Born in 1800, William McGuffey was a philosopher, philanthropist, and public-school teacher. In 1836, he wrote a series of reading textbooks that would be used primarily in public schools during the 1800s. The McGuffey Readers have since undergone a series of revisions, but they are still extremely popular, particularly with homeschooling families. They teach phonics simply and are filled with high-quality literary works.
The McGuffey primers have come to the iPad.
In Phonics and Reading with McGuffey, students begin each lesson with basic letter sounds. Early lessons have single letter sounds, as the student progresses through the lessons combination letter sounds are presented.
Once the student is comfortable with the letter sounds for the current lesson, words are presented using the letters. Each word is correctly sounded out. Students are presented with the oppertunity to build simple words with the letters and have those words sounded out for them. There are also drills, where the student is required to tap the correct word out of a number of possibilities on the screen after hearing it spoken.
Near the end of each lesson, a picture is presented. Once the picture is viewed, a number of sentences stating facts about the picture are displayed and read. The student can have the entire sentence or individual words read and sounded out.
Up to ten students’ lesson progress can be saved in the app. When the app is launched, the student simply selects his or her name, and the app returns to the lesson where he or she left off.
Phonics and Reading with McGuffey is available for Windows, Mac, and iOS.
You can purchase Phonics and Reading with McGuffey in the iTunes store for $5.99. Also available is a lite version for free.
Phonics and Reading with McGuffey is an excellent modern-day adaptation of a classic phonics primer series. With one child in the house learning to read, and a second who is an early reader; Phonics and Reading with McGuffey has been a great addition to our homeschool curriculum.
~Steve keeps busy with five children and a job in information security. He has a second job as principal of the Hodgepodge homeschool and also writes for Habits for a Happy Home and Passionate Purposeful Parenting. You can find more of his technology reviews here at Curriculum Choice.
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