than sight word reading, but my son actually showed the opposite and did great on the phonics! We are still only about half way through the book, but it is very thorough and follows a sequence that makes sense for struggling readers. My son still doesn't enjoy reading lessons, but he doesn't hate them as much. He likes the little caterpillar in the lessons that gives lines of encouragement. Also a huge positive with this book is that it doesn't separate into age or grade levels anywhere on the book, and my son is very sensitive about that, so seeing that a curriculum say level "1" or whatever it is, is very triggering to him and causes him to shut down completely. That problem is non-existent with Phonics Pathways. I really can't say enough good things about this book. I strongly recommend this to ANYONE struggling with reading OR spelling! A suggestion I have for kids who are having a hard time moving through lessons: I make a chart with 20 or 30 boxes (adjust for your student) and let him color one in for each page he completes. Once the boxes are all filled in, we go out for an ice cream "party" to celebrate his accomplishment. He really looks forward to these and likes to look at his chart and count to see how many more boxes he needs to get his party.

This has been the best investment I have ever made in my life. I started this program with my oldest son 3 years ago when he was 3. He is now 6 and has just completed Kindergarten. We homeschool and have used this as his main reading program. He is an excellent reader. I receive comments about how amazing of a reader he is at least weekly. Again he just turned 6 and he is reading at a solid 4th grade level. We haven't completely finished the book even, we have about 30 pages left. He can decode new words with relative ease, including multi-syllable words.We have worked through the book consistently but without rushing. When he had difficulty with a page we would do a smaller portion. Occasionally we have needed to review some previous concepts, we just go back to the relevant page(s) and refresh. He now loves reading and can read almost anything that catches his eye.When he was young we would do fairly small segments and any time we could act out a word, we would. Words like, log, lad, nap, mop, hop, etc. He hasn't loved every day we've done it, but on the days it's particularly grueling, we just needed to incorporate some extra fun or motivation. I did things like, motivating treats (raisins or small candies), acting out the words, say a line then race across the room and back, etc. I also let him read while standing which helped him focus and enjoy it more.My only, and very minor at that, complaint is with Dewey, the bookworm. He is incredibly cute, and has some excellent sayings... but they aren't attuned to the reading level of the child, or to the comprehension level of the child. It would be more effective if the kids had a chance at reading his sayings before they were about halfway through the book. It would also be less frustrating if I didn't have to take a half hour to explain some of them because of how they are worded or how abstract they are.All in all, a phenomenal phonics program.

I was very hesitant to buy this book because of all the reviews talking about how much bleed through there is. I haven't actually used it so I'm not reviewing the content. I'm only reviewing the printing at this time.There is some bleed through but it certainly, in my opinion, is not bad enough to pass up on something that might really work for you. I was expecting much worse based on the reviews. I'm glad I gave it a shot.I would add a picture but I can't figure out the permissions and I don't want them open permanently.