Over two years ago "Maria" was stricken with bacterial meningitis. A college scholar, musician, and artist could no longer read or write. After having worked with her for five or six months just trying hit and miss methods, I purchased "Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons."
It was clear, simple to use, and easily adaptable to my particular need. Maria now reads at the fourth or fifth grade level, still struggling with the aftermath of her disease, but she is confident and happy that she can read again. I could never have done it without this book. It is a miracle worker! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I started this book when my twins turned 5. One of my twins tends to learn a bit quicker than the other, so I decided to have an individual lesson with each of them. The lessons do start off with very simple to teach and learn concepts. Initially the lessons do indeed only take 10-5 minutes each. We are currently on lesson #86 and starting at around #60 or so, the lessons begin to take longer. The stories get longer and more difficult to read. I would guesstimate they take about 25 minutes each and I am not falling the directions to a t because I am only having my kids read the story one time. In my opinion, reading the stories twice is asking a lot! Especially in the later lessons. That being said, this program has been excellent for my kids. I have twins and they started Kindergarten in August. Both are in the "high" reading groups and have already completed the testing sequence that kindergarteners are supposed to complete by year end. My twins are both very different in their learning style, and my son, while bright is normally at average with his peers. So for him to be in the "high" reading group for me was a nice feeling. My goal in doing this program was to give the kids (my son especially) a head start and a confidence boost in regards to their learning abilities. My son is not the most confident in general, but he is very proud that he can read already!

The lessons are not necessarilly "fun". The stories are funny, so that helps later on. But, to add incentive, I set it up so that one could play learning games on the computer while the other did their lesson with me. This has worked very well for us! If they want computer time, they have to do a reading lesson. There ARE days that they do not want to do the lesson, but when told they can't have computer time if they don't do the lesson, they usually change their mind and agree to do the lesson.

I do recommend this book. I am so excited to see my kids reading!! My daughter reads the 150+ word stories without much sounding out now. But on the parents end it does take time and commitment.

Hope this helps some folks out there considering purchasing this book.

This book was recomended to me awhile ago but I forgot about it. While browsing on Amazon one day I saw it and decided to check it out. After reading all the wonderful reviews I knew I had to get it. I didn't even know if my almost 4 year old son would be interested in it, but I thought if nothing else it would be a good resource down the road. It has been amazing! Not only does my son love his "reading game" time, he begs me to do it every day and proudly shows his Daddy all that he has been learning. Based on the reviews here I didn't think we'd do much with the writing part. I thought they started with letters that were too hard to learn to write and I wasn't sure my son would have the fine motor skills needed to do it. Again I was happily surprized. My son did have trouble with the letters but every day he has gotten better and had more control with his hand movements. It really helps that they keep reviewing the letters every few days.
I will definately be recommending this book to everyone I know!

My 4 1/2 year old daughter is on lesson 86 of 100. She's doing great. Her big brother, who is almost 7, completed this program by his 5th birthday. He's reading on a 4th grade level and excels with reading. What's so wonderful is I bought 1 book. That's it. I spent maybe $20 a few years ago and by the middle of next month I will have completed the program on 2 children. So, for $10/child I have (with the help of this book, prayer, and patience) taught my children to read! Nothing fancy. Simple reading. Buy the book and open up a world of reading to your child. They will read so much. Totally worth it!

I will add that my son did this program in a years time...not 100 consecutive days like they recommend. My daughter has taken a little less time....probably 7 months. But, don't be afraid of going at your own pace!

I have just finished with my 4 1/2 year old and I am blown away by his success. My son was pretty advanced already and knew all of his sounds, and even so, this was a struggle for him. Around lesson 70 it finally clicked and he zoomed through the rest of the book. If your child isn't ready, wait a while.

My daughter has showed signs of reading readiness so I bought this book with the Bob Books to get her started. I must say, as a parent and a teacher this is a nice fit. The lessons are managable for everyone. They are easy to follow, repitious enough but not too much and the perfect length of time. My daughter didn't get bored and actually was asking for more - exactly what I wanted. One the same day she started I noticed her pointed out "M" and "S" and saying the sounds presented. Therefore, it showed me she had internalized what she had been introduced to. This book with the Bob Books in combination make a nice package.

