I was going to mention how much fun we were having with Click N Read phonics, but hesitated because I bought it for a really low price and didn't think that price was still available.  There's a big difference (to me anyway) between recommending a $30 learning game and suggesting one that costs closer to $70.

The previous offer that I took advantage of through Homeschool Buyers Co-op had closed out on April 1st and that's when my online access activated so I couldn't review the product before the deadline.  But, (here's the purchase tip) the offer has been reopened and now you have until May 31st to place your order. 

Here's a sample lesson from the Click N Read website, if you'd like to take a look.  The first 10 lessons, which I'll say more about in a moment cover the letter sounds.  The information on the website recommends that you skip these if your child already knows the letter sounds.  Thus, the sample lesson number 15 thus is actually not very far into the program.  So it should give you a pretty good idea of how the lessons progress. 

I initially purchased this program for my 7 year old who knows his letter sounds and phonics rules, but just has no zest for reading yet.  I was able to acquire Study Dog when it was free a few years ago so we had been using that program, but I thought the rocket ships of Click N Read might appeal more to my son.  Also, the introductions to each lesson in Study Dog (where the "story" is set up) tend to get a bit tedious after awhile.  Click N Read tends to get to the lesson quickly, whereas Study Dog lesson needed to be set up with a story explaining why you were performing a certain task (i.e. sort the pillows to clean the room, match the words to unlock the code...).  

Anyway, it was my 4 year old who first took an interest in trying the program, so I reset my starting point to Lesson 1 and began.  Lessons 1-10 introduce the letter sounds and also do some ear training exercises.  In addition, these lessons also teach your child to locate the letter for each sound on the keyboard.  We have only completed 3 lessons so keep in mind that my observations are limited.  The lessons start with an introduction to the primary sound the letter makes.  The dog character hosting the lesson "says" the sound for each letter and then the child is taken through a series of review steps where she is asked to click on the correct letter after hearing the sound. 

Next an image of a keyboard is displayed and the location of the letter is pointed out to the child.  The child is asked to locate the letter on the keyboard (either by clicking on the vitual keyboard displayed or typing on the real keyboard), identifying the letter by it's sound. 

For ear training, the "dog" says a word slowly, separating each sound, and then speeds up the word to blend the sounds.  Once a few letter sounds have been learned, the child is asked to listen to each word the dog says and identify the starting letter.  For instance, the dog may say "am" and the child must then select between an "a," "m," or "s" as the starting sound. 

Within the first three lessons the program was already taking the next step and teaching the child to put those letter sounds together to locate a word or read a word.  The first words taught were "am" and "Sam."  In Lesson 3 the student is taken to a virtual reading room where these words and others using additional letter sounnds are put together into a short sentence that the child is encouraged to read aloud. 

I think even these initial lessons will be great for my 7 year old (if I can get him to read the words aloud) but it was over my 4 year old's ability to do comfortably.  She knows many of her letter sounds and the program is a good introduction for her to demonstrate what to do with those letter sounds, but she was not always able to accurately select the correct words by initial letter sound or read the sentence.  Study Dog in comparison teaches all the letter sounds and names first, then moves to identify initial sounds, then rhymes before moving to distinguishing between two non-rhyming words.

Fortunately, my 4 year old doesn't realize that the program actually keeps track of how many answers she gets "wrong" and I am choosing to work with her and provide "hints" rather than use the program as a stand alone lesson for her.  She really enjoys the program though and asks to do the lessons.  So for whatever reasons, she seems to like the program.  I'm not sure how she will fare on the more advanced lessons but hopefully I can convince her to just watch while her big brother works on those. 

The purchase I made through the co-op provides me with a "lifetime" subscription for one student.  That means that one student's progress may be tracked at any given time.  But once that student has completed the program, their records can be deleted and a new name added.  You will also have the option to add extra students for an additional fee.  One negative for the program is that it is internet-based, I don't have a CD of the software.  So if the company goes out of business or offline or I lose my internet connection- no Click N Read.  Also, I have a fast internet connection so I'm not sure how a dial-up connection would handle the interactivity.  But, in comparison to what our household spends in any given year on non-educational (or marginally educational) computer games, I consider this to be a pretty good deal.  I'll consider it to be a great deal if I can get my 7 year old to take an interest in it.  But even if he passes on it, I've still got a 2 year old that can make use of that lifetime subscription.  Besides, if it really does last a lifetime, there's always the grandkids. 

Hmmm.... I wonder what the internet and computers will be like for our grandkids. 

If you've not made a decision yet on a phonics program, the Homeschool Buyers Co-op newsletter announed that a deal may be forthcoming for access to Explode the Code online.  So, keep your eyes open if you are still in search of that "perfect" phonics curriculum.