I was provided by the publisher with a set of materials to facilitate my review.  As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own (and those of my family members).

Horizontal vs. Vertical Phonics

Many of you have “heard” me talk in the past about vertical vs. horizontal phonics.  Horizontal phonics is what we most often see.  A student learns all of the short sounds, then all of the long sounds, then other “alternative” sounds come later.  So he learns A, for instance, three times.  A says /a/ like in s/a/d.  Then — probably months later — A says /a/ like in m/a/ke.  Then, still later, A says /ah/ like in f/a/ther.  (Sorry; I’m not sure how to put the markers above the letters.)  Frank Rogers likens this to teaching a student all of the Presidents’ first names, then going back and teaching him all the last names later!

Vertical phonics, on the other hand, introduces all the sounds of a given phonogram at one time.  The student learns that A may say, s/a/d, m/a/ke, or f/a/ther.  Thus when he comes across an A in the text, he has all of the information at his disposal to sound it out.  (Ordinarily, the sounds are learned in descending order of frequency, so students learn to try the first sound first, then move on to the second if that doesn’t seem right, and so on.)

Where Does The Logic of English Fit In?

Possibly the best-known vertical phonics program is Spalding’s Writing Road to Reading.  Unfortunately, it’s quite cumbersome, and — in my opinion — rather pedantic for students who simply need to know how to read.  There are people who have used it successfully, but I personally am overwhelmed by it, and feel that my students would be, too.

What we’ve used in the past is Teach America to Read and Spell (TATRAS).  This uses vertical phonics, as well, but it’s considerably simplified over The Writing Road to Reading and, therefore, far less overwhelming.  It’s not well-organized, though (at least, not in the edition that I have), so many parents have struggled to implement it.

The Logic of English seems to fall somewhere in the middle.  It’s clearly structured.  The lessons are laid out one by one, so there’s no question about what parents are meant to do to teach it.  But it doesn’t have a lot of the unnecessary complexity of The Writing Road to Reading.

The Logic of English, in Practice

There are a lot of tools available in The Logic of English, and you don’t have to have them all.  They all work together (assuming you’re within the same level) and complement each other, but don’t go thinking that you have to have twenty-gazillion parts and pieces to make the system work.  You don’t.

The core of the program is the teacher’s manual and student workbook.  (Makes sense, right?)

The Teacher’s Manual

The Essentials teacher’s manual begins with a lot of information.  It’s really helpful; I recommend setting aside some time to sit down and just read through it.  (You don’t want to be slogging through all this while your child is sitting impatiently waiting for his first lesson to begin!  But if you have a little while to focus on it, you’ll find it helpful and straightforward.)

There’s an overview of the material covered in the book. I’m talking about a two-page scope and sequence, so you can get the big picture.  Then there’s a list of what you need.  Apart from the two books already mentioned, for the Essentials level, the only requirements are a set of phonogram cards, colored pencils, and paper.  That’s not too hard!  Other optional (but recommended) items include games and similar materials.

Then there are sample schedules, for students of a variety of ages and proficiency levels.  A short chapter follows this, discussing what students need to know before beginning this level, including how to teach phonemic awareness.  This is very useful information!

The next section walks you through how to teach the lessons in the book: how they’re laid out, what happens when, how to approach each portion, etc.  Finally, the last section before the actual lessons is “teacher resources.” This is reference material, like the spelling lists, a list of all the basic phonograms, the spelling rules, grammar definitions, and so on.

The Lessons

Each lesson is comprised of three parts: phonograms/sound exploration, spelling, and grammar.  Note that, at this level, the most basic (single-letter) phonograms are not really addressed; it’s expected that the student will have already learned them.  If your child isn’t already reading fairly well, you’ll want Foundations.  Rather, they’ll be learning more complex phonograms (ck, for instance), and reviewing the single-letter phonograms as they go along.

Spelling will teach them rules such as that C says /s/ when followed by E, I, or Y, but /k/ in other “settings.”

Grammar will begin to teach the parts of speech, and proceed from there.

Because of the way the lessons are laid out, it’s quite possible to use the same program with students at very different levels.  They will just proceed at their own paces — and more advanced students may do more in a given lesson.  My 6-year-old (who was already reading well when we started this school year) and my 11-year-old have both been working on this program this year, and it suits them both.