I have been trying to teach my daughter to read since last year but I don't know where to start and how to do it. I tried something that obviously didn't work out and its frustrating for my child and myself until I bought this book making my life easy. My daughter is always excited and is always looking forward for this reading lessons and for only few lessons that we started she is already reading. Really amazing and I'm so glad I found this book which is so helpful. I just wished I bought this book earlier.

My five year old daughter is learning sounds, how to read words and comprehending sentences. She actually requests this book everyday. There is some frustration at times, but she has more successful moments than frustrations.

Very good for my frustrated little reader. He was having a hard time putting the sounds in his words together, this helps a lot.

As a special education teacher I have used the Reading Mastery system since 1990. Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons is the BEST of that very same program. Whether you are a teacher (new or seasoned), a teacher's assistant, a tutor, a parent, a mentor...you will find this well worth the time and effort in teaching a child who is new to reading or a struggling reader. It is based on the direct instruction approach, teaching letters as "sounds", and is scripted. Now, I know most teachers don't exactly like a scripted approach, but try it! I've taught PreKindergarten special needs students to read before they left PreK. IT WORKS!! All my students began Kindergarten in "average" to "above average" reading levels! What an awesome way for a child with developmental delays to start their educational career. Even now I'm tutoring a Kindergartener 2 hours a week using this book and the progress is excellent. So go ahead, try it. You can't lose and the child wins!

When your child is ready to start learning to read I really recommend this book. My first son sailed through this book early. My second son is taking his time but he is still learning very well. Each child is sooo different that you just have to pay close attention to see if they are truly ready. No matter what, remember that learning is truly enjoyable. You are setting the example that they will follow all through life. So have fun. Cuddle on the couch and make learning to read so much fun together!

Only on Lesson 18 but the progress is amazing and rewarding. Getting the sound pronunication is a little strange and at first you may think ' this is not going to work' but stick with it, it does work. Great book.

Excellent way to start your kids to read! In 100 lessons my daughter could read very well! It is logical and builds upon each other! I highly recommend it as they way you teach as well as to supplement at home!

I live in France and my son is learning 2 languages at the same time..
This book is helping me keep the 2 apart for my 6 year old..
Any parent knows the hardest thing in learning is to get the child to want to learn..
Even with ADD my son loves to do his lessons with me form the book..
Good luck to all moms and dad...

I taught my 3 year old his letters and letter sounds with Zoo Phonics. It is a wonderful program for that purpose, but I didn't know how to extend letter sounds into actual reading. I looked online to find other phonics programs and found this book. I rented it from the library, and although I was a little skeptical about using it (since he already knew letter sounds) we started off on the first lesson anyway. He hated it at first, and I almost couldn't get him to do it. However, once we got going and they started teaching words and sentences he loved it. It progresses fast and I keep wondering if he'll be able to keep up, yet he always does. He's now done with more than 60 lessons and every day he can't wait for the next one. He loves them so much that most of the time we do 2 lessons a day. One in the morning, one before bed. We also added in the "Bob Books" and he loves these too. After we're done with a lesson, he reads a whole Bob book. He feels extremely proud of himself and the two programs are working well together for us. We'd still be spinning our wheels if it wasn't for this program. Give it a few lessons, you'll be amazed at what your child can do.

This was the only book/tool I purchased to teach my daughter to read. We began when she was 2, and she was proficient enough by age three to navigate her own computer. She continued to progress and was reading chapter books by age 4.
The most remarkable thing about being an advanced early reader is that learning becomes a geometric, rather than linear, progression. The more she read, the more she wanted to read, and absorption and retention became nearly second nature. Her reading & comprehension proficiency enabled her to learn every subject at an astonishingly accelerated pace. Whether she was reading about the habitats of certain animals, math word problems, or a story, learning came easily.
My little girl is, from a completely unbiased assessment, extremely bright; she is not a genius. She is now 8, and has remained far above grade level while attending Montessori and Parochial schools.
I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who wants to provide her children with a life-long advantage. Now for the bad news, it is not really painlessly easy, but most worthwhile things don't come by effortlessly, right?
One serious piece of advice--do EXACTLY as the book instructs, I deviated once and spent weeks rectifying my mistake.Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

I'll admit when I first got this book, I looked through it and said no way are we going through this. It looks cluttered and maybe a little confusing. I have a 4 year old and started off on my own to teach letter sounds and sight words (rather haphazardly). With limited time, she just wasn't learning very much. Finally I got the book back out and thought we would give it a try - what could it hurt (only 15 minutes). We are up to Lesson 37.

