When I’m talking to friends about the process of teaching our children to read, I always ask, “Have you heard about the book, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons?”
More often than not, my friends will say, “No, I’ve never heard of it.” (And I wouldn’t have either, if it hadn’t been for three or four of my dear friends who raved about it–and my sister-in-law, who loaned me her copy for 11 years and let my four children wear it out.)
So today, I am broadcasting this message as far as I can get it:
If you want to teach your child to read–or if you know a child who is struggling to master the skill–THIS IS THE BOOK.
Honestly, I wish I could buy these by the truckload and pass them out to every single parent. It is that good.
Now I understand that not every child needs this book in order to become a good reader. I personally learned to read by looking over the shoulder of my older sister. And there are children all over the world who are reading just fine without formal lessons. I also understand that some children will sadly struggle with reading no matter which resources their parents use. But when you consider the fact that there are college athletes who are reading below a third grade level and that the illiteracy rate in the U.S. hasn’t budged in 10 years (with about 14 percent of the adult population being illiterate), I think you’ll agree that there is a need out there for a game-changer.
This book is the best in its field, and in case you’re skeptical (like I was), I’ve put together some photos and ideas below that will explain why it deserves a prominent place on every family’s bookshelf.
Idea #1: Typical reading programs do not work because “the alphabet does not provide for all possible sounds” (p.14).
I volunteer at our elementary school once a month, and I like to work side by side with struggling readers. Our elementary school teachers are amazing, and they put 110% of themselves into their jobs, but there is no way they can give consistent one-on-one attention to every single child. I know it means a lot when parents from the community come in to help.
But here’s what happens when I try to teach a little boy how to sound out the word “alligator fish”: He starts with what he knows and sounds it out phonetically: AAAAA, LLLLL, LLLLL… But then he doesn’t know if the “i” is long or short, and he can’t connect the “o-r” or the “s-h” together. After minutes on that one word, he finally shrugs his shoulders and wants to give up. That kills me.
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons solves that whole problem because it uses the Distar alphabet that looks like this:
Here’s the pronunciation guide:
Children start out with with short sentences that look something like this:
But then the text transforms into this:
And eventually this:
It’s totally different than anything I’ve ever seen in a classroom, but it works.
Idea #2: Most parents are not taught HOW to teach reading.
I always knew it was important to read to my children, and so I took them to the library often when they were little and read to them while they curled up on my lap. In many cases, that may be totally sufficient.
But what I absolutely love about this book is that “my part” as the parent/teacher is printed in pink text. I simply open the book, go through the lesson with my child as outlined (which takes between 10 and 20 minutes), and then we’re ready to move on to other stories or activities.
Here’s a sample:
Idea #3: There are fabulous pre-reading exercises that basically work like magic (but I never knew about them).
When I initially opened this book, I thought we would start by naming all the letters in alphabetical order. I was wrong.
In fact, we didn’t name the letters at all with this book. Ever. We simply learned the sounds and how they worked together–starting with m, a, and s.
Then we practiced saying words r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w-l-y. And then really fast. (Perfect for when it comes time for your child to make sense of a word he or she just sounded out.)
And then we played rhyming games. (My kids loved these.)
These methods are brilliant. They teach foundational skills I never even considered.
Idea #4: There’s something powerful about sitting down with your children and deliberately teaching them to read.
When I look back on my years with preschoolers in my home (and yes, a part of me gets choked up when I realize those days are past), some of my favorite memories include these reading lessons. We didn’t do them every day. In fact, sometimes we only did them twice a month. But as I flip through these pages, I think of the stories that made us laugh, the way I felt when my children snuggled into my side, and the exhilaration I felt when I got to be the very first person to hear my children read.
I acknowledge that there’s a lot of “rushing” these days to get our children to master skills at a younger and younger age. I don’t agree with that. I want them to enjoy their childhood and progress at a natural pace. But I think every deliberate mother in the world wants to equip her children with the skills to thrive academically, socially, professionally, and in every other area.
One foundational skill for all of that is reading.
QUESTION: Do you have a favorite resource for teaching children to read? (Or have you had any experience with this book?)
CHALLENGE: Take a moment to assess your own child’s reading readiness–or that of a child in your extended family or community network. If you think this book would be helpful, check out the full page on Amazon, read the reviews, and consider purchasing a copy for your family bookshelf. (Used copies are available for about $6. Or you may be able to find a copy at your local library. I just strongly recommend that you get this book. You’ll love it!)
Additional Resources
- If you’d like to listen to a five-minute discussion about this topic that I recorded with my 14-year-old daughter, click the play button below:
- Click the image below for a direct link to Amazon.
