We started with SSRW Level 1 when Claire was 4 1/2. This is younger than many kids are ready to begin reading. However, she was beginning to sound out words and trying to read and it was clear that she was ready. As I would try to help, I realized that we needed something with more structure to give ME the confidence that we were going to be thorough enough. It was extremely motivating for her and she was reading pretty well on her own by the time we got through the initial phonics review. Justin (who was not yet 3 when we started the program with Claire) has also learned an incredible amount just by singing along and playing along on some of the games. At not quite 3 ½, Justin decided that he was ready to start reading the readers - and indeed he was! I have now begun using the materials with him, but in modified format as he is not ready for the amount of writing that Level 1 usually entails.
For the most part I have found SSRW very easy to implement and our children really like it. I don't do everything exactly as suggested, but we do follow the basic format.
For about the first 5-6 weeks of the program (assuming that you start from the very beginning with the Off We Go book) you are doing pretty much the same activities each day but for each letter of the alphabet as you progress through them. For each letter there is a phonics song coloring page, a manuscript writing page, a Cut and Paste Page, and a Follow the Dots page. You are also using the A to Z Phonics Song at least once each day in the beginning. They suggest that you play one of the phonics games each day. We did the games some days but not every day.
I found these initial manuscript writing pages to be of a really good length -- they did not become overwhelming and boring for Claire like some I had tried in the past. (We are not doing the handwriting pages with Justin at this point, but are tracing letters with fingers on paper and in a pan of salt.) They also have sayings to go along with the letter formation for most letters that help to prevent some of the confusion between similar letters (like b & d). The one problem I had here was that they put these sayings at the bottom of the student page rather than in the teacher's book. So I just sat down at the computer and made up a chart for myself. (I have this chart available in MS Word format.) The Cut & Paste page also helped Claire to develop skills in using scissors that were probably a bit lacking before we started. (Because I have two younger ones, I have been rather hesitant to let them use scissors too much.)
Once you have finished the Off We Go book you are then ready to start into the Raceway Book. The first couple of lessons in this are just a quick review & independent practice and then Step 3 goes into the Short Vowels with The Short Vowel Song. Step 4 takes several days, but was a lot of fun and is where they introduce blending initial sounds (both single sounds and consonant blends) with the short vowels. The Ferris Wheel Song is the primary one here.
Steps 5 through 15 are the "Read, Write, & Spell steps associated with words containing primarily the short vowel sounds. For each of the short vowels there is a Phonetic Storybook Reader. First there will be a "step" that introduces the vocabulary for that book. (This step would usually take us 2-3 days to complete because of the amount of writing; Claire would tire pretty easily initially and I didn't want to overwhelm her. I also did not have her go through and spell every word on these pages - we spot checked and emphasized any that I knew were difficult for her.) After completing the intro step for a particular book, then you spend a few days with that Reader. There are grammar and comprehension exercises associated with each book and then an assessment to complete when you've finished the reader. You can really take this at whatever pace works for you and your children.
Step 16 is a really long one (they suggest 10 days to cover it -- it took us about 12 days to do it & Step 17 together) -- this is where most of the letter clusters (basis for the word family idea) are introduced with The Letter Cluster Phonics Song.
Step 18 introduces the Long Vowels and The Long Vowel Song. Step 19 introduces some of the most frequently used words. Step 20 introduces the idea that 2 vowels side by side usually make the first one long & the second silent and then the silent e on the end of words.
Step 21 focuses on letter clusters that usually occur at the end of words. Steps 22-26 focus on other letter clusters.
Step 27 focuses on the various ways that gh affects vowel sounds or is pronounced itself. The GH Clown Song goes along with this step.
Steps 28 through 30 focus on additional letter clusters and Step 30 included contractions.
Steps 31 through 33 focus mainly on words with silent letters and Steps 34-36 focus on some of the secondary pronunciations for some letter clusters, some "rule-breakers" and "wacky words" and some multi-syllabic words.
As we were finishing up the program near the end of our school year, I found myself doing a good bit of streamlining. Many times I'd find a way to adapt the grammar lessons so that they tied in with our current FIAR title so that we were being a bit more efficient or I'd just skip the grammar lessons if I thought they were redundant. As I mentioned earlier, we haven't played the games as much as suggested or been as intense with spelling as they suggest either. My plan has been to use the games more (possibly during the summer) as a fun way to review as well as to help Justin as he starts the process. I also anticipate using them more during this coming school year as a means for Claire and Justin to practice skills together as they have become very fond of playing games together.
I should also mention that grammar is introduced as appropriate to go along with the various things being focused upon. These are not heavy grammar lessons, but seem to be well integrated and to make sense sequentially. There is more grammar the further you progress, as you might expect. Also, there are easy creative writing assignments/ideas included in the upper steps. Sometimes I'll adapt the idea to our FIAR title or we'll do the exercise orally. We do a lot of the grammar & creative writing orally or on the white board.
I have been asked how much time we spent with SSRW each day. This really varied. The manual recommends that you spend about 1 1/2 hours total (this includes the "workbook" type stuff, music, games, & literature time). We didn't usually spend nearly this much time. We did as much as seemed appropriate to me on a particular day. Some days it took much longer than I thought it should simply because Claire was not particularly focused or because of what is going on with the boys. Some days she could pretty much work independently and other days I needed to be right there working through things with her.
A quick note about the Readers: they seem a bit "twaddlish" to me, but Claire liked them and found them motivating. I just made sure she had plenty of other good books around to read as well. I decided not to go with their level 2 program specifically because I did not want to use another set of "programmed" readers.
I really liked the fact that this program gave us something that we could show on paper without being overwhelming. I think it gave Claire a sense of accomplishment. It was also nice to have something to show "concerned" relatives so that they can see what we've been doing.
My overall assessment is that the program is very complete - at times almost to the point of overkill on some points - but very easy to adapt to the needs of individual students. After having completed it with one child, I feel much more confident about being able to adapt it for my others.
You can take a look at the company's description of the products at the Sing, Spell, Read & Write web-site. The complete kit (for whatever level) is available through many retailers, but additional student books must be purchased directly from International Learning Systems.