I have begun to really appreciate the system it uses. There is a lot of repetition in the beginning which she needed. After the first lesson, I didn't read the parental stuff and I don't go as slow as the book suggests on each lesson. My daughter whips right through the sounds and then we struggle with figuring out the words. We do go back over the previous lesson each time we sit down with it again. She has really gained reading skills very quickly and can read and sound out quite a bit. It is encouraging to us both that she can read several sentences herself and she seems quite proud. The order the sounds and words are presented in is wonderful for teaching a child to read something quickly. We don't work in it every night and at times I just put it back up if she doesn't want to work with it. Still, she is learning quite a bit without a lot of effort.

Using this book helped me teach my son how to read! It does as some critics have said on this site seem a bit goofy approach but it does work. I find it exercises your child's vision to read left and right and it helps with sounding sounds out. I used it everyday skipping only a few days and I feel that it is key to be consistent at progressing through it. I used a sheet of paper and wrote the lesson numbers 1-100 and next to each lesson number we wrote the date and put a sticker of my child's choice next to it each day. And it really gave my son a visual of how far along he was and he liked that he was getting quite a collection of various stickers on his sheet. When he was done the sheet was like a badge of honor of how hard he worked. It still hangs on our wall. Invest in the book as well as your time (15min a day for 100 days)

I didn't realize that reading is hard and how much work it takes to learn how to do it until I started teaching. As an adult, I took it for granted and didn't realize how many connections children have to make in order to learn how to read. I am now teaching my oldest daughter to read. I started with this book, but didn't understand its approach. I switched to another book (The ordinary parent's guide to reading) and it packed way too much in a lesson for my little girl. I spent two weeks on 1 lesson and couldn't move on (from the section which begins teaching them to read after learning the letters). So, then I switched back. And then I understood the approach the author is taking. It made a lot more sense for us and it is working.

My daughter learned her letters from the leapfrog letter factory video. This helped set the stage so she was ready to start learning to read. Knowing the sounds of the letters solidly has made using this book a lot easier for her.

It does take us 15-20 minutes each day. She isn't so excited about the words, but she loves the little story she gets to read each day in the lesson. Her excitement is not the book, it's her own personality. She loves to do things that are easy and silly and fun. I know that she also has to learn how to work on something. She's getting better. We go through 5 lessons and then start back at the beginning of those 5 and repeat them again. We are now at lesson 48 and we've been doing it for about 8 months. I share that because I agree with several of the other reviewers. Don't worry about rushing through quickly. It takes every child a different amount of time to really grasp the lessons.

One note...I don't require my daughter to write the way the author recommends. Her fine motor skills are taking longer to develop and so I have simply been doing the reading portions of the lessons.

I just purchased a new copy of this to use with my third child. I used this book with my older two kids and really enjoyed it. I started when they were pretty young--about four, so we went a little slower. Sometimes I would break up a lesson over two or three days. I know a lot of parents worry that if they push their kids to read with formal lessons like this, their kids will consider reading a chore and hate it. That hasn't been the case with my kids. They absolutely love to read, and they are really good at it. Both of my older kids were reading at about a third-grade level when they started kindergarten. It is truly amazing to see their minds open up to the world of books.
Why should teachers have all the fun?

I used this book 4 years ago with my now 8 year old, and he's always been at least a couple years ahead in his reading level. I am now doing homeschooling with my 5 year old niece, and almost 5 year old son using this book again to teach the reading fundamentals, and they are both "getting it" so easily.

This book truly makes it SO EASY for anyone to teach a child to read--the teaching scripts give you everything (I mean absolutely EVERYTHING) you need to say. And seriously, if your child is ready to learn, this book will help teach them! The funny thing is, my 2 1/2 year old nephew had been interested in learning since everyone else is doing it (the older kids), and after I do the lessons with the older kids, he'll sit down next to me and say "now it's my turn". :) Although we are going at a MUCH slower pace with him (going over a lesson 2-3 separate times), he is getting it as well!

You really can't go wrong with this book.

