I have a new favorite book! Would you like to know what it is? My sweet girl Abby Grace likes it, too. In fact, she looks forward to reading in it every day.
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.
When Rachel told me about this book, and how successful it had been teaching her daughter to read, I was both excited and a bit skeptical. Excited because it had worked so well for someone else (and whose opinion I valued), skeptical because I wondered if it would really work for me.
Other methods I had tried, were not going so well. With my background in education, I assumed I knew just how to teach Abby how to read. I might have been wrong.
She just wasn’t getting it, and we both ended up frustrated.
One day, I was on Twitter and got to chatting with Rachel, and she told me her secret… this book!
I immediately ordered the book, and we started A on it at the beginning of our homeschool semester. I can honestly say this book is fantastic! It is thrilling to watch you child learn to read, and know you are part of that learning.
What I love:
- The book is easy to use and understand.
- The directions are specific: the book tells YOU exactly what to say and do (it’s color-coded!), and what your child should be saying and doing.
- The book is encouraging, and shows you how to redirect when your child says something incorrectly.
- The lessons are only about 10-15 minutes long.
- Your child learns writing skills as they read (or can brush up on them).
- Abby sometimes looks ahead in the book and gets so excited when she sees a new word… and can read it without help.
If you are planning to homeschool your child, I recommend Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons to teach and enhance his or her (and yours!) reading experience.
This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday and Thirsty Thursday
This post contains affiliate links. The words in this post are my thoughts and opinions, and are in no way effected by the affiliate links included in it.
I might be looking this up in a few years. Can’t wait to hear if this is really a success for you! Good luck!
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Jamie, you are considering homeschooling? That is so awesome! I will tell you, that I think this book is fantastic, and I would get it and start L on it when he is 4. I wish I had done that with Abby Grace, and I am going to start Reese when she turns 4 in March.
I’m so happy that this is working for you Amy, but I didn’t have such luck. I homeschool 3 of my 5 children (the other 2 aren’t old enough yet) and I tried that book based on a soaring recommendation and well…my kids hated it and it was a flop here. I’ve kept it – hoping to have better luck with my other kids, but I’m not very optimistic. My oldest learned with A Beka (painfully, I might add), my second son had his BEST success wtih Headsprout (which I recommend highly) and my daughter finally caught on with Leap Frog DVDs (Headsprout was not as successful with her but she REALLY struggles). I think it just varies child to child and as homeschool Mommies, we have to be open to each child’s needs.
Hi Rose!
Thank you so much for including your perspective. You are absolutely right that each child is different, and this book is not for every family. Thank you for mentioning what DID work for your children, as I will be looking into those for future reference (and possible use!). We too, love the Leap Frog DVDs. For my girls, it is a great supplement to the reading book. Thanks again for sharing!
-Amy
I hope my comment didn’t come across as harsh…I didn’t reread it before submitting. I do like the 100 Easy Lessons…it just didn’t work for us. Headsprout is an online reading program and while a bit pricey (in my opinion), it worked miracles for my second son Caleb. I think my daughter would’ve had better success with it if I had waited until she was a little older. After reading your post, I actually pulled out 100 Easy…and I’m thinking of trying it with my 4 year old. He already knows all his letters and sounds from Leapfrog DVD’s but I hadn’t started anything formal yet. We’ll see (crossing my fingers)! Many Blessings to you!
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No! It did not come across as sounding harsh at all! I appreciate different viewpoints, and it is nice to hear what works/doesn’t work for others. There is no guarantee that this book will work for my other girls, and I will be looking into the curriculum that you suggested. I do hope this book will be as effective for your 4-year-old as it has been for my daughter! Good luck, and thank you again, for your comments!
We tried this book before (I scored it on PaperBackSwap), but it didn’t work out for us. But, maybe I need to give it another look, just to be sure.
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This is what we use!
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I have this book. I’m going to give it a try with my 4 1/2 year old. Your review was very encouraging. 🙂
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This is so encouraging. I was just getting ready to leave the house to go buy this book! I am looking forward to getting started. The thing I really liked about it was that the lessons were short. My little guys attention span is not the longest, but we can do 15 minutes. I look forward to seeing how things go for you. Thanks for the “timely” post.
That reminds me of a post I’ve been meaning to do. I bought the tag reader and the learn to read books for my daughter and it is going very very very well. I’m amazed what she has accomplished in 2 weeks! I might look into this book for a more “proper” education.
I used this book when I was homeschooling my 1st son. IT HELPED SO MUCH!!! I am really excited about using it with my 2nd son but he is so much different than the first that I am not sure about it but he is only 2 so we have some time. Although since he has turned 2 he has discovered books and loves to bring me books to read. so cute. Anyway, I highly recomment this book!
I used 100 Easy Lessons with my second child, it bombed. I used it with my 4th child- she loved it. I’m using it with my 5th child and once again success:)
I’ve heard so many good things about this curriculum, it almost makes me wish I had more kids that still needed to learn to read! 🙂
I am excited about trying this book with my son. He is only 2, so we have a couple of years before we start, but he loves his letters and insists on reading at least 10 books a day.
“100 Easy Leasons” is actually how I learned to read at age 4. My mom did this book with me before I started kindergarden, and I went into school with a first grade reading level. I am an auditory learner, and I love to read. My younger sisters, however, did not take to this book at all. One learned to read with Hooked on Phonics and the other with Sing Spell Read and Write. I think it depends on a persons learning style, if a product will work or not. My mom still has her original copy of “100 Easy Leasons”, but I think I will splurge for a new one when the time comes!
I am glad it is working for you!
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I own this book, we used it a couple of years ago while homeschooling, on the recommendation of a dear friend. I like the simplicity of the method and the way each lesson is reiterated is a plus. Great Review!
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I love this book and used it for my now Kindergartner. She is an amazing reader. My younger daughter wants to read but this book may not be what she needs. I guess it works for some but not all!
I am using 100 easy lessons for my daughter as well. She loves it. She started off a little frustrated with it, but after about 20 lessons she started to like it. Now she asks to do extra lessons on days that we don’t even have school.
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Anna, that is fantastic! It sounds just like my A… she likes to look ahead and see what “new” thing she will learn about next. We, too, sometimes do 2 lessons in one day, just because A has asked 🙂
I taught my now teens to read when they were 4 with this book. I love it! I recommend it to everyone.
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