Customer Reviews

Alpha-Phonics the Book on CD Rom

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What's on the CD-rom:

There is not that much more to this CD-rom than the book. Upon opening the program, you are given the options to listen to a little girl read the first lesson in the book, listen to Dr. Blumenfield's remarks, view the contents, or begin the lessons.

The contents include a "Teacher's Manual", order of lessons, cursive alphabet (Alpha Phonics recommends teaching cursive writing along with the print), pre-reading alphabet exercises, and tips from Dr. Blumenfield.

The lessons show a screen with exactly what is in Alpha Phonics Primer for Beginners. The only difference is that you can click on a link to listen to Dr. Blumenfield tell you how to read threw the lesson (the same audio is offered on Alpha-Phonics Audio Lessons Pronunciation CD Rom), and it also offers almost the same vocal information in written form.

The good:

1. This seems to be a great program for learning phonics. It starts off by taking a vowel-consonant blend and adding another letter sound to it. For example, "ad", "had", "dad", "sad"... After only a couple of lessons, short sentences are made using the words from the lessons. This method has boosted my daughter's confidence in reading.
2. The vocal instructions sometimes provide an additional teaching tip, but they are pretty much reading what is on the page, and are monotonous and repetitive.

The bad:

1. Because I paid more for this CD-rom than just the book, I was expecting more: Since I often add a vowel sound to my consonant sounds, I sometimes find it difficult trying to teach my daughter the correct sound. I had hoped that you could click on a link that would let you hear JUST the sound(s) that the lesson is focused on, but instead, a general tip on how to isolate the correct sounds is written in the "Teacher's Manuel".
2. The auto-run did not run on my computer. I ended up having to view the files and look for the application (which is towards the bottom, UGH!).

Bottom line:

The Alpha-Phonics program is working for us. But is this CD-rom worth the extra $10? I am leaning towards no. If the phonic sounds had been included, definitely yes. Alpha-Phonics recommends also buying the book so that you can follow along, but since you can print the pages or just look at your computer screen, I think it would be a waste of money. I would, however, recommend buying Alpha-Phonics and How to Tutor Phonics Companion Workbook.