Why Pathways to Reading Homeschool?

Pathways to Reading Homeschool is a foundational reading curriculum that adheres to the principles of Orton-Gillingham based instruction. Our systematic, explicit, and multi-sensory approach to phonemic awareness and phonics instruction helps prevent reading difficulties while also promoting a rich literature-based environment for your child.

What Pathways to Reading? Five Essential Components of Reading Instruction

Pathways to Reading Homeschool Curriculum is based upon the latest research and evidence-based practices in the science of reading. We aim to equip home educators with the tools needed for instruction in all five of the areas of reading development, as identified by the National Reading Panel in 2000.

• Phonemic Awareness
• Phonics
• Vocabulary
• Fluency
• Comprehension

The Simple View of Reading

Some of the most important research we have regarding how a child learns to read is actually 35 years old and has yet to be disproven even when applied in thousands of studies.  Researchers Gough and Tumner first proposed The Simple View of Reading in 1986.  The short explanation of the Simple View of Reading is presented in mathematical form:

Decoding  x Linguistic Comprehension = Reading Comprehension

 Or D x LC = RC

First, let’s define these two terms.

Decoding refers not only to the process of “sounding out” words but ultimately a child’s ability to automatically recognize those words as he/she progresses in their reading journey.

Linguistic Comprehension, sometimes referred to as Language Comprehension, refers to a child’s ability to make sense of language and includes a child’s background knowledge, vocabulary, knowledge of print concepts, and more.

Notice that the mathematical equation involves multiplication, not addition.  That is because these components are dependent on each other and if one is extremely low, focusing on just improving the other will not yield results in proficient reading abilities (5×0=0).

This might seem simple (hence the name), but it is of absolute importance as we are teaching our kids to read.

By the time a child (with typical speech development) begins the process of learning to read, he/she has already been speaking for 4 to 5 years give or take, especially if this child is brought up in a print-rich home and has been read to and talked to since infancy.  Because of this, many early readers typically want to just guess at words that they already have in their oral vocabulary, so we MUST focus on word-level recognition strategies to help them become successful, proficient, and fluent readers. Teaching a child to guess a word or figure it out from context clues is using methods that are dated and disproven- such “strategies” can develop very bad habits in beginning readers that can impair their reading success in the future.

By preparing our children to meet the decoding demands of various types of text, we are helping to strengthen their fluency and ultimately their comprehension while reading.

The Ladder of Reading

Does every child need such explicit instruction in reading. The short answer is no, about 5% of children learn to read nearly effortlessly. But the VAST majority of children can benefit from explicit and systematic instruction and for about 20% of children, it is absolutely necessary in order for them to succeed in learning to read. Read more about the Ladder of Reading here.

Orthographic Mapping

Orthographic Mapping sounds intimidating but it is simply “the process readers use to store written words for immediate, effortless retrieval” (Kilpatrick, 2015). This is the process that occurs when a child can automatically recognize a word and is essential in developing a “sight” vocabulary.

Proficient readers are able to develop orthographic mapping skills naturally as they are exposed to letters, sounds, and words. But students with word-level difficulties require much more explicit instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics. Our curriculum incorporates more phonemic awareness instruction than any other foundational reading program you can find to help strengthen each child’s orthographic mapping ability.

The Link Between Dyslexia and Phonological Awareness Deficits

David Kilpatrick, in his book Essentials for Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties (2015) identifies dyslexia as “a difficulty in developing word-level reading skills despite adequate instructional opportunities.” Dyslexia does not correlate to a lower IQ, and often it is quite the opposite with many individuals with dyslexia scoring higher than average in IQ. Researchers have proven dyslexia to be a deficit in phonological awareness. With Pathways to Reading Homeschool Curriculum, you can rest assured that your child will receive extensive instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics to help ease word-level reading difficulties.

Components of Pathways to Reading Homeschool Curriculum

Pathways to Reading Homeschool has thoughtfully and painstakingly constructed our program to meet the needs of all beginning readers. Within our program, you will find daily instruction in all five components of reading instruction, training and support for the home educator, online resources, and more.

Within each purchased kit, you will receive:

• Home Educator’s Guide
• Reinforcement Activity Book (RAB) for your student
• Magnetic Letter Board
• Screech Puppet
• Decodable Reading Materials
• Vowel Town (and Vowel Hill for Basic)
• Flip & Assist Booklet
• Advanced Phonemic Awareness Booklet with Assists (included in the Flip & Assist in Basic kit)
• Set of Mouth Articulation pictures mnemonic
• Assist Arrow
• ABC Chart (for Basic and Proficient)

_{References:
Kilpatrick, D. (2015). Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.}