Several months ago, my husband’s aunt gave us about six boxes of preschool materials. Everything from activity books to curriculum to learning toys. It was like Christmas! In one of the boxes was the book “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons”.
I’d heard of this curriculum before and had heard mixed reviews. I got on Amazon and read and read and read the reviews. I finally decided that, although this wasn’t a curriculum I’d probably choose to buy myself, since we’d gotten it for free, it didn’t hurt to try it out! I figured we’d give it a shot and if we hated it, we’d pass it along to someone else.
The beginning lessons were boring. B.O.R.I.N.G. H (3 years at the time) got to where she was being lazy about saying the letter sounds properly. She’d be silly or not look at the words and make silly mistakes. It was making each lesson take FOREVER. I knew it was going to get better as H started to pick up speed, so I offered a treat at the end of every lesson if she made it through without getting lazy or TOO silly. (I’m not anti-silly, but when she wasn’t trying, it wasn’t helping things.)
After a while, we took a looooong break. I was in a bad part of pregnancy and just didn’t have the energy to keep up with anything. When we came back to it, H was just that much older (about 3 years 9 months by now) and she is taking off! We haven’t missed a lesson in quite a while except for two days that she was sick. She LOVES that there is a story portion now even though the stories are usually just one or two lines long. And I love that she recognizes that she’s really reading!
Now, I don’t think this program is for everyone. H has a pretty mellow personality. She’s also a dedicated, hard worker. When she decides she wants to do something, she does it. My second child will not do well in this program and I’ll be looking for something different for her (aah, the beauty of homeschooling!). I don’t think this program would work well for children who have short attention spans or are really active. That’s my disclaimer.
And now you get to see it in action! I recorded H and I doing lesson 20. I hope it gives you a good taste of what Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is all about.
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Thank you for this review! I picked up this book recently on the recommendation of several friends. I recognized that you had used in in a video you put on FB recently. I wonder how well it will work for my daughter, as she is a bit hyperactive. However, we shall see. You and your daughters look lovely in this video. I can’t believe how well M sat through this while you were working with H!
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons has a wonderful start to reading. I’ve used it with all but my youngest child to get started. We usually switch to something else after a time, but I have wonderful memories of sitting with my children working through the lessons. Thank you for sharing!