Having a four year old boy who was completely disinterested in learning his letters at day care, let alone learning to read, led me to read up a bit on educating boys. "Boys and Girls Learn Differently", a terrific book on its own, informed me that boys tend to be two years ahead in math and sciences, but two years BEHIND in reading. "Learn Differently" taught me that this disparity often had profound effects upon a boy's education, often resulting in their giving up, thinking they were dumb, and rejecting reading altogether. As an avid reader, and a person who only succeeded because of a love of reading, I wasn't going to allow this to occur to my child. I purchased "100 easy lessons" based upon reviews posted on Amazon, and I can honestly say that it was one of the best investments of my life.
My little lazy reader resisted learning the sounds at first. So I dressed it up in a "treasure hunt." I would write the letters featured in a lesson on a piece of paper, place them around the room and have him "find" the correct sounds to match up to the letter. Then, very quickly, we progressed to treasure hunts for words (I completely admit to bribery - 3 successful hunts resulted in a pack of Pokemon cards, his love at the time). Within a matter of 2 months (and several breaks between consistent lessons), my son learned to read far, far more advanced than most of his class mates. I continued the lessons, and dressed them up in "treasure hunts" on and off over the next 6 months. By this time, he was beyond confident about reading - his reward for his hunts was now the Level 2 and 3 "I can read" books that you can buy at any book store (he never caught on to the irony that his reward for completing his reading was to get a book....)
Flash forward to three years later. My son has just been invited into the "gifted" program at school. That "100 easy lessons" (and the time investment of myself and my husband) were a big reason for this is beyond question. The confidence he gained from being one of the top readers in his class has also led to a "swagger" about his school work. Even better -- his brother, 3 years behind him, just started 1st grade. Desperately yearning to be just like his older brother, he has thrown himself into the reading lessons and "treasure hunts" with a focus I've never seen. On day 7 of first grade, he is at lesson 65 in the book. And he, unlike his older brother, LOVES the lessons, can't wait to show off how well he reads. I have no doubt he too will eventually earn an invitation into the gifted program. And their 2 year old brother can't wait to join them.
In short, if you want to realize the most unbelievable return on your investment in your child's education and future, buy this book.

I have taught my oldest 4 children to read using this book, all by age 4. (they were ready!) One of them was even reading 3 letter, short vowel sound words by age 3. When my fifth child is ready to learn to read, I'm going to have to order another copy! Mine has fallen apart!

The only negative has been towards the end of the book, I get really tired of the lessons and am ready for my children to move on to "real" books.

This is an amazing book. It is an entire reading program in one book that costs about $20. I started this after I tried Hooked on Phonics and couldn't even get past lesson one with my 5-year-old son. He just couldn't understand the phonics concepts of that program and found it too boring.

Then a preschool teacher recommended this book which she had used in teaching small children to read. I can't believe how easy and how well this works. I agree with other reviewers that you must go at the pace of your own child. At first the lessons were simple and only took about 10 minutes to complete. Later lessons have stories which are longer and require more concentration. Once we got to that point I took about three days to do each lesson, so that way we still only spend about 10-15 minutes per day working on it. I find that to be a reasonable amount of time to ask my son to concentrate and focus on learning how to read without frustrating him or causing him to dislike reading. I also give my son special rewards every time he completes a certain number of lessons, since I consider his effort at learning to read to be a major accomplishment worthy of recognition. After nine months, we are on lesson 92. My whole family is so impressed with how well our son can read. My three-year-old daughter has been begging me to teach her how to read, so I started this program with her this year, too.

One more thing--be sure to read the entire introduction before you start or else you will not teach it correctly. This is a great book. I highly recommend it to everyone I know who want to teach their own children to read. I can't say enough good things about this reading program. (The best book I ever bought was the Bible.)

My daughter and I loved this book!! I bought it when she was 4 and by the end of preschool she was reading at a kindergarten level. When she stared Kindergarten, her teacher moved her to 1st grade reading. The lesson are so simple and only 20 minutes long. The other great thing is that my daughter didn't feel any pressure coming from the lessons. I know that teaching your child to read can be very difficult and the child may feel the pressure of learning how to read and then shut down. So, we'd try to do a lesson a day but if she wasn't interesting in the lesson, then we'd pick out a bob book or some other easy reader to work with for 20 minutes. That way we still did some kind of reading every day to maintain the routine but diversified a bit to maintain her interest.

