Book Review: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
I can review this book in two words: Buy It. But I will elaborate just a bit. This book teaches your child how to read and write using the Distar method. This book is nearly perfect. It’s simple and easy to follow. They literally tell you the exact words to say during each lesson. The authors say it takes 20 minutes a day, and within 100 days your child will be reading on a solid second-grade level. We have found it usually takes even less time than that.
Why I say the book is nearly perfect: The only objection I have is regarding some of their choices in words to use as examples. There are plenty of words in this world that would fulfill the needs of learning particular sounds put together...why they have to have the kids sound out the words “gun”, “shoot”, and “hunt” is beyond me. Both of my kids, individually, have made a sad face as those words came up, and we moved on. It was a small price to pay for such a quality teaching tool.
My son learned to read at 4 and my daughter is reading at 3 years of age, as we are working our way through the book with her. I would not recommend to everyone that those are the ages to start a child reading. In my opinion, those are very early ages. However, I believe in child-led learning. I allow my children to learn what they want, when they want, according to their desires and passions. That being said, the two ages I mentioned above are the times when my kids came to me on their own, requesting to be taught to read. Both times I used this book, and both times have met with unwavering success. With my son, we didn’t even finish the book, we stopped about 10 lessons short of 100. (The last few lessons seemed unnecessary to us.) Now he’s five years old and reading on a 4th grade level.
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, by Siegfried Engelmann (and Phyllis Haddox and Elaine Bruner), is a book I can recommend with much enthusiasm. I can’t remember how I first learned about this book, but I’m certainly glad I found it. Teaching a child to read can be a daunting concept. Much rides on a child’s ability to read, and being the one to teach such an important skill is a large responsibility. I am very grateful for the authors of this book for making the process painless, effective and fun!
Why I say the book is nearly perfect: The only objection I have is regarding some of their choices in words to use as examples. There are plenty of words in this world that would fulfill the needs of learning particular sounds put together...why they have to have the kids sound out the words “gun”, “shoot”, and “hunt” is beyond me. Both of my kids, individually, have made a sad face as those words came up, and we moved on. It was a small price to pay for such a quality teaching tool.
My son learned to read at 4 and my daughter is reading at 3 years of age, as we are working our way through the book with her. I would not recommend to everyone that those are the ages to start a child reading. In my opinion, those are very early ages. However, I believe in child-led learning. I allow my children to learn what they want, when they want, according to their desires and passions. That being said, the two ages I mentioned above are the times when my kids came to me on their own, requesting to be taught to read. Both times I used this book, and both times have met with unwavering success. With my son, we didn’t even finish the book, we stopped about 10 lessons short of 100. (The last few lessons seemed unnecessary to us.) Now he’s five years old and reading on a 4th grade level.
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, by Siegfried Engelmann (and Phyllis Haddox and Elaine Bruner), is a book I can recommend with much enthusiasm. I can’t remember how I first learned about this book, but I’m certainly glad I found it. Teaching a child to read can be a daunting concept. Much rides on a child’s ability to read, and being the one to teach such an important skill is a large responsibility. I am very grateful for the authors of this book for making the process painless, effective and fun!
