Phonicstutor educational software for the teaching of phonics

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Educational Software Review of PhonicsTutor � by

Rebecca, a homeschool mother of nine

 

Dear Mr. Hickerson,

I have been thinking of the best way to word this letter, you will just have to use whatever you want. I don't think I can do it as succinctly as I would like. You need to have a little background information on our family. We have nine children, they are ages 11, 10, 9, 8, 6, 5, 3, 2, and 7 months. We are presently home educating six of them. I used a reading curriculum in a book for all of them and it has worked pretty well, for the older ones. Then came Peter who is eight right now. Sometimes he would do well and other times the lessons that he had already gone over were like Greek to him. It was very frustrating That was how we ended the school year last year, frustrated and aggravated, not wanting to go on. He was 8 and could not read very well.

Well, our book fell apart and we were wondering whether to replace it or try something new. Then were heard about Phonics Tutor, and started discussing the benefits of the CD Rom. So we decided to give it a try, in spite of the cost. It was worth every penny. It was wonderfully exciting to see the light turn on in Peter's eyes, when he finally realized that he could read and SPELL. The spelling has been invaluable. His remark was, "Hey, all I am doing is changing the first letter." After 2 years this almost brought tears to my eyes. How long had he been using the CD? Three days, probably translating into about 2 to 3 hours. Now three weeks later he is doing just great and I expect him to catch up to where I think he should be very soon. We have also seen a very big difference with Sharon, who is 6, nearly 7. She doesn't have a great attention span for book learning, but she does enjoy being at the computer. She too, has improved tremendously, and again, I think the spelling is a major key. We use the CD Rom for the older ones because of the spelling. It is very good for them to have to spell back those sentences. Spelling has been a very weak part of our curriculum, till now.

What do I like best myself about the CD? After the kids get the hang of the pattern of the lessons, I don't need to be there. It is entirely self teaching. I do stay in the room but my attention can be with someone else who needs my help.

Teaching the kids to read has been a major frustration for me. Phonics Tutor has taken that frustration away. Thank you for making it.

Sincerely yours,

Rebecca

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Peter may have had dyslexia or his reading disability could have been caused by many other learning disabilies. It is often difficult to determine what has caused a child to be reading delayed. For the homeschooling parent who is teaching more then one child at a time with a child that is not reading at grade level our phonics software can be both a remedial reading program for the child that exhibits potential disability, and the children that are progressing at grade level. The improvement in spelling would be reason enough to buy Phonics Tutor