This book is fabulous! I read most of the 400+ reviews and noticed that only those folks who DID NOT USE this book gave it negative reviews. The looks of the book CAN be disconcerting, due to the fact that the lessons are scripted and there is a slightly altered orthography in the first part of the book (e.g. "t" and "h" are touching to form "th"). But... it works!
My daughter, by March of kindergarten, had not learned to read even simple words like "he" or "it" with the so-called "balanced approach" used at her school (i.e. using picture clues and context to figure out words, and then using "phonics clues" as a third strategy). I figure it is best to assume the teaching method should be changed, rather than that the child has a problem. Within days of using this book, I knew this approach (systematic phonics) was working beautifully. After 4 months of using this book and working on additional letter-to-sound correspondences using an old-fashioned primer (rather like Samuel Blumenfeld's Alphaphonics Alpha-Phonics: A Primer for Beginning Readers), she is reading at a second-grade level. For parents of k or grade 1 children who aren't learning to read at all or are managing to memorize a few words but are not able to sound-out new words, I highly recommend this book (but probably not for kids over age 7). I would have used it much earlier, had I been as educated about this issue as I have become in the last 4 months.
I also highly recommend Rudolf Flesch's two amazing books that hold as true today, in many parts of the country, as they did decades ago when written.Why Johnny Can't Read: And What You Can Do about It Why Johnny Still Can't Read: A New Look at the Scandal of Our Schools There has been a vast amount of research done over the past century demonstrating that systematic phonics is incredibly effective at teaching children to read AND helping dyslexics overcome their reading difficulties. If your school doesn't have a truly systematic phonics program in place, teach your child to read. . . in 100 easy lessons.
I purchased "Reading Rescue 1-2-3" by Peggy Wilbur at the same time as "Teach Your Child to Read." I would NOT recommend "Reading Rescue." It downplays sounding out, and is firmly in the camp that it doesn't matter if a person reads words inaccurately (e.g. "makes traps" for "sets traps").
By the way, I added dictation of words with unambiguous spelling to the lessons after lesson 35, as Engelmann suggests at one point. Dictation has been great for spelling! She always includes the vowels, unlike many children her age. Also: don't forget to cover the pictures (e.g. with postits), so that the child, after reading the story, gets to guess what the picture will show.

This is an excellent proven reading program. In fact, SRA Distar was the reading program used to teach my sister and me to read over 25 years ago. We always tested way above grade level, but particularly in reading. I learned how to read at the age of 3 when my sister, excited about reading, would come home from school and turn me into her own little pupil.lol.

Fastforward several years: I began homeschooling my children when my oldest was nearly in 3rd grade so I didn't get to teach her how to read. When it came to deciding on a reading program for my 2nd daughter, I stumbled onto 100 Easy Lessons. I bought the book and it sat on my shelf for a couple of years. My 2nd child just did not show any signs of wanting to learn how to read! She also showed lots of ADD/ADHD and dyslexic tendencies.

When my daughter was about 6 1/2, my MIL started getting very anxious because my child couldn't read yet and MIL began applying the pressure. So, against my better judgement, the reading lessons began. After many tears from both my daughter and me, and a few breaks, things finally started to make sense for her around lesson 85 or so. By this time my daughter was 7. It seemed like once she hit that 'magical' age, reading suddenly became fun for her and she was doing it on her own just for fun.

We also reinforced readings skills using My Father's World Kindergarten curriculum. I probably wouldn't have done that on my own, but since it includes a phonics program anyway, I didn't think it would hurt to brush up on it again.

Now, this particular child does still display some dyslexic tendencies such as reversing lower case b and d while writing and she's still very distractable, but I recently tested both my girls and they BOTH tested in the 12th grade range. My older daughter is 14 and my younger daughter is only 10! I figured she was a great reader. She actually reads better out loud than her older sister, but I had no clue she was doing that well. My younger daughter can sound out and pronounce immediately words she's never read before with no problem while my 14 year old still struggles with unfamiliar words.

So, that's all the proof I need. It works long term. I'm now using the same 100 Easy Lessons book to teach my 4 year old son to read and he's picking it up just fine.

Oh, I do have to say I LOVE another reviewers suggestion of using beanie babies or other toys to teach the lesson. I hope you don't mind if I steal that idea.

So overall this is a great book. I recommend it to all my homeschooling friends. It works, pure and simple.

