How Does Hooked On Phonics Compare To Children Learning Reading And 100 Easy Lessons?
In this multi product review we will take a close look at three very good reading programs that are very popular. When you are looking for a reading program to teach your child to read it can be overwhelming to make the right decision. We will make the decision simpler for you in this review.
We will begin with a Hooked on Phonics review where we will take a detailed look at this system. Then we will present a Children Learning Reading review and finally we will provide you with a “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” review.
Hooked on Phonics Review
This review is different to other Hooked on Phonics reviews because we will take an in depth look at what the program has to offer and why it works. We will provide an honest assessment at the end of the review.
The Hooked on Phonics learn to read program has been around for a long time now because it works. The Hooked on Phonics commercial tagline was “Hooked on Phonics worked for me”, and this had a big influence on parents with young children that were keen to teach them how to read.
But does it really work? Can you actually tech your child to read using the Hooked on Phonics program? Why is it better to use this program than let your child go through the standard reading methods that are taught in schools?
The problem with the School System
It is very important that your child learns to read as early as possible. Reading is an essential life skill and will go a long way in determining how well your child does in their future life. Schools tend to use very outdated methods when teaching kids how to read. There is also a lot of pressure on the parents with the school learning to read system.
When your child is at first grade they should have basic reading knowledge. A lot of parents will read to their kids and assist by providing the meanings of certain words, and also help their children to sound out the words. This is OK but it is not a systemized approach. It relies on your child remembering words, and if they see a new word they will not be able to pronounce it.
What does the Hooked on Phonics Reading Program claim?
The main claim with the Hooked on Phonics set is that it uses a unique learning system that is very different to the school reading system. When you use Hooked on Phonics to teach your child to read, your child will learn the sounds that the letters make and the sounds of letter combinations.
Hooked on Phonics was developed by leading educators after they had conducted a great deal of research. The Hooked on Phonics for kids reading program provides a number of lessons presented in different formats.
The company claims that it takes no longer than 20 minutes to complete each lesson. Most parents are busy, and it is really good that the program creators have respected that they have limited time. The Hooked on Phonics complete set provides a “learning how to read” program that has 3 important steps:
The first important step is learning. There is a Hooked on Phonics DVD which your child can watch with you. When they watch the DVD they will learn how to recognize new words and how they need pronouncing.
The second important step is practice. There are Hooked on Phonics workbooks that your child can use to practice sounding out new words and new word combinations. Your child will enjoy using these workbooks which will aid their learning.
The third vital step in the process is reading. Your child will use the Hooked on Phonics letter sounds that they have learned, and apply this to reading fun stories from the provided storybooks. When your child has completed the Hooked on Phonics homeschool system you can give them a reward sticker.
The key to the success of Hooked on Phonics is that it teaches children to understand the different sounds that letters make and letter combination sounds. Your child will learn how to deconstruct a word that they have not seen before and successfully pronounce it. When they can do this they may also be able to guess the meaning of the new word.
The Hooked on Phonics program ensures that learning to read is fun for your child. It will encourage them to love learning in general which will be a great advantage to them in life. It doesn’t rely on outdated practices such as rote memorization and reading drills that certainly do not make learning to read fun.
What do you get with Hooked on Phonics?
The Hooked on Phonics DVD set is there to provide guidance to your child on a level by level basis. You need to watch the DVD’s with your child so that you introduce them to the lesson of the day.
Within the DVD’s there are both video and audio features to help your child with the letters and words. As an example there are animated letters and associated sounds that help your child learn the composition of a specific word.
There are four different versions of Hooked on Phonics that you can purchase. The one that you choose will be dependent upon the age of your child. For children that are pre kindergarten there is the Hooked on Phonics pre K version.
If your child is at kindergarten then you need to choose the Hooked on Phonics kindergarten version. Then there is Hooked on Phonics first grade and Hooked on Phonics second grade. You can also go for the Hooked on Phonics complete set designed for kids between the ages of three and eight.
The complete set contains all four of the programs and represents the best value for money. The company often has a special deal on the complete program and you can check out what is available now by visiting the official website here.
