We’re using a variety this year: Holt Biology, Apologia Physical Science, Elemental Science Introduction to Science, and (per my K’s request) notebooking our way through animals. 🙂

Here’s a post I wrote several years ago comparing the two. In summary OPGTR includes games, rhymes, and white board work. PP doesn’t. There are a few differences in the order phonic rules are present, but both books are excellent and will give you a strong reader upon completion. 🙂

I also have a question about Phonics Pathways. Do you know how it compares with The ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading? That is what I am currently using with my almost five-year-old. It is very dry though so I supplement with a lot of activities and games from Pinterest.

We simply read the pages together. For instance, one page has -j = -dge at the top. I’ll introduce the sound, explaining that -dge makes the j sound. Then my daughter reads the page. It’s simple but effective.

My older kids read an entire page each day, but periodically tears would start and I’d move them about 30 pages back to easy material. I called it the 2 steps forward, 1 step back approach. However I’ve allowed my little girl to read as little as 1/3 of a page when the reading became difficult. We’ve been able to keep moving forward without the need to review. I think because we’d spend several days on difficult concepts rather than speeding through in a day. 🙂

Chinese is a challenging and awesome language to study! What program are you using? 🙂