Alpha-Phonics: A Primer for Beginning Readers

Someone gave this book to my mother when I was very young. I learned to read in it and I used it to teach my younger siblings to read. Now I have kids of my own and I taught my first child to read using the ebook on her tablet. For my second and third children, I tried one other learn-to-read curriculum that uses a combination of phonics, sight words, stories and blending games. It was fun for them and they were learning to read, but I find that too much focus on sight words becomes problematic because they say the sight word for any word that looks similar and I have to tell them "No, Sound it out". When there's more focus on phonics, there will be words that HAVE to be sight words because they are not spelled phonetically ("one" for example), but most of the words can and should be sounded out (with a little instruction along the way about silent letters, blends and digraphs, long and short vowels). The more they practice sounding out, the more they will begin to recognize the most common words (because they sound them out so frequently) and those words naturally BECOME sight words. Starting with phonics sets you up to be a more proficient reader, and therefore, enjoy reading. Reading enjoyment leads to a lifetime of learning, which leads to better educated and more successful adults. I bought this book because I prefer a physical book for this application (pointing at words on the tablet sometimes would turn the page, which gets annoying). The lessons have a smooth and logical progression so the child learns easily and advances quickly. It doesn't take any prep work, you simply open the book and go. I am still using the other curriculum for the hands on exercises (writing letters and words, reading a story and numbering sequence of events, dot maps, etc), but for just learning to read, Alpha Phonics is all you need and you can start as soon as your child knows letters and sounds (my 3rd born is 4 and reading complete 6-8 word sentences). The book arrived promptly in good condition. I do wish it was spiral bound so I could fold it backwards or have it lay flat when opened. I might get it converted to spiral binding.

As a home educator and private tutor for many years, this is one of my favorite resources for use with older children and teens who missed out on basic phonics instruction. Although not as detailed as other methods, WRTR, orton gillingham, and others, once a student has completed this book they will be well equipped to continue reading and growing, adding more instruction through word study and spelling instruction. Combined with the book “How to Tutor” by the same author this can be used for both reading and handwriting instruction to include cursive.

I cannot brag this product up enough. I started working through this program with my son when he was 3. He is now 4 and he is progressing through the book wonderfully. Before we started the program, I had him watch Leap Frog Letter Factory and/or the Amazing Alphabet daily. By the time he was 3 1/2, he was ready to begin Alpha Phonic. We work through Alpha Phonics slowly. If he gets through a lesson very easily, we move on to the next lesson the next day. If he struggles even a little, we repeat the lesson the next day. Also, when we come to a lesson that has four pages of word lists, we do one page a day. I would do the entire lesson in a day if he were not so young. After we finish a lesson, I have him write a few words off his word or if he reads sentences that day, I have him write a sentence. This way he practices reading and writing. We spend about 10 minutes a day completing an Alpha Phonics lesson. The lessons are very easy to teach, there is a short explanation of how to teach the lessons in the back of the book. The instructions are short and could not be easier to understand. I have the computer disc with an explanation of the lessons. I used it a couple of times, but it is much easier for me to quickly read the instructions in the back of the book. Very very little teacher prep time with this program. My son is my third child and I would have never dreamed of having a 4 year old who reads so well. The best part is, he is not pushed. He learns far more than he would at preschool and Alpha phonics requires very little of his time. Users can also buy the workbook and/or readers. I personally do not believe either are necessary. I have no desire to add anything to the primer. However, I did read How to Tudor before starting Alpha Phonics. I highly recommend this book. It taught me a ton about teaching a child to read, write, and do arithmetic. I took thorough notes! I strongly believe that anyone who tries Alpha Phonics could not honestly recommend any other program over Alpha Phonics. Alpha Phonics is quite simply as good as it gets. I hope this helps someone. I write a great deal of reviews, but of everything I have ever reviewed, I believe this is the item I recommend most.

Excellent program with a common sense, systematic approach. After using this with my almost four year old for about a month, it is obvious we made the right choice. This course, though written several decades earlier, is the absolute best method for teaching phonics. It is an excellent alternative to the see and read/memorization method that is plaguing the early education community. My daughter is truly learning to read, not just memorizing stories or using picture cues to guess words. Alpha Phonics has allowed her to "jump into" reading, as well as begin to learn spelling and grammar. She is able to read the words she learns in any new story we introduce and is able to sound out many new words relatively easily. She suddenly seems confident when reading, and I believe it is because she now understands that there is a logical way to figure out new words. She is anxious to read new stories and practice spelling words from her lesson. Although we may read several books a day, we spend no more than about 20 minutes a day, four to five days a week on Alpha Phonics. This product can easily replace and surpass much more expensive home school phonics curriculums. (We are using it for Pre K & K phonics.) It would also be a wonderful tool for public or private school children who are struggling to become confident readers.