- Power of Moms’ Sharing the Joy of Reading Kit is an excellent complement to what this book has to offer. (Instead of focusing on how to read, it helps parents create powerful experiences with their children throughout the process of reading.)
Photo of mom and daughter (above) from Shutterstock.
Links to Amazon.com on this page are part of Power of Moms’ Affiliate Program, so while the ideas in this post are 100% authentic, if you purchase something through these links, a small percentage of the price would go to supporting Power of Moms.
I know this book has worked for some of my friends and their children. But I actually had a very negative experience with it. I love you, April, but we hated this book. There were a lot of typos, which meant that the phonetic alphabet they used was very inconsistent. And my child was very discouraged because after WEEKS of lessons, he still couldn’t pick up a regular book and read it, since he was still reading the specialized text (it’s not until near the end of the book that the lessons incorporate the standard alphabet, so my son couldn’t tell he was making any progress for the first 70 or so lessons).
I repeat: I know people who used “100 Lessons” and loved it. But if it doesn’t work for you, I highly recommend “The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading” by Jessie Wise and Sara Buffington. It is a phonics-based book that had one of my daughters sounding out c-v-c words before she finished learning the whole alphabet, and the lessons get quite advanced. It’s extremely comprehensive and gives early readers a strong foundation. We loved that one.
(And I also wanted to say that I didn’t teach one of my children to read at all because she had no interest. She learned in public school and now she is reading grade levels ahead, so it turned out fine. It’s okay if you don’t have the wherewithal to teach your child to read!)
I’m so glad you posted this comment, Alisha! It’s so great to have other resources as options, and that’s exactly what I was hoping would happen here with this post. If any other mothers reading this have tips, tricks, or other book ideas to share, please do! What works for one child or one family doesn’t always work for others, and I think it’s TOTALLY healthy (and essential) to try out different options. Out of the 1,000+ reviews of this book on Amazon, more than 800 were 5 stars, which I think is a pretty good indicator that it’s working for the majority of the people who try it. But, Alisha, I’m grateful for your added perspective! Thanks!
Ditto for our family. I tried it with my two oldest but was frustrated with it, so we moved over to “The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading”. It worked better with my style of parenting and teaching and my children’s learning styles.
There are so many ways to teach any subject (and to learn them). Don’t get frustrated if something that works for one person doesn’t work for you or your child. Keep going. I think two of a mother’s best tools are perseverance when it feels right and freely letting go when it feels wrong. Thank you April and Alisha for your insights.
We just started working on this book yesterday with my 4 year old. He has been wanting to read for a couple months now. When I saw this at the library I had to grab. And, now I need to buy it. Glad to see another wonderful review on this product!!
Good luck, Heather! I hope you love it.
April, I am working through this book with my 6-year old kindergartner. He and I both really love it! It’s given us some incredible snuggling time, and seeing the look of pride on Charlie’s face when he reads a whole sentence in the lesson just makes my heart want to burst!
My experience with Charlie, a summer birthday whom we held back a year for elementary school, was that he didn’t “get it” until he was a bit older. So while I tried this method when he was 5, he definitely wasn’t ready for it. However, in a matter of 6 months, he’s suddenly gained interest and motivation. This tool has been a wonderful addition to what we do after school!
I am also seeing in the public school system where we live, that teaching reading doesn’t truly begin until first grade. I feel pleased that I am helping give Charlie a few tools, at his own pace, to keep him interested in and excited about reading. Gentle times together, just one short lesson at a time, and lots of encouragement…it’s giving this mother some memories I’ll never forget! Thank you for the great post…this resource really has been a gem for my family!
So glad to hear! Enjoy your snuggling time with Charlie… 🙂
I also am not a fan of this book. I am an early childhood graduate and feel like PLAY and reading aloud is the best way to teach kids to read. My oldest was reading by age 4 and LOVED all things academic and to do with reading. My 3rd is 8 1/2 and JUST figured out reading in the last 6-9 months. Every child is so different and kids will pick reading up in their own time and at their own pace.
I totally agree with you, Cheryl. Have you read the book, “Einstein Never Used Flashcards?” It’s exactly about how play is the most important thing. And I love the “Read Aloud Handbook” that helps us simply make reading a part of our daily lives. Our family loved this reading book, but it’s definitely not the only way to go. 🙂 xoxo
We love this book at our house. I taught my 4 now 5 year old to read with this book (and she has had no trouble reading other books that are not written in this style).
Thanks for sharing your experience, Melanni! I was concerned that it would be a confusing switch, but there weren’t any issues at our house, either. So glad it worked for you!
