An Annoying Commercial That Didn't Lie

Do you guys remember the Hooked on Phonics commercals that ended with the "Hooked on Phonics worked for me!"?

Those annoyed me.

But I found a good deal on Hooked on Phonics at Walmart (the K and 1st grade set) and it looked like something M would like, so being the good Mom I am I set my hangups aside and bought it.

He does like it.

We started the program last week and he's reading (with effort and concentration) three letter words.

I can see great improvement in his skills in just 1 week. And it's completely removed the frustration factor for me (as much as I love reading, I do not love teaching reading), because the nice lady on the CD tells him what to read. When he starts losing focus, we just turn the nice lady off and put the book away, and restart the nice lady at the same place the next day.

I also bought Hooked on Phonics Master Reader for J, and am so impressed with the skills it's teaching J I'm going to have L and Z go through it (the lessons are all computer based and then the child reads a short story aloud) to cement some skills (like dividing words into syllables).

So there's my piece of humble pie. Hooked on Phonics works for me!