A CM Reading program ?- Early planning

I'm at a real crossroads with reading instruction. I spent some time yesterday reviewing LLATL -blue which I intended to use and decided against it.....far too much busy work and the reading selection are less than stellar. 100 Ez lesson isn't a good fit for Sam and LLATL isn't a good fit for me and I absolutely refuse to purchase another reading/phonics program so I'm going to create my own with Charlotte Mason suggestions.

I found my old, ancient copy of A Home Start in Reading by Ruth Beechick ( which was my first homeschooling purchase back in 1994!) and highlighted everything that Sam knows and can blend with ease. This may have been the least useful thing I have done because nowhere in Charlotte's writing have I yet to find a specific list of phonics rules to teach.

I read through Home Education pgs. 199-222 highlighting as I read.

"Accustom him from the first to shut his eyes and spell the word he has made. This is important. Reading is not spelling, nor is it necessary to spell in order to read well; but the good speller is the child whose eye is quick enough to take in the letters which compose it, in the act of reading off a word, and this is a habit to be acquired from the first: accustom him to see the letters in the word, and he will do without effort." Home Education pg. 204

"The teacher must be content to proceed very slowly, securing the ground under her feet as she goes." pg. 205

"But here is another advantage of slow and steady progress––the saying of each word receives due attention, and the child is trained in the habit of careful enunciation. "pg. 208

I do not have a specific day-to-day plan but instead a day-to-day goal. I will train Sam to "see the word". I will proceed at Sam's pace. I will make sure he is trained in the habit of careful enunciation of the words in our reading lessons.

"Definitely, what is it we propose in teaching a child to read? (a) that he shall know at sight, say, some thousand words; (b) That he shall be able to build up new words with the elements of these. Let him learn ten new words a day, and in twenty weeks he will be to some extent able to read, without any question as to the number of letters in a word. For the second, and less important, part of our task, the child must know the sounds of the letters, and acquire power to throw given sounds into new combinations. "pg 216-217

It will take some time to adjust my thinking from phonics rules to Charlotte's rules. I will probably use my little phonics chart to see progress in our reading program for Sam. Perhaps this will not be a necessary step the second time around with our next reader.

I've chosen Treadwell's The Primer as our text. The first selection is "The Little Red Hen" which will give us 30 words.... some of which Sam already knows by sight or has built with our letter cards. I will continue to use the letter cards that I have laminated from LLATL-blue and use index cards to make our word cards.

I will try to keep each day fresh and different. We will build our words with letter cards, build new words( sound, pound, etc) , make new sentences leaving blanks for words we don't know ( to pique interest per CM),recreate the actual text with our word cards, etc. As I reread CM's writing and the PR articles I will surely come up with new ideas and refine the ones I already have.

I welcome any comment or suggestion as I begin this new direction in our reading program!