The Paradigm Company was founded in January 1984 and is a family owned and operated business. Their goal is to offer what they feel are the best possible materials to educate young children in reading, handwriting and arithmetic. They have been in business for over 28 years and hold a Christian perspective. The Paradigm Company publishes several books by Samuel Blumenfeld including Alpha-Phonics. Alpha-Phonics has been around since the late 1970's and has been helping children and adults learn to read!
Last June we were asked if we would like to review Alpha-Phonics. I agreed since Gwyn (currently age 7) was in the process of learning to read (yes it has taken us a year to finish this review). Gwyn started the year off strong, but then became very frustrated again with reading so we had to take a little break (she is a perfectionist and very hard on herself). In February right after she turned 7 she was determined to learn to read. So with the help of Alpha Phonics her self-esteem began to rise.
We have been using Alpha-Phonics over the last few months and it has been a blessing. Alpha-Phonics is simple to use, inexpensive and very effective. The spiral-bound soft cover instruction book and CD teach the 44 phonograms (sounds) children need to learn to read. There are 128 Lessons in Alpha-Phonics. The book starts out by teaching short vowel sounds. Next children sound out and put together simple words like sam, man, has, etc. Then they progress onto more advanced words. By lesson 3 children are reading simple 2-3 word sentences. Children will learn to read over 3,500 words with Alpha-Phonics. I loved how simple the curriculum is. There are no fancy pictures (which keeps children from guessing words/sentences) and no symbols to confuse children. And NO flash cards which made my daughter very happy! The words in the book are printed in a nice large calligraphy style making them easy for children to read.
The enclosed CD that comes with the book is a digital version of the book. It contains an audible introduction and conclusion by Dr. Blumenfeld. With the CD you can have the instruction for each lesson read to you. You can also use the CD book to print out pages or display them on your computer screen.
Alpha-Phonics gave Gwyn the self confidence boost she needed. She lit up every time she read all the words on the page. She would count how many words she read after each lesson and feel a huge accomplishment.
Alpha-Phonics has taught me that teaching reading doesn't need to be hard. There is no need for fancy, expensive curriculum. Alpha-Phonics does focus on teaching reading only, however you can teach spelling as you go through simple dictation. Alpha-Phonics is perfect for busy homeschool families. There is no preparation needed and the lessons take just 10-15 minutes a day! In the back of the book (tan pages) are very simple teacher/parent instructions. Each lesson instruction is a short paragraph.
With Alpha-Phonics your children can be reading in just a few months.
Free resources:
There are several great freebies on the Alpha-Phonics website including video lectures, news and ideas on learning and more. Be sure to also check out the Alpha-Phonics blog. You can also check out sample Alpha-Phonics lessons.
Gwyn review (7 yrs old):
I like this book a lot. I can read a lot of words now.
Links to follow:
-Alpha-Phonics Website-Alpha-Phonics Facebook page
-Alpha-Phonics Twitter
Where to buy:
Alpha-Phonics comes in a Book and CD ROM combo version for $34.95. You can get both versions for the price of the Book only. Full money-back guarantee and 24/7 Helpline. You can currently order the Alpha-Phonics combo on Amazon for $27.18.
6 comments:
Isn't it great when you find something that works? Interesting concept to not have any pictures, and to only rely on the letters~ definite proof that they have either learned the phonics or the shape of the word. Sometimes bells and whistles are a bit of a distraction. ;)
Very helpful review as this product has just come on my radar!
thanks for this review. people are always asking me about phonics programs but because I never used any with Ben, I never really know what recommendations to give.
Awesome that your little one is able to read better now! I love it when something works. Reading has been hard for all my children except my daughter so I know your joy at getting over the bump!
That's wonderful that things clicked! We are struggling with reading here - we'll get there eventually, but it's so hard to watch them fight for something that comes so easily to us.
Wow, sounds like a great product. Wish I would have known about something like this when my kiddos were little. :-)
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