I've read a few reviews and just want to let people know that this book is NOT out of print. You CAN still purchase it, but not from Amazon. If you go to howtotutor.com. You can purchase it for $29.95. The gentleman who owns that site/company is very knowledgeable about all of the products and they have excellent customer service. I did not purchase my copy from them, but I have called them and talked with them about several of the products they sell including this one. So, for those who aren't liking the Kindle version of this book, you may want to try this site. I've been using this book for a while now to teach my young child to read. It is very plain and straight forward which I like. No pictures, distracting colors and designs etc. For my child, the less distraction on a page, the better. I had used something with pictures and colors and cartoon characters to teach reading and my child would only focus on the pretty pictures and ignore what was most important. With that said, this book will not teach your child to read quickly, if they are not developmentally ready to begin to learn to read. No, your 2-5 year old will not magically read, because you ordered this. They will have to be ready to begin to learn to read. Then, they'll get it. Also, if they like to move alot and are easily distracted, they may find it boring. I have altered the teaching instructions for the sake of my child. For example, I have learned to make the lessons even shorter than they are and spread them out in the day and even through the week. I also take the words to be learned in each lesson and use magnetic letters and a dry erase board to teach them or make games out of them to teach them. I've made flash cards and used them also. This seems to work better for my child than just sticking to going page to page in this book as if it is a workbook. So, I use the book as a guide. He's learning to read. So, it's working. Initially had to back off a little, because he just wasn't ready for this. Then all of a sudden he got interested. Overall, I would recommend this book for teaching reading. Just be ready to make changes to the lesson plans based on your child's needs.

This is an excellent program for teaching a child to read. I used this this year with my home-schooled kindergartner and he has become a really good reader. He now reads beginner chapter books with no problems. This program is a very simple phonics-based program that starts simple with short "a" and builds on. It has no bells and whistles and really I liked that. Additional reading is important in addition to this, but this primer supplies the structure for a reading program. I used Bob Books, Amazing Animals, and other phonics based reading books from the library and they worked great. I did not care for the Little Companion Readers that can be purchased in addition to this. They were overpriced (paper stapled into cardstock with a terrible print job), not very interesting, and did not start at the level of a truly beginning reader. The other simple books (such as Bob Books) offer a great feeling of success to my child and Little Companion Readers did not. Now at the end of the year, he could fly through those books. I will probably not use them in the early stages of teaching my other sons when they are older. I highly recommend Alpha-Phonics though!

great book. it also came with a CD ROM with the exact copy of the lessons in the book. i'm able to put the CD rom in the computer and do the lessons with my child that way. the computer disks allows the child to focus on the screen with you with no distractions, it also allows you to put the book away so that you can preserve it for use later on or pass it down. this book is a great start for young kids , my child is 3 and is now able to read and write sentences. be sure to teach your child the proper sound of each letter in the alphabet because it makes these lessons easier and allows the child to build their confidence along their reading journey. there are no pictures in this book or the CD which is great because it allow total focus by having just black letters and white background. we do a lot f reviewing each lesson so that i can make sure my child isn't forgetting previous lessons. this book will last a long time because it gets more advance as the lessons progress. just let your child lead the way and give them breaks so they don't become restless or overwhelmed because learning should be fun and individually paced for each child.

Excellent program and great customer service. I love how Alpha Phonics is simple and organized in such a way that lessons require little to no prep. I am impressed with the success we have seen. My kids went from guessing the words and “inventing” spelling to decoding the words. They no longer avoid reading and they no longer say they hate school. This all happened in a matter of about 5 months. If you have a dyslexic child this is also a great program to help correct, yes I said CORRECT this condition. I can’t wait to see the progress when we reach the end of the program. Another bonus to this program is that you can and should combine spelling, writing and reading so there’s no need for expensive additional curriculum. While not required for success, I did find the Alpha Phonics decodable books as well as the Alpha Phonics workbooks helpful. I also recommend that parents who want to know why we should be teaching phonics and why it’s no longer taught in public school read “OBE/Whole Language Fraud” by Samuel Blumenfeld. Order Alpha Phonics today!!!

This is a very simple and easy way to teach a child to read. I am not a parent nor a teacher, but started tutoring a friend's child, (on the mother's request) about a month and a half ago, and have seen the child progress from not being able to read at all (a grade three student), to slowly reading three and four letter-words. Both the child's confidence and mine have improved using this book, (the child's for being able to read and mine at the thought that I can tutor the child and show results), which starts at the very basic level. It gives clear instruction for the 'teacher' on how to teach the lesson, which I found tremendously helpful. Lesson 1 starts with the introduction of just a few consonants and one vowel. The remaining consonants are introduced gradually over the next twelve lessons. During these lessons a lot of words, both real and nonsense words (these are useful in getting the child to sound out the word instead of guessing) are introduced and this provides plenty of reading practice. The other vowels are only introduced in chapter fifteen. We have only progressed upto chapter sixteen, but I can already see the world of difference it has made to the child's ability to read. The only issue I have with the book is that it assumes the person teaching knows phonics, which I didn't and had to learn that from elsewhere. I tutor this child online so I do have to add some colorful slides and interesting quizzes to make the lessons a little more engaging. I wouldn't have known where or how to start tutoring this child if not for this book and its simple instructions, so I highly recommend it to anyone wanting step by step guide to teach a child how to read.

English student asked if I could get this. Seems to fit the bill and used by a few English for adult teachers it seems.

Muy bueno

Very simple book to use. Excellent learning tool. Done in an old school learning style. Helped my children read very fast by building on words and sounds and adding repetitions. HIGHLY recommended!

Very simple and easy to use .