Customer Reviews

Learn to Read K-1st Grade Full Kit

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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Our son started kindergarten able to (very slowly) sound out words like "cat". We tried the Bob books, but it just wasn't clicking for him. So we went ahead and bought this (HOP learn to read--not the deluxe edition)--sort of figured it couldn't hurt and might help a little.

Now, he is not what I would call an eager learner. Getting him to sit down to do the first lesson wasn't the easiest thing in the world. However, after that very first lesson, it "clicked"--and literally, within two weeks, he was reading just about every short vowel, three letter word you can imagine. More importantly, he LOVES this program and asked to do it almost every day. He zipped through the kindergarten level in about 3 months and *begged* to start the 1st grade level. We started that one in January, and he is now (three months later) about 1/3 of the way through the second grade level. We just had conferences with his teacher and she is *so* impressed with his reading skills. She actually said, "Wow!" and estimates he is at a late first-, early second grade level.

Now, all that being said, I did not rely 100% on this system to reinforce what he was learning. I bought the Nora Gaydos level 1's and 2's (he likes them SO much better than the Bob books--and so do I!) and I think that is necessary with *any* reading program. HOP gives you good books, don't get me wrong, but my son had them memorized in record time. So I would highly, highly recommend the Nora Gaydos books (or Bob books) in addition to any of the HOP reading sets because beginning readers need lots of practice. And, the Nora Gaydos books are awfully cute and often are quite funny, so he loved getting those out to practice (usually he reads one to us each night as part of the reading routine).

I cannot overstate how much my son loves this program--when he saw the "Hooked on Math" program (at a local store), he flipped out and asked to put it on his Christmas wish list. For his 6th birthday, he's asked for more HOP reading levels--again, this is from a child that was not an eager learner. This program is fantastic--his confidence is constantly reinforced (he loves putting stickers on the charts). There were a couple times when he got frustrated--some of the "review word" pages are a bit overwhelming. I just picked out a few words and had him read those, then we moved on.

Oh! And there's no marking in any of the HOP books (even math! they use a wipe off sheet), so you can pass them on to younger siblings--you can order replacement stickers and posters from the HOP website for under $10.

So there you have it--all the ups, downs, and in-betweens (from our experiences, anyway!). :)

I purchased this program for my kindergartener. He attends an advanced school, where many of his classmates began reading at the age of 3. He was not reading at all, although he did know most of the letter sounds. In the beginning, my son loved the program. We were both amazed at how quickly he caught on, and began reading the words. He viewed the program as something fun to do, rather than being additional homework. This has now changed. Although I like the program, and admit that it has been beneficial in increasing his reading skills, the repetitiveness of it has sunk in. The program is set up in such a way that you basically do the exact same thing for each lesson, but using different letter sound combinations. Although I believe it is good practice to do it that way, it also makes it kind of boring. So now, according to my child, it is just another part of his homework, and not very fun. He does however, still receive great joy and motivation from being able to read the books after each lesson. So overall, I believe that the repetitiveness is worth the results. I was just hoping that the program would be more fun, since he is already inundated with homework from school. Tip: Common sense I know, but the program goes much smoother if you do it every day. This is not always possible with hectic lives, but I definitely see a difference when we skip a day or two. The good thing is that each lesson includes a review of previously learned words, so it is fairly easy to get back on track.

Hooked On Phonics is really the only thing you need to teach your child to read. my son has loved learning to with this program, and is trying to read every book he can find now. the program teaches kids in a fun way which is very important, and if he comes across a word he dosent know he keeps trying until he can sound it out correctly. andf if we need more help i just put in the cds which are included and it dosent take him no time at all until he pronounces it correctly. i would recomend this program to any one who is teaching their child to read. it is GREAT

The system is great, my 5 year old is set for Kindergarten after, only 6 lessons. The best part is that she's enjoying every minute of it. And I'll be using the kit with my 3 year old soon, and also with the new baby in a couple of years, so I consider it a money wisely invested.

This has definitely helped my son with his reading skills. Although he's in 1st grade, we started him with the Kindergarten level to see where he started to have difficulty and to give him some confidence before we moved on to 1st grade. The only part of the kit that isn't useful is the CDs. They basically just tell you what page to go to in the workbook so we're skipping those. Overall, his reading skills and confidence have improved a lot. Definitely worth the money.

We started with the "Your Baby Can Read" system and it worked great for my 3-year old. For my 4-year old though, it did not work as well, partly because he can't sit still. The "Your Baby Can Read" system was supposed to cover 6-8 months. We blasted through it in 5 weeks, with both the children learning all the words. My 4-year old son needed phonics though so we bought Hooked on Phonics. So far, it's been going great! It's a very sound method for learning to read. Using both together has been wonderful for both my boys.

My younger sister (14 years my junior) was entering kindergarten and still having trouble reading. My parents waved it off as her being a "late bloomer" but finally agreed to buy this program for her when she was put in the ESOL class! M who was born and raised in America went to ESOL at 5! (While I, born and raised in China, was accidentally put in the ESOL class, simply for being foreign, when we moved to America only for them to realize I was supposed to be in the Gifted and Talented class, which they realized only days later.)

The program was a HUGE help to M's reading. She quickly picked up on the material and really enjoyed reading; though, at first, I noticed she would guess at words she couldn't sound out. The computer program was great for her and very interactive (she's a very visual learner and excels in Science and Math). Soon she was in regular kindergarten and then put in the advanced reader class! However she has had one consistent problem over the years: she reads, memorizes words, and recites well above her grade level, but ask her any question ABOUT WHAT she's read and she just gives you a blank stare. Main ideas, Inferences, Summaries, etc. - they all go right over her head because she's so busy simply ~reading~ she's not processing the words! So now we've got her doing a lot of workbooks to help her comprehension but this weakness has gone unnoticed for years because she has no problem reading.

My point is, for kids who already have trouble with reading, HOP is a great way to teach kids words but the "books" are so simply and so picture detailed oriented, that the kids might run into trouble later when they are expected to really understand the text rather than just saying the words. Personally, when I have kids I might switch to the "Teach your Kids to Read in 100 Lessons" or the like as it is more interactive and engaging with the child and builds more on comprehension - but in a tight spot, HOP worked as a fix.

I am very pleased with this so far. The kit is extrememly simple to use & follow, and my son has plenty of methods to learn letters & sounds: book, flash cards, video, and audio CDs. He has picked it up quickly and actually enjoys his "homework".

My son is top in his 1st grade class in learning. I firmly believe that this product has helped my son get to this level. I highly recommend it to all parents with preschool age children.

Fast shipping, love that there is both kindergarten program and 1st grade in one box. My daughter loves using the program and I have seen improvement only in a few weeks.