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.

This really is an amazing book. At first glance you may be apprehensive because it doesn't take the traditional A-Z approach, but the approach is remarkably effective. At first the letters that are pronounced are large and the silent words are small, but eventually that is phased out. Also, the letter "a", for example, is not written as a circle with a line down, but eventually that is phased into the lesson.

I love that this book teaches by sounds. The kids first learn the sounds the letters make and then they learn what the letters are. It may seem nontraditional but it is effective. I must admit, I wasn't sure at first about the approach but I persisted because I had seen the success with others and we have enjoyed the same success. My daughter loves knowing how to read and enjoys the time with me each day.

I picked up the book after watching my sister-in-law use it on her oldest two kids. She has reading treats that the kids get each day when they finish their lesson. She also gets them a toy after 10 lessons which has been very effective for her kids. I don't do the same reward system but I believe some type of reward system helps keep the kids motivated. Also, you must be consistent. I do lessons Monday through Friday only. It is also important to praise their success and point out the benefit reading has to them. This book takes persistence and patience but if you are willing to put in the time, you will reap the reward.

This is easy to use, very adult friendly; especially if you're not a teacher. The lessons are fun and engaging.

I cant believe how well my son is reading after just a few lessons! This book is an excellent teaching tool. The lessons are quick and easy-so much that we have done more than one at a time. He cant wait to read the next one!

I bought this book because my son has Aspergers and some other learning related issues and wasnt catching on well, despite overall giftedness. I home school my son and wanted him to have every advantage with respect to learning at an age-appropriate level.This book worked extremely well for our needs, as the use of symbols tends to create routine and comfort for my child...the repetitive nature of the sounds represented by the symbols created a structure that he could relate to/identify with.
We only had to use a few of the lessons because all he needed was a jump start, but the sounding out process/techniques he developed from this approach have stood him in good stead ever since. You can pace the lessons based on how easily your child picks up the process.
I believe if you have a child who is visually stimulated then this book is for you, as the ability to connect symbols to sounds is important for this appropach to be successful.
For the price, this standard is a great investment, and as with any learning system, it bears consideration.

I highly recommend this book. I began using this book with my oldest daughter at age 3, but she didn't show very much interest, so we put it down, and continued just reading to her, and we'd say she could learn how to read herself when she turned 4. When she turned 4, she was very enthusiastic about wanting to read, although admittedly, some days the lessons were hard to get through. I also added to later lessons by teaching her the vowels, the silent e rule, and (from Between the Lions) "when 2 vowels go walking, the first one does the talking, the second one is silent, while the first one says it's name". She is now in kindergarten at age 5 and is reading fluently.
I am now teaching my second daughter and it is much easier for me as well as for her, because I know where the lessons are going, I can use my own language rather than the word for word, and she understands more quickly. My second is not yet 4, and needs more repetition, we simply do reviews of the sounds going back several