what would you use

[pollyanna]

ok i have a 8yr old son i have been hs'ing. I have been letting him set the pace but he spends the day with my mom while i work and she has been very concerned about his lack of reading. I would like him to read more but want to not ruin it by forcing him to read.

does anyone recomend a program that might get him to read a bit more on his own? I was looking at some workbooks on amazon by sylvan for sight words and thought they might be nice my son could do a page or 2 at her house everyday and she would freak out on me every week or so.

thanks for any advice

pollyanna

[Red Pajama]

We used hooked on phonics (checked out from the library) as the introduction to phonics. I also made sight word games that we played, and read aloud often, used books on CD, and had lots of familiar books around.

[heatherdeg]

We used the BOB books for an 8yo that knew letters and letter sounds, but didn't read.  At all--not even just "not well".  There are five levels/sets and really--they were awesome.

This is set one:  http://www.amazon.com/Bob-Books-Set-Beginning-Readers/dp/0439845009/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1338927780&sr=8-2

They literally start with one, 3-letter word on a page with a picture.  They were incredible with confidence building, too.

[SweetSilver]

Not a program, but expanding what counts as "reading practice" definitely helps in this house.  Graphic novels, comic strips, snippets of books that are far beyond their level (for my 7yo that means reading chapter headings for Harry Potter. Your 8yo is probably beyond this, but you get the idea.)  Guide books, even though at their age they can only read the flower or bug names.  Again, you get the idea: interest-based, not necessarily their reading level.  Anything with speech bubbles really inspires them to read in this house!

[octobermom]

my 9 year old does the reading eggs express on line.

Deanna