Phonics/Beginning Reading

Adapted from The Virginia Homeschool Manual. Compiled by Vicki Bentley, Susan Brooks, Janice Campbell, and Rachel Ramey. Most of the subject-specific resources can be ordered from the major curriculum suppliers listed under "Homeschool Material Sources," but publisher websites are indicated where appropriate. Publisher websites often offer additional product information, articles, links to other sites, and free e-newsletters.

Alphaphonics
Samuel Blumenfeld’s simple, classic method of teaching phonics.
www.alpha-phonics.com

British Broadcasting Corporation
The BBC site offers free games and phonics-teaching support.
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures

Eagle’s Wings Educational Materials
Alphabet Island Phonics program.
www.eagleswingsed.com

Educators Publishing Service
Secular materials with strong phonics base and remedial focus.
www.epsbooks.com

Floral Alphabet Coloring Book
Three-dimensional alphabet coloring book
Dover Publications

The Gift of Reading by Trudy Palmer
Understanding the six stages of reading development with daily lesson plans and spelling rules.

Phonics for Reading and Spelling
Uses Spalding’s Writing Road to Reading method.

The Phonics Game
Six educational games to teach phonics and reading skills.
www.games2learn.com

Play ‘N’ Talk
A multi-sensory, easy to use, phonics-based reading and spelling program based on word families, such as the “at” family (at, bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat).
www.play-n-talk.com

Reading Made Easy by Valerie Bendt
Fully scripted, Christian, phonics-based reading curriculum.

Rigg’s Institute
A non-profit literary agency that carries materials based on the methods of Orton and Spalding.
www.riggsinst.org

Saxon Publishers
Secular phonics program from the publishers of the well-known math texts.
www.saxonpub.com

Scaredy Cat Reading System by Joyce Herzog
Multi-sensory program with songs, storytelling, and games.
www.joyceherzog.com

Sing, Spell, Read & Write
An award-winning, multi-sensory program for teaching reading, comprehension, spelling, handwriting, grammar, and creative writing to pre-K through elementary-age students.
www.pearsonlearning.com

Starfall
Online phonics lessons.
www.starfall.com

Talicor (Aristoplay)
Offers various phonetic/spelling games.
www.talicor.com

Teach America to Read and Spell (TATRAS)
An easy way to teach phonics using the Saltmine & Hifwip Reading Program, which uses vertical phonics, teaching all the sounds of a phonogram at one time, rather than learning short sounds or hard sounds first, then long sounds or soft sounds later.
www.verticalphonics.com

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Engelmann, Haddox, and Bruner
Step-by-step, ultimately simple method for teaching phonics and reading at the same time.

Victory Drill Book
Phonics drill curriculum for beginning readers, including remedial work.

The Writing Road to Reading by Romalda Spalding
Teaches phonics, spelling, grammar, and much more. Can be challenging to use.

Writing Road to Reading: Putting the Steps in Sequence
Designed for teaching Writing Road to Reading.
www.spalding.org