Answering the question at the end of the article: My favorite resource for teaching children to read is simply reading with them! We read to our kids from the time they were babies. Our favorite time of day when they were babies/toddlers was “story time.” Instill that love of reading right from the beginning.
Excellent, Mary!
I taught my oldest two sons how to read using this book before they started kindergarten. They attend a language immersion school and are expected to lag behind in reading because of it, but they never have. With my third son, I have started this book three times (starting when had was 3) and we have even gotten up to lesson 50 or so… Each time he has started to hate the lessons so much that we have stopped for awhile. He started kindergarten this fall right after turning 5, and it has been a much bigger struggle for him. When they test him for phonics, he does wonderfully because of this book. But the only thing that shows up on his report card is about sight words, which he completely clams up on. We are still using this book and he is now breezing through. I am confident he will reading soon, but I am hoping his teachers don’t give credit to the stupid sight word tests the give him weekly 😉
So basically, I have a great confidence in this book but I know that each child is different and learns at their own pace.
One thing that I have done with all three boys is when then complete 25 lessons they get a date with me- just about anywhere they want to go. It has been a great motivator and has created wonderful memories.
Katie, I’m so glad you shared your experience here. I definitely agree that all children are different, and I applaud your efforts to help your children on such an individual level. In our family, we worked with sight words separately from this book, but honestly, I think this book made the whole “sight word” process unnecessary. Wishing you the best!!
Thanks for the great review and tips. I just purchased the book on Amazon and can’t wait to try it. I am a huge reading advocate (I blog at obSEUSSed.com) and my daughter picked reading up quickly but my son is in 2nd grade and still struggles with phonics, even with other reading techniques I’ve learned. I’m willing to try some new things. I’ve heard of this book but haven’t seen it. The inside page pics helped me decide to buy it. I really hope this helps. I love snuggle/reading time with my kids too. (I’m also in a Power of Moms learning circle and we love sharing ideas about reading with kids too.)
Victoria, please let me know how it goes! And I’m so glad you’re in a Learning Circle. Thanks for being a part of Power of Moms!
I also did not like this book. I bought it after reading all the great reviews and tried to use it with my preschooler age 5. My preschooler was anxious and asking to learn how to read. I found it was too constricting telling me exactly what to say and do. I hated it and felt like a robot. It was also boring for my preschooler to have me teach that way. I also thought that there was not nearly enough practice reading. You teach the concept but then only practice a few sentences with the new idea, not enough to make it stick. (Just my opinion).
So I decided to try another book called, “The Reading Lesson: Teach your Child to read in 20 easy lessons.” I LOVE this book, it was much more my style and had a lot of practice for my child. I think it uses the same concept as the 100 lessons book in that it has symbols with the letters to let the child know what sound the letter should make in each word. It is extremely easy to use for both the parent and the child and it was enjoyable for both of us. It says 20 lessons but each lesson has about 12 pages so it does take some time to teach. We spent about 5-8 minutes a day working on it, the book recommends only doing 2-3 pages a day which is really easy. My child is now in the middle of her kindergarten year and reading chapter books. As she reads to me she used the concepts from this book to sound out the words. It was awesome! I would recommend it to anyone!
Chantelle, I’m so glad to hear about that book! I found the link on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Lesson-Teach-Child-Lessons/dp/0913063088 (in case anyone else wants to check it out). 20 lessons sound much less overwhelming than 100! 🙂 So grateful you shared your experience here.
My oldest learned how to read while she was waiting for me to get done with her 3 year old sister and 1 year old brother—she figured it out herself (with lots of being read to). My middle got through about 10 of the lessons and then figured it out.
My youngest was SO frustrated that he couldn’t read with his sisters, we started the book when he was almost 5. We didn’t do it every day, and still read to him a lot, but this helped him figure out the things his sisters didn’t have a problem with. He LOVED the special time with me. For whatever reason, he didn’t get frustrated by the special alphabet—he was able to recognize words in other books. We went through about 90 lessons in just under a year (slowly! sometimes 2 days per lesson, with breaks), and then he was reading on his own. Every once in a while he will want to read one of the last lessons with me =)
For me, it was very instructive to be reminded that there are things that come harder to different kids—youngest learned to button buttons at 3, while his older sister didn’t get it until 5. But she was reading much earlier, while he needed the strategies that this book taught.
My favorite strategy is connecting the sounds as you sound out words. For my youngest, sounding out m -o -m with breaks between the sounds wasn’t helpful, but mmmmmmoooooooommmmmmm helped him hear the word.
Kim, it was great to read your story. And yes, the connecting of the phonics was huge for my children, as well. Congratulations on a job well done!
I also LOVE this book! I believe reading is essential to success in school and life so I have used this book to teach our children. Many of our children started using it at 3 years old. I love that there is nothing to prepare, all the lessons are ready to go. I highly recommend this book. Based on the child’s age and attention span, once they get into higher lessons we usually take two days to complete one lesson. I have four school age kids that learned to read with this book, and my 3 and 5 year old are now using it. I love that it teaches the kids the skill of how to sound out words, not just memorize words. Great book!
Glad to hear you liked it, too, Tasha!
When I taught in the International Schools abroad they used a program called Thrass. It is revolutionary. It is similar and uses the phonetic system that is in the dictionaries. It is so easy for young readers and adults. I learned so much and the first grade teacher who was dyslexic said reading made sense for the first time.
Thanks for sharing that great tip, Ann! I found this link. Is this right?
http://www.thrass.co.uk/
We appreciate you being a part of our community!
That’s it! It is fabulous! Too bad they don’t bring it here but we are the only English speaking country in the world who pronounces their vowels differently.
We have used this book to teach three boys to read (maybe you told me about it years ago?). We love it because it was a good fit, and it worked, for us.
With all curriculum- it’s helpful to look at many options and see what fits with you (time, resources, ability, style) and your child (learning style, motivation). It’s ok to experiment- get resources from the library first.
Realize also that children have to be developmentally ready to read- pushing memorization and painful “lessons” at them can turn them away from the joy of reading. One thing I learned was that all my kids could recognize letters and sounds when they were practically babies, but it didn’t mean they need to be reading yet. Follow their lead, be patient and flexible, and give them a rich reading environment. Help them to love stories.
With one of my sons, we started these lessons when he was 4, had to take many breaks, he finally finished the book when he was 6 or 7, but he didn’t choose to read. I panicked! We continued to read to him a ton, listened to many audiobooks (realizing he is an auditory learner). He picked up a book when he was 8 and really hasn’t put books down since. At 11, he reads constantly, memorizes long stories and poems, and wants to be an author. This taught me to relax! And go with their strengths. (Need to make a “learn to read with legos” for the next child!)
We let the boys sign and date the back of this lesson book when they finish it. They love adding their name to their brothers signatures!
LOVED this with my kidos! Great book review and LOVE the differing opinions and their solutions too!
I started this book with my son when he was 4. I would switch off between this and a letter sound memory game because that was more fun and I wanted him to be really good and his letter sounds. Around lesson 50 we stopped doing these lessons as much and switched to Bob books, which my son found more fun at the time. We started these lessons again but we probably do one every two weeks. My son and I read leveled story town readers along with books from the library together. He’s in kinder and reading at an advanced 1st grade level. We are now on lesson 80 in this book and he doesn’t prefer reading from it, but I really think sticking it out with it has boosted his self confidence. One tip: I found a chart from 1-100 online and every time he completes a lesson he gets to put a sticker on it. When he reaches 100 we are gonna get him a toy. He is sometimes motivated by that to do the lessons when he doesn’t want to.
Amen. I did it ALL–all 100 lessons with my son last year in Kindergarten. It was tough doing that every night, but it sure works! And I was glad we both worked hard and completed it! And he was motivated by being able to read longer stories each time. I have a friend who did it with her daughter and Mom made special “Jane can read!” cupcakes when they finished and took her to a bookstore to buy a book she could read by herself.
Thanks for the post, April. I really like this approach to reading too — and although I’ve used the book, I’ve had more success with the computer program that corresponds. The company is funnix.com and they have a reading and math program. (The software is developed by the author Siegfried and his son Owen). The software is pretty basic — don’t expect animation or anything, but it is more engaging than just working with the book for us. I am using it with my 5 and 6 year old boys; I’ll admit that they don’t LOVE it, but it really does help them learn and feel more confident about how they can learn at school. I am usually right next to them very nearby while they are doing it so I can hear that they really are following along and doing the work right. Just thought I’d pass that along in case it works for someone else.
So glad to hear about that. Thanks Jen! My husband and I were just wondering if there were some sort of video training or computer resources like this. We appreciate you sharing!
we loved this book!! i used it for all three of my boys and have kept their writing samples as beautiful momentos of our journey together:)
Oh my goodness! Impressive article dude! Thank you,
However I am encountering issues with your RSS. I don’t understand
the reason why I can’t subscribe to it. Is there
anybody having the same RSS issues? Anybody who knows the answer will you kindly respond?
Thanks!!
I am loving the idea of this book. I’m wondering if it was at all difficult for children to “wean” off of reading words with the vowel sounds.
Thanks in advance!
Great question! I was worried about that too, but we had zero issues. Now my kids are 9-17 and are all awesome readers. Loved this book and would totally use it again!