Explode the Code  4.7/5 (6)

Comment: I have used ETC 1-8 with my son. We began after he was reading cvc words without too much difficulty. These workbooks offer a great review and work with phonics skills. The workbooks for the most part follow the same pattern allowing the child to gain some independence with work. 4 was a big jump up in skill level. We worked for one and a half school years doing two to four pages a day. Great way to enforce phonics learned.

Comment: ETC is a simple way to practice phonics skills. I used the workbooks along side Phonics Pathways. Each workbook is very easy to use. It follows a pattern, so is easy for the child to pick up and work on a page or two alone. Love how well this put together.

Comment: We used these for two of my kids, one of them is a typical learning child and these worked great for him, he learned how to read very quickly and only did the first book and then pretty much picked up the rest on his own. My struggling reader with dyslexia used these as well, and these do work for her, they are repetative which may seem annoying but she needs it, so its good for her, however, she does need something more than this and we are still looking for something because she is still struggling quite a bit, the 1/2 books in between arent cutting it.

Comment: I have used these books for a struggling reader who needed some extra practice. I feel that it has been a good supportive curriculum, although it definitely needs to be used in a framework with other resources.

Comment: I used the ETC books 1-3 with all of my children. It did the job. Sometimes there was a bit too much writing so I would have them tell me the answers and I would write for them. I did try Explode the Code online for one child and it was a bust. It required excellent mouse skills in order to pass a level. My child found it frustrating.