Here is what is included in the Hooked on Phonics Complete Set:
- Eight DVD’s and associated workbooks
- Thirty six story books
- Four Flashcard sets
- Eight sticker sets
- Hooked on Phonics com full access online
- A storage box for all of the materials
Are there any Bonuses with Hooked on Phonics?
Yes there are usually free gifts for you when you order Hooked on Phonics. The first of these is a kit for making a book so that your child can create their own book and be a young author. The second is an activity pad that will stimulate your child’s brain activity with more than 90 activities.
Quite often you will see a special offer for other programs. For example there is a 50% bonus offer for the Hooked on Spelling program which is a great accompaniment to the main program. It consists of 20 minute lessons that will develop your child’s spelling ability.
What about a Guarantee?
There is a full 30 day money back guarantee with the Hooked on Phonics program. This means that you can try the program out for a full 30 days and if you are not satisfied for any reason then you can request a full refund. If you received bonuses then you will be able to keep these.
What is the Cost of Hooked on Phonics?
It really depends what program you choose. If you go for one of the basic programs then this will be fairly inexpensive. The Hooked on Phonics complete set normally costs around $40 and $50. If you consider how much a private reading tutor would cost you then this is a bargain.
What do Parents need to do to make the program work?
There needs to be a commitment made by the parents to get involved with their children so that they get the most out of the Hooked on Phonics program. This is not a program that you can just sit your children down in front of and they will immediately start to learn.
The more that you are involved in the program, the more your child will get out of it. Although it is true that some of the activities can be performed by your child on their own, they will always fair better with these if you are encouraging and supporting them.
Where can you find Hooked on Phonics for sale?
You can purchase your chosen Hooked on Phonics program by visiting the official website here.
Will Hooked on Phonics work for you and your Child?
You will find that Hooked on Phonics is a lot more than just learning the basics of phonics. A lot of people think that the program is just for kids that find reading difficult and have fallen behind at school. This is not true as the program can be effective in teaching children at any level of learning ability and almost any age.
Hooked on Phonics teaches reading from the ground up. You may think that it somewhat remedial when you first use it. But it provides a great foundation for reading by making kids understand the building blocks of letters and words and how they should sound.
A lot of parents have reported significant progress with their child’s reading by using Hooked on Phonics. The systemized approach really helps and will give your child the head start that they need with reading. We highly recommend Hooked on Phonics.
Children Learning Reading Review
Like Hooked on Phonics, the Children Learning Reading program focuses on the use of synthetic phonics and assisting the development of your child’s phonemic awareness. The program creator, Jim Yang, spent a long time researching what worked the best when it came to kids learning to read. Yang is an experienced teacher of reading.
After Yang had finished his research he developed the methods used in Children Learning Reading. He decided that he would use these methods on his own kids before he launched the program as a product. He started with his kids when they were only two years of age and they are all prolific readers now.
The first thing that you will notice about the Children Learning Reading package is that it is very comprehensive. Yang uses a mixture of different media, and his aim with the program is to teach children how to read by making it fun. Your kids will learn individual letter sounds and the sounds that combinations of letters make.
Yang uses this approach because it is important for the development of your child’s phonemic awareness. A good phonemic awareness will lay a strong foundation for your child’s reading ability. Some parents have stated that their children have learned how to read after just 3 months when they use Children Learning Reading.
The program is for children that are two years old and upwards. Once your child can speak they can use the program. If they follow it consistently, with your help, then they are very likely to become proficient in reading. Your child will learn words and sentences and then they will be able to progress to reading short stories.
A Fun way to Learn how to Read
Jim Yang spent a long time designing Children Learning Reading so that it would be fun for kids. When something is fun, your child will want to participate a lot more. The lessons start off really easy and they all have stories that are associated with them. There are nursery rhymes as well as color images.
Children Learning Reading is a very engaging program for kids and they should not get bored. A young child has a very low attention span and Jim Yang has taken this into account. Without this engagement, learning to read would be a chore for your child and they would not progress as well as you want them to.
A truly Step by Step program
You will never be wondering what to do next when you use the Children Learning Reading program. If you don’t have any experience teaching kids how to read this is not a problem either. With each lesson there are detailed instructions on what needs teaching and how to do it. It is a very easy program to follow.
