Hooked on Hooked on Phonics®
by Penny Powell

After experiencing three of the educational programs created by Hooked on Phonics® (HOP) my son excitedly asked, "How do they know how to make everything so much fun?" The "Complete Parent's Guide for HOP's Hooked on School Success" program answers this question best: "Built on the premise that the best learning is fun, Hooked on School Success maintains a playful and amusing feel but does not pretend to be anything but a learning experience." Although this was written specifically about one of the company's five programs mentioned in this article, it is my belief that it accurately describes each of the HOP creations.

We have three of HOP's programs in our home: Master Reader, Hooked on School Success and Hooked on Math. In fact, our passion for the Master Reader program landed us a trip to Los Angeles, California, about a year ago to participate in a related infomercial. When my son was in first grade, I purchased the program as a reading enrichment tool and it has been one of the best, most exciting educational investments -- as far as learning tools go -- that I've made. As I say on the infomercial: "It (the program) needs to be in every home, every school."

Although I purchased Master Reader for enrichment purposes, some parents have chosen it for remedial reasons and attest to its success based on their children's improved reading confidence and school grades. "Whether your child is a 7-year-old above-average reader or a 12-year-old struggling reader, this program is designed to give your child the advanced phonics skills to unlock almost any word in the English language," say the experts on Hooked On Phonics.com.

What I think is so ingenious about this program is how a child's reading ability is improved or enhanced through an exciting variety of fascinating stories about people, places and things around the world. The increased knowledge a reader gains via this program -- from "Ryan's Well" in Africa to the mysterious "Stonehenge" in London to the story about the slave "Henry 'Box' Brown" in America -- is wonderful. My husband and I are learning a wealth of new information right along with our son. "Master Reader is great, it's super great," says our 8-year-old Caleb.

I really like how this program is organized, too. Readers progress through lessons which include very little time on the computer followed by reading an 8-1/2" x 11" story card. After the tenth lesson in each of the four levels, a chapter book awaits the reader and allows additional practice of the skills learned in the former 10 lessons. The program is color coded and packaged nicely; its appearance is inviting.

Prior to purchasing Master Reader, we had decided to try out HOP's reading comprehension program, Hooked on School Success, designed for children reading at a third-grade level and above. This program, like Master Reader, grows with a child's reading ability so its use is not limited to a traditional school year. As with each of the HOP programs, we had the option to try it for a 60-day trial period; however, we quickly knew that this one was a keeper. My son enjoys the "unique skills-practice-play approach" that the program offers and I love its unique variety of playful approaches to instill and sharpen his comprehension skills.

Hooked on School Success also progresses through four levels including fiction, nonfiction, homework-attack skills, and then a final level that pulls the former three all together. The "Complete Parent's Guide" states: "The '5 Steps to School Success' are repeated in each level of the program to help your child master them. We worked with leading educators to develop these steps; they form the framework for the entire Hooked on School Success program." Hooked on School Success is also nicely packaged and comes with a variety of writing sheets that help reinforce the skills practiced during computer lessons.

Hooked on Math, designed for children ages 5 to 10, has been the most recent HOP program added to our collection. Hooked on Math got us off to a great start for laying Caleb's multiplication foundation. The program -- through the use of cassette tapes, flash cards, written exercises, workbook and computer games -- progresses through four levels: lower addition and subtraction, higher addition and subtraction, multiplication, and division. As is the case with Master Reader, this program comes with charts and stickers for a child to track progress. Some of the games played directly in the workbook are "Space Bingo," "Space Race," "Big Spender," "First to a Dollar," "Triple Space Roll" and "Countdown from 50." A "Math Blaster" computer CD is also included. This CD helps teach and reinforce concepts such as fractions and decimals.

Perhaps what is the most well-known educational creation by HOP is its Learn to Read program; it takes beginning readers on a phonetic journey through the relationship between sounds and letters, words, sentences, and stories. While I have had no firsthand experience with the Learn to Read program, North Carolina stay-at-home mom and publisher of MommyToo.com, Jennifer James, has; she used it to teach her daughter to read.

"As a novice homeschooler," says James, "I really had no idea how I was going to teach my oldest daughter how to read. Using Hooked on Phonics® really made it a breeze. Their system teaches children how to read gradually and then it steadily picks up the pace and before you know it your child is reading -- right before your eyes. We started the program a year and a half ago and now my five year old is about to finish her first novel -- Harry Potter."

Last but not least is another HOP program that I am also not as familiar with; it's Hooked on Phonics® Classic, a program that uses audiotapes, flash cards and workbooks to help older children get their reading on track. According to HOP experts: "Nearly 70% of 4th-graders are not proficient readers. We understand the frustration older kids feel when they can't read successfully," they say, "and we designed a program to help." Once a child is reading confidently in the Classic program, 100 short stories that progress through a high-school reading level are used to strengthen comprehension skills.

When I had the pleasure of meeting HOP's Owner, Chip Adams, at a dinner in Beverly Hills the evening prior to taping the Master Reader infomercial, we spoke at length about the importance of children being given the best opportunities for building a strong, exciting foundation in reading, a role not to be taken lightly by parents. Included in that conversation were also my husband; Kim Alexis, spokesperson for the Master Reader infomercial; and additional HOP team players and parents. (My son and the son of another family were also present.)

As Adams spoke about HOP's ongoing research and continued efforts to impact children and how they read, I was convinced that the HOP tools I was using in my household to give my son additional reading opportunities had come from a team that is truly creating reading programs in the best interests of children and their futures.

"When a child can read and comprehend well," said Adams at our dinner meeting, that opens up the door to success in other academic subjects and so many areas of life

Hooked on Phonics® was mentioned by Bill Cosby during his recent speech commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. Cosby challenged parents to shift spending from items such as sneakers costing hundreds of dollars to more meaningful purchases such as a $200-Hooked on Phonics® program.

For more information about HOP programs, visit Hop.com. Click here.



HOOKED ON PHONICS®,HOOKED ON MATH® and HOOKED ON SCHOOL SUCCESS, are trademarks and service marks of Gateway Learning Corporation.


Penny Powell is a freelance writer from Bermuda who resides in Florida with her husband, Collin, and their 8-year-old son, Caleb. Penny primarily writes about parenting and is Senior Editor for MommyToo.com, a web site for at-home and home schooling mothers of color.