Believe all the good reviews! I used this book with my three year old and it works. She was really struggling through the first dozen lessons and I started to doubt she was ready so I took a couple weeks off. When I started back up again I decided to go another route and do 2 lessons a day (one after breakfast, one after dinner) and that helped immensely. I know some reviewers say that slowing down helped their child but I found that doing 2 a day helped keep it all fresh in her head and build her confidence and interest quicker. The more lessons we got through and the more confidence she got the less she wiggled in her seat during the lessons. They took us 20 to 25 minutes per lesson but she was just 3 (and very active) so I wouldn't expect her to sit still better. I can't say enough good things about this program. This built up her confidence in everything and she is so proud of herself for being able to read!

This book was recommended to me by several friends and their recommendation was correct. This book enables you & your child for easy learning to read without the stress of "unknown skills" as a teacher. This is my first attempt to homeschool, and with this aid in learning to read, I know we are on the right track. The lessons are short enough for an attention span of an active 5 year old.

After seeing that this book had the most positive reviews, I took a chance and bought this for my 3.5 year old son.
Presently, we are at lesson 52 and my son can successfully read 5-sentence stories with CVC words and even 6 letter words such as kitten.
As a preschool teacher, I was a bit worried that I was not following DAP (developmentally appropriate practices) since teaching reading is recommended for about ages 4-5. I took my son's and teachers' cues instead and now think that I have made the right choice.
Before you start your child on this book, it would help if he has the basic knowledge of:
a. letters
b. letter sounds
c. starting to sight read some words

Each lesson is phonetic-based which is the best approach. There is also a writing exercise in each lesson (which I did not do with my son) since he needs a little more time for graphmotor control. A lesson can run to about 10-15 minutes and when I see my son starting to guess the words, I take this as a cue to repeat the lesson the next day. So far, he does not "dread" our lesson times and though at times, he gets fidgety (as is normal for most 3 year old boys) he is eager to learn. I am so proud of him and would recommend this book to mommies and daddies who need a platform for teaching reading at home. Good luck!

I bought this book for my stubborn 4yr old son after spending 6 months working on the alphabet which he was basically too stubborn to learn. I bought this book, read the extensive first few pages about how to use it and then started immediately. It starts a little slow the first 15 lessons, but my son, though resistent at first, quickly caught on. The day he read his first word I was so proud of him and surprised that he could do it, but he thought it was no big deal. The skill building kept my son intersted, but did not discourage him. At first, the lessons took about 20-30 minutes, but now we have passed lesson 50 and we get them done in about 10-15 minutes. My son regularly even asks if we can do another one. This book changed my son's life. He now stands in stores and sounds out the things around him, people will comment on how well he reads and I just thank God I found this book.

I got this book from the library first to start working with my 3 y/o. It really helped that the tasks were so short but I found that to incorporate it into her homeschooling program, we had to do the lessons multiple times. I would review the new sounds at each lesson and she would focus on those 2 sounds for the whole week. She likes to be read to and she pretends to read when she sees me or daddy with a book. She never asked me to teach her to read but she loves to make up stories with a book present so I thought I'd give it a shot. I am so patient with her and the lessons are so short and sweet, the repetition is not annoying or frustrating at all. We actually get lots of chances to make it fun. But I got tired of renewing it at the library and since our pace is so slow, I know its a good investment to have a copy in the house that we own.

I had tried teaching my 5-yr-old son to read using beginning readers and phonics flashcards, but English is such a dumb language. It's difficult to teach and learn because of all the rules and exceptions to those rules. I was worried about teaching my son to read, but my sis-in-law swore by this book and we have not been disappointed! I love how it tells you exactly what to say and how to correct your child. It's so easy!! My son loves to read now! He asks me if he can have reading time so he can learn more. It has given him such a sense of accomplishment. He loves being able to read words in the world around him. It really gets him excited!!

I have to say I agree with jn trotter. You can't exactly go from one page to the next. We started out that way but as the difficulty advanced my daughter began to get discouraged so we would review some lessons. One other thing she seemed to have problem with the practice sections. I thgink it just bored her to read random words that didn't form sentences. I wrote the words on flash cards and she did great after that. This way were able to concentrait more on her problem words and discard the ones she was more familiar with. Anyway she is reading now, and quite proud of herself.