Additional Materials

I mentioned that there are additional materials available.  Apart from other curricula, including the Foundations program and a handwriting program, there are a number of supplemental materials.  In fact, I first heard of The Logic of English when my mother returned from a conference with a copy of Doodling Dragons, which is a children’s alphabet book that uses the vertical phonics theory.  (That is, A is not just for apple.  It’s for “apples and ants,” in “snakes” that “ate grapes,” and “wash”ing the “walls.”)

Besides Doodling Dragons and a couple of mobile apps, there are a number of books/booklets and card sets.  Phonogram Game Cards are available in three styles.  Each deck consists of game card-sized cards: one for each phonogram, plus game-play cards such as “Go back one space” or “Draw 2.”  They come in manuscript (“print” handwriting), bookface (text like you’d find in a printed book), or cursive.  Each is color-coded so they’re easy to tell apart if you happen to have more than one.  These cards are used for games described throughout the books.  They could also serve as flashcards if you (the teacher) already know the phonograms well.  (That is, if you know what “answer” the student should be giving, since they don’t have answers on them like real flashcards do.)

Speaking of flashcards; there are several sets of those available, too.  Basic Phonograms cover more than just the single-letter phonograms.  Those are all there, of course, but there are 74 all told.  Advanced Phonograms cover 35 more.  Grammar flash cards tackle definitions such as that of a noun, a singular noun, or a plural noun, as well as basic concepts like separating a dependent clause from the rest of the sentence with a comma when the clause begins the sentence.  Pretty much anything a student might ever need to memorize for English grammar is in this deck.  Spelling Rules have their own deck as well.

These flashcard decks are much larger than the game cards – about 4″x6″ — and, blessedly, also all color-coded so you can separate them easily after your toddler throws them all in a single heap on the floor.  (C’mon, you know that will happen if you have a toddler.)

But wait; there’s more!  🙂  The Spelling Journal is a pretty interesting tool.  To be honest, it’s one of those products you don’t need, because you could just use a notebook, but this would save a lot of time and hassle so a lot of you might just as soon buy it already “put together.”  The idea behind it is to gather and categorize words based on the phonograms used to spell their various sounds.  And I just made that as clear as mud.

As an example, the sound /s/ can be spelled with an actual S, or with a C.  When a student has to identify which phonogram is used in a given word to create that sound — and other words and phonograms in a similar manner — he begins to recognize patterns.  The first couple of pages include a handy sound-to-spelling reference that lists all of the phonograms that may be used for any given sound.

The Phonogram & Spelling Game Book is just what it sounds like: a book of games.  Some require the game cards mentioned above, but apart from that it’s mostly self-contained.  We were sent a pretty cool reference card, too, which a student can keep in his binder as a reminder of the phonograms and spelling rules.

My Conclusions

We’re kind of weird, and tend to prefer a more “relaxed” style of schooling with less “book work” than most.  So I might still prefer what we were already doing.  Most moms would probably prefer this program, as the lesson planning is simpler — there pretty much is none, because it’s all planned out for you already.  And I would wholeheartedly recommend it.  I really cannot see anything to dislike about it; I just have a stubbornly DIY style.

With that said, even if you choose a different program most of the supplemental materials here would be compatible with other vertical phonics-based systems.  They’re a smidge different.  (Every program has its own preferred list of phonograms.  They’re mostly the same, of course.  But some make differentiations between certain sounds that others consider “close enough” to just count as one.  For instance, some treat /ah/ and /aw/ as two separate sounds, while others consider them essentially the same.)  But they’re so close that even if you already have another program’s core curriculum, you could use the cards and games and spelling journal, etc.

One thing I do like about TATRAS that The Logic of English doesn’t do is the mnemonic nature of the spelling rules.  For example, both programs teach that C makes a different sound before E, I, and Y than it does before any other letter.  But TATRAS calls this the “Bicycle Rule,” because both “types” of C are found in the word “bicycle,” so it helps the student remember which is which.  This is not, by itself, sufficient reason to choose another program, though!   It’s just a little perk I’d love to see these guys incorporate.

But, bottom line, this is probably what I would most highly recommend for most families.

(Here’s a pretty handy post about organizing all of the cards.)