Children Learning Reading is a proven learning to read program that builds day by day. It is really important that your child fully understands every element of a lesson before they progress to the next one.
The English language has some strange and complex rules that a child can find really tough. Children Learning Reading makes everything very easy to understand. They will soon learn about the quirks of the English language and become confident in their reading.
How does Children Learning Reading work?
With the carefully mapped out lessons you will spend around ten to fifteen minutes each day with your child teaching them how to read. The lessons are very flexible and you can easily break them down into shorter parts if this is necessary. This will not affect the overall effectiveness of the program.
There is a natural migration from one lesson to the next one. It will impress you how much your child is learning each day. Starting with no reading ability they will quickly move on to identifying all of the letters and the sounds that they make. They will then progress to creating whole words from these sounds.
Yang has built in a curiosity factor to the lessons so that your child will want to get going with the next lesson as soon as possible. The early lessons deal with identification of letters and their sounds. After this there will be synthetic phonics learning where sounds are blended together to make words.
As your child progresses through Children Learning Reading their vocabulary will improve and so will their phonemic awareness. You will see that they are able to pronounce new words correctly with no mistakes.
Children Learning Reading does not use sight words in any way. Memorizing words from cards is only partially effective, and it is far better for the longer term that your child learns phonetics and can use this to blend words from letters.
There are Two Parts to Children Learning Reading
The program has two parts and the first part has 28 lessons and the second part 22 lessons. In the first part of the program the focus is on learning the letters of the alphabet and the sounds that go with them. This progresses to blending the letter sounds so that simple words are constructed. After this the program moves on to words that are more complex.
Decoding words and breaking them down into their individual letter sounds follows. Once your child has learned to decode words they learn how to recombine them and use the correct pronunciation each time. Pronunciation practice takes the form of story reading and nursery rhymes as well as additional activities.
The second part of Children Learning Reading is more advanced as you will expect. Your child will have learned a lot of valuable skills from the first part of the program and the second part will develop this further by introducing your child to digraphs (letter combinations producing different sounds).
Your child will learn more complex words and sentences in part two. The nursery rhymes and stories are more challenging as well. There is a gradual build up to these more advanced areas to ensure that your child is not subject to overwhelm.
What does the Children Learning Reading program consist of?
You have the choice between 2 different packages with the Children Learning Reading program:
Standard Children Learning Reading Package
- Part one consists of 28 lessons that will teach your child to read step by step
- Part two consists of 22 lessons that take your child’s reading abilities to the next level
- Stories for all lessons in part one
- Stories for all lessons in part two
- Sounds that letters make audio clips in MP3 format
- Nursery rhymes specially designed for kids learning to read
- All program updates for life
- 12 week one on one counseling sessions
Premium Children Learning Reading Package
The premium package contains the entire standard package and the following extras:
Videos for Lessons and a Workshop
This set of videos shows how Jim Yang and his wife applied the techniques in Children Learning reading to teach their young two year old son how to become a fluent reader in just 12 weeks.
Expedited Results Video
This video really provides an inside look into the Children Learning Reading program and you will learn some excellent tips here so that you can accelerate your child’s reading development.
Part Two Nursery Rhymes
There are some wonderful illustrations in the rhyme section of part 2 of the program and you will have full access to all of them.
Part two printouts for Lessons
With the premium package you can print out all lessons that make up part two of the program.
What does the Children Learning Reading Program cost?
You can purchase the standard Children Learning Reading package for $49.95 and if you want to go for the premium Children Learning Reading package then this will cost $69.90. Once you have made your payment you have instant access to your package via digital download.
Does the Children Learning Reading program work?
You will see many testimonials from satisfied parents on the official Children Learning Reading website. Extensive research and testing has resulted in a proven program to assist in teaching your child to read.
It is unlikely that you will be dissatisfied with the Children Learning Reading program, but if you are there is a full 60 day money back guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied that the program is assisting in your child’s reading development then you can have your money refunded in full.
Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons Review
This is a simple to follow guide and does not have all of the extras that the other programs offer. This does not make it any less of a powerful learning to read resource though. It is the least inexpensive option of the three products as well.
100 Easy Lessons will provide you with a guide on how you can create the ideal environment that will totally compliment your child’s readiness to learn how to read, and also has some good advice on establishing priorities and helping your child to be more creative.
If you are teaching your kid how to read at home then you will have questions such as “what should I be teaching my child?” and “do I need additional resources and what are they?” 100 Easy Lessons answers these questions and more.
What is Inside 100 Easy Lessons?
We recommend that you read the introduction section that appears at the front of the guide and is some 18 pages in length. For each lesson there is a parental script that provides precise instructions for parents to follow. These are beneficial to both parent and child.
When you start using 100 Easy Lessons it is best to stick to the parental scripts exactly. You may find that in certain instances you need to inject your own personality into the teaching as your child will respond more favorably to this.
As you progress through the lessons you will find that the parental scripts tend to be quite repetitive. There is nothing wrong with this as good methods often have a repetitive element. You will find it a lot easier at this stage to teach your child how to read because you will have learned the foundation of each script through repetition.
Like all good teaching kids to read programs, 100 Easy Lessons builds on previously lessons learned. 100 Easy Lessons is phonics based and uses direct instruction. The book is the result of a lot of research and the level of detail is impressive.
It is best to use 100 Easy Lessons if your child has no reading experience. If they have learned using other methods then they might find the orthography (letter formations representing different sounds) a bit confusing. This is not to say that they could not get used to this teaching method but it would be another obstacle to overcome.
To create the regular alphabet, 100 Easy Lessons uses 44 different letter formations. They do this in order to make the decoding process a lot simpler for your child and this works particularly well for those children just starting out on their reading journey.
As an example of how this is effective, consider the different sounds of letter “t” when it stands alone or used in conjunction with “h”. 100 Easy Lessons has different indicators which signify the different sounds and even silent letters in words.
Not every possible sound has a symbol though. It is felt that children will naturally recognize some of the irregularities of the English language over time. There are examples of these irregularities provided in the guide as learning points. After a few lessons (around 27) there is a transition back to the regular alphabet.
You will find everything that you need to teach a young child how to read in 100 Easy Lessons. You will find single words, sentences and short stories to improve reading development. All of the words found at the end are the kind that will be familiar to younger children.
At the end of 100 Easy Lessons there is a resource section that provides recommendations on learning additional phonetic sounds. A recommended reading list is also in this section. The thing is that once a child has been through the 100 Easy Lessons guide they will probably not require any further decoding training and will naturally learn the right sounds through reading.
Some people might not like the 100 Easy Lessons approach of introducing a modified alphabet and all of the supplementary letter symbols. When you first look at the book it can seem confusing, but once you and your child get into it you should find that it is a good way to teach young children how to read.
There is a transition back to the normal alphabet as we mentioned before, so there is no real problem with the overall approach. The stories in 100 Easy Lessons are fun for kids and will keep them engaged to assist in their reading development.
What is the Price of 100 Easy Lessons?
This tends to vary according with the seller of the book. On average it will cost around $24 but you can get it for less if you are prepared to shop around. You can find it on Amazon and other online booksellers. Siegfried Engelmann writes the book.
Who is Siegfried Engelmann?
Siegfried Engelmann is one of the co-developers of an instruction approach called “direct instruction”. He is a very famous author and written 19 books and many scholarly articles and is very well respected in the field of education. He is currently Director of the National Institute for Direct Instruction and Professor Emeritus of Education at Oregon University.
So which Learning to Read Program should you choose?
There are many things to like about all three of these learning to read programs. We have taken into account the ease of implementation; cost and entertainment value of all three programs and recommend Hooked on Phonics as the best choice.
What we particularly liked about Hooked on Phonics was that there is a program for different ages of children and different stages of reading ability. This goes from no reading ability through to second grade reading ability.
Although you could argue that the other programs can cope with different reading abilities, Hooked on Phonics does it the best in our opinion. The DVD’s are great and have all of the reading cues that a child needs.
You can visit the official Hooked on Phonics website here.