I have been teaching my 8 year old sister from this book, yes she is behind. We didn't do everything in this book we did the new sounds and read the stories (I didn't let her look at the pictures until after because she would guess and not even try to sound it out) and when there began to be a lot of new sounds we would review every other sound so it wasn't too much at once, most of the time we would only do the ones she kept forgetting. Even with doing only half of the recommended stuff she progressed! She felt great because for once she could read! The only thing I wish was that they had easy readers to go with this book, it is confusing for kids to learn words one way and have it be different in other books (they have their own way of writing silent e and some other's too). It really does depend on how your child is... Nothing is a one size fits all when it comes to learning.

We purchased this book for our 3 and a half year old daughter who seemed very eager to learn to read. The lessons are short and work well with her attention span.

I started this book with my daughter when she was three and she took to it immediately. After working through it with her at home, I decided to use it to work with my kindergartener and 1st grader (who was struggling with reading)who were in school. All of them have enjoyed the fact that they are able to read through a lesson in a matter of 10-20 minutes. The parent portion of the book is so nice, there is no way to go wrong. If you follow the directions, and if you are starting with a little one (3 to 4 years old), you will know what they can handle and what they cannot. The writing portion is also very useful. We use a magna-doodle pad to do the letters, then they can do them over and over, as well as draw pictures to go along with sounds...
I plan to gift this book to as many friends as possible, it is truly a great book!

I found this book to be a very good way to help my son learn to read. It is also an excellent way for a father to bond with his child. Both my son and I enjoyed the time together. One thing the author does not address is that all children learn at different speeds and that you shouldn't get frustrated if they do not learn as fast as the book says they can learn. We started the first time at the age of 4. My son did fine with the sounds, but was not able to do the writing. After about lesson 30 I was seriously frustrated with him on his writing and ultimately I forced him to give up. We put the book away for a year, and one day when he was 5 he brought the book back to me and said "daddy please teach me to read again." We were able to complete all 100 lessons before he turned 6 and I found a different way to teach him to write. My son is now 7 and just finished 1st grade in the top 3 readers of his class.

I loved this book. It's a great tool. It tells a little about how children are normally taught to read in school and spells out how to teach them to read step by step. I wish I'd known about this book before my children started school.

I loved teaching to read so much I wrote an essay about the "ah-ha" moment when it "clicked" with my 4-1/2 year-old niece. When you get to experience something like that you can't imagine letting someone else have that opportunity!

I have used this book to teach four different children (all girls). The ages at the start of the program were 2yrs 10 months (finished at 3-1/2), 4-1/2 years, 5-1/2 years and 5-1/2 years. That said, it is important to realize that every child is different. The main thing about the children I taught (individually and not during the same time period), is that they all WANTED to learn. I have recommended this book probably 1,000 times. People were so shocked that my 3-1/2 year old was reading on her own at a 2nd grade level (and comprehending it and even spelling), that I printed the title and authors on a business card to hand out - I really was stopped that often and questioned about my method. That said, please keep in mind that your child is unique, they will have good days and bad days and things may come a little slower for some than for others. After recommending this so many times, the only person I have ever heard to have trouble was a person trying to keep up with my child. It isn't a contest and it should be immensely pleasurable to both the parent and the child. I would sit on the couch and stretch out my arm and the child would come running for a snuggle and a lesson. Of course, you will want to incorporate TONS of praise. The first lesson begins with the sound "ahhh". Act astonished and say things like, "Wow! You just READ all by yourself! Wow! Do you think you can do that again?!" You know, kind of like potty-training. If there is anything that kids eat up, it is love and praise. So, don't be shy, just open your arms and heart and start lesson one!

If your child is tired, sick, cranky or antsy, cut the lesson short or skip it that day or try later. Because my daughter was so young when we started I did not do the written exercises. Manual dexterity comes a little later and you don't want to stress the child out. Mine eventually insisted on trying it anyway, but I didn't worry about it.

Good luck!

I had already been teaching my son to recognize sounds and had been introducing him to phonics. However, I began to ran into trouble when he questioned why one letter sounded different in two words; I did not know how to explain when to use long vowels, or short vowels.

The first few chapters were used as a review for my son, as he already knew the beginning sounds, but I found the chapters useful. The early chapters were great preparation for me, with regards to understanding the system.


I ran the concept by my mother, who is a retired school teacher and she said she used a similar program to teach her 1st graders to read.

