Some boring history
I came across "Hooked on Phonics - Learn to Read" in one of the bookstore in US. At that time, the original set was USD80, but they were selling it for USD50. Immediately I decided to purchase. My wife disagreed at that time because we had not heard about it, and nobody recommended the set. Besides, USD50 was not a small sum for us.
I have to admit that my command of English is not really good. Being educated in Asia, my pronunciation comes with Malaysian slang. I think I want something better for my son. But that was not the real reason of my bold move. Actually when I was 12 years old, my mother spent RM200 (at that time that was really a big sum for my family) to purchase a material for learning English that came with cassette tapes. I did not make full use of it and I really felt guilty. Probably the sense of guilt drove me to spend that USD50.
The contents of Hooked on Phonics
I kept the set for 2 years until my son was 4 years old. The lesson starts with flash cards and song, helping my son to memorize the phonetic sound for each alphabet. This part is really time-consuming and it took us about 3 months before my son could memorize. I followed the instruction very well and kept my son's interest going. Sometimes he requested the session, sometimes I suggested. I stopped when he got bored.
Once he remembered the basic phonetic sounds, the real lesson began. First he went through a simple lesson. Then he was asked to read a simple story by himself. The results was fantastic. He could read the story all by himself! I could still remember my son's happy satisfying face when he managed to read the first story. That also created his interest in learning more.
May be it's hard to understand but that can be easily understood if you look at the actual product. Please look at the sample here that I downloaded from Hooked on Phonic facebook page and note that the story was written with limited words that the children know.
Kindergarten Level
The set came with flash cards, CD, stories book and the important one, is the sticker. After every session, my son is supposed to put a sticker on a progress sheet. This is the part that my son likes most.
You can find more information from the list below:
Hooked on Phonics - Learn to Read Website,
Hooked on Phonics Official Website,
Hooked on Phonics Blog
Check out this Demo page
It took my son about one and half year to complete the Kindergarten course. And last year, having convinced about the effectiveness of this material, I purchased the Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read Grade 1 and Grade 2 sets, plus the Master Reader ses at a cheaper rate USD30-USD40 per set. Okay, before you get confused, let me explain about this product first.
Hooked on Phonics --- Learn to Read
Most of my friends are confused when they search the web on what to buy. Actually this is very simple, you just need to decide which level you need first. It comes in 4 levels, Pre-K (I did not buy this), Kindergarten(4-6yr), Grade 1(6-7yr) and Grade 2(7-8yr). Next you need to decide whether you want deluxe set or not, because that comes with additional stories books. Go for the deluxe set. Reason is that our children needs those additional stories book for practice. The hooked on phonics is also sold in bundled sets or paperback sets.
To add to the confusion, Hooked on Phonics has revised the contents and came up with a new version. I will put a link and pictures at the end of the blog.
Why this is highly recommended?
My son has almost finished Grade 1 material now. See the sample below:
Grade 1
What I can say is that he can read almost any story books meant for his age. This is something that I could not have imagined. I could only read English stories book at the age of 11-12. But my son can read simple stories book at the age of 5 since last year. Certainly, his kindergarten teacher deserve most of the credits but I think the role this Hooked on Phonics has is also significant. My son's teacher told me that my son's phonetic reading is among the top in his class. I will surely get my daughter to use the set.
I know a friend in Singapore who send his son to a phonetic reading course, called "I can read", and I know that he is paying more than SGD100 per month. Compare to this, I think my investment in Hooked on Phonics really pays off. The benefit is not so much on academic, but also, I can see that the method had been effective to increase my son's self esteem and confidence. I enjoy spending the time teaching him myself without worrying of passing him my incorrect pronunciation (he will only listen to CD, not my pronunciation).
I showed this to a friend who is married to a US citizen. His wife told me that Hooked on Phonics has been around in US for many years. I checked this at Wikipedia and found out that this set was created in early 1980s. Well, when we know a product has been selling for 20 years, quite unlikely we would question the quality of the product, isn't it? :)
Why do I put this academic material into this blog? Shouldn't this be merely toys? Dr Glenn Doman said that children wants to learn, rather than play. I find it very true. In fact, I think my son enjoy this more than some toys he has.
Where to buy
Finally, let me also list down where to buy these items from Malaysia or Singapore. Unfortunately, you can't buy directly except from the website.
Let me put the link below:
Hooked on Phonics Official Website provides a clear illustration and it's very neat. But you cannot buy from them because they do not ship outside USA. I made inquiries earlier and they asked me to purchase from Amazon.
You can try to get older version from Amazon at cheaper price. But, once the old stocks have been cleared, you may find missing links below.
P/S: Most of the pictures here are downloaded from relevant website and quoted for reporting purpose, which is supposed to be a fair use in copy right law. However, if there's any issue of intellectual property rights, kindly let me know and I will remove them.
Updated 2011 Jan 26:
I have added the link to Amazon on the top and bottom of the blog. These link created from Amazon Associate will reflect the latest price. I know the link I pasted earlier may be outdated. The link at the top are the combined version whereas the link at the bottom are individual sets at different level.
Old version :
Updated new version:
Larger pictures of the product :
Kindergarten Level (Try this first if you are new)
1st Grade
2nd Grade
The all-in-one version, K - 2nd Grade, buy this if you are confident. Cheaper to buy at once.
