Has anyone used "teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons"?

Question

I am considering it. Was this program a success? Also, what reading level was your child at when you finished the program? Any pointers or supplemental reading info. would also be appreciated.

Answer 1

Yes we used it. My daughter was reading at a 2nd grade level by age 4.5, and by the time she was 5 she was reading Harry Potter on her own.  My experience was that you need to be patient and take breaks, sometimes for weeks , when they lose interest.  

Finally - do not forget to READ to your child. I would strongly recommend the book Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, as well as the Well Trained Mind. Reading with your child and exposing them to the wonderful worlds that books open to them is what really motivates them to WANT to read!

Good luck, have FUN with it.

Answer 2

I used it with my son and he did really well at first, and then started having great difficulty.  I don't think that was an inherent flaw in the program though, I just think that my son struggles with with reading.  Every product we tried was hard for him.  I know many people who have had really great success with that program.

Answer 3

We are useing it for my 5 yo this year and he's doing really well!

Answer 4

I am currently using this book with my 4 year old daughter.  When we first started using the book, we were doing a lesson every day.  Now, we do a lesson about every other day or so (we're at lesson 71).  I started every other day with her because around lesson 45, she started getting a bit frustrated with it.  On the days we don't use 100 Easy Lessons, we read Bob Books or do Explode the Code.  She is reading well now and shows a lot of interest in reading and showing others she can read.  

I believe that with 100 Easy Lessons, you can change the pace a bit - you'll know when you need to ease up and hold off on using the book for a day or two.  You want your child to enjoy learning to read - not dread it.

Be sure to read the instruction pages at the beginning of the book.  It's very important that you learn how to correctly pronounce all of the sounds.  Also, it is helpful that everything is scripted for you - I stuck to the script like glue in the beginning, but I've strayed from it a bit now that the reading has become more complex.  Finally, the book will say that each lesson should take around 15-20 minutes - I found that to be true in the beginning, but not so much so now; also, not every lesson is "Easy" but you can create ways of making it fun for your child.

Answer 5

It didn't work for us at all.  We used Explode the Code and loved it.

A friend of ours used it and one of her dd's read very quickly with it but the other didn't.  

I agree with the idea of getting it from your library at first if you can.   That's a great way to look at it first.

Answer 6

It is one of those things that people either love or don't like at all.  I love it.  It does "look" strange compared to other programs.  But it works.  And they do read at an early to solid second grade level when you are done.  You can go right into the Dr. Seuss books after that and other early level books.

Answer 7

We used it, and it worked very well with all.

I first borrowed it from the library through an inter-library loan to see what it was all about, and if it was something we may want to try.

I recommend doing that since not all programs work for all children.

None of the kids were the same age, nor did they need all the lessons.

One had about 55 lessons, and the other 70 something lessons; each was reading advanced readers shortly after that on their own.

Those who have borrowed the book since then have had the same success with their kids.

Answer 8

I have used it a bit with my boys. One doesn't really like it and one does.

I have 2 friends that both used it with their girls for Kindergarten. By the time they finished, the girls were reading on a 2nd grade level. One of the girls was tested to be sure. She tested at a strong 2nd grade level.

Answer 9

It was the first one I tried with my firstborn. I used it before public school kindergarten began (we pulled him form ps mid-year). Once school started I stopped using it (the library was giving me looks at how many times I had it checked out. LOL)He entered kindergarten at the age of four knowing how to read 1st grade level books. When we pulled him out, I had heard about a curriculum with reading and spelling that went to 12 grade, so I invested in that one for our official homeschooling. I think that the 100 Easy Lessons got him off to a great start. One nice thing about the book is that you have less tendency to let the curriculum pace dictate how fast you go. When everything is set up in lessons and you feel pressured to move on to the next lesson just because it is the next day, you can sometimes lose sight of making the curriculum pace match you child and not the other way around.