We have had the book for about a month and we are on lesson 34. My goal is to the entire program completed before he heads back to school. He's really taken an interested in reading, sounds out words on signs, on passing buses and is excited about being able to read on his own. I think he's doing remarkably, considering he just turned 4.

Is this book for everyone? Perhaps not, but not every child learns the same way. The system also has to make sense to the parent, otherwise it will probably be a total waste. Like everything else, what works for one may not work for another, but we are having great success and I would recommend it to anyone interested in teaching their child to read.

I had this book once before for my oldest and then had sold it only to realize I still wanted to use it for my other children.
Excellent condition and showed up at our door in a timely manner.
Very happy!

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
If you can read and follow simple directions you can teach your child to read. Schools spend a lot of energy trying to tell you how complicated it is. Mr. Engelmann shows how simple it can be to do it right. And it is researched and trialled. If you have an IQ over 80, you can do it yourself.
John S.

Excellent teaching tool, but requires time & patience. I started this with my daughter when she was 3 and 1/2, and it took us 7 months to finish! After the first 4 weeks, she was not interested in do a lesson EVERY day, so we took days off, then as the lessons became longer, we ended up only doing half a lesson each session. Maybe your child has enough concentration to get through those longer lessons quicker, but for us it was like pulling teeth sometimes just to finish half. But it was definitely worth it. Towards the end of the book, her concentration was better, and she became interested in the actual story rather than figuring out the words. Now she's reading menus in restaurants, reading signs on the road--it's really cool. My plan now is to have her read her bed time books to me rather than the other way around. Definitely give this book a try if you're planning to teach your child to read.

This book is great! It was recommended to me by a teacher who uses it for her own children. We began using this book when my child was 3.5 yrs old and finished 12 months later. We took our time finishing the book and took last summer off from doing the lessons. It is time consuming but teaching a child to read does take time. Now my child is 4.5 yrs old and is reading her sister's 2nd grade books and decoding words like interrupted. I recommend this phonics based program to everyone.

My son and I began the DISTAR program approximately ten weeks ago and expect to complete the final lesson this week. Ten weeks ago my son's teacher told me that he was failing kindergarten and possibly had an undiagnosed learning disability. After completing most of this program, he has become one of the top readers in the class. Sounds like a ringing endorsement of the DISTAR program, doesn't it?
Not quite.
This book has worked for my son, but I am forced to agree with the other parents who claim the material is dry as dust. As an adult I have been bored almost to the point of tears by the lessons--they really are about as stimulating as reading through the federal tax manual. I doubt I could have persevered if not for the threat of my son failing kindergaten. If a parent has that level of motivation, the DISTAR method will work. If your child MUST learn to read in a specific time frame, the DISTAR method will work. For everyone else I'd recommend trying some other system first.

My 4-yo was reading on a 2nd grade level in 2 months. I'm a homeschooling mom and my daughter is very strong in LA, though. At any rate, I highly recommend the book to be used with a kid's easel or large chalkboard to practice letters, sounds, sentences, etc. They love chalkboards. Use different colored chalk and make up funny sentences and you'll have no problem keeping them engaged in what you're trying to do. Rgds.

I purchased this book on a recommendation of a mother of now older children. These lessons are easy to use. They literally prompt you what to say with every lesson. I am doing the lessons with my 4 year old and he is actually enjoying the lessons and doing well. This also takes little gear to go with it...writing paper & pencil. I highly recommend this book if you are wanting to start reading with your child.

This book is an effective aid in teaching a child to read. However, I was disappointed with the content of the reading material. There are a lot of stories containing unkindness and others being made fun of or . The only time these scenarios are made right is if it is forced upon them...not because of a change of heart, apology, etc. I know you can't go into a lot of details with a short reading story, but I wouldn't write a story of the above nature if there wasn't time for the character to do the right thing. I would have stuck with some other material.

For example, a man stole a car and said he was never going to bring it back. It ended up that the road came back around to the man that he stole the car from, at which point the car ran out of gas, and the man ran away angrily. Even though the one man got his car back, the other man was never corrected for stealing it in the first place.

If you're going to be using this book, I'd recommend previewing the stories so that you are prepared to discuss these things with your child.

fromt reading the introduction I think this book will be awesome for teaching my kids to read. my only issue is that I have twins and it doesn't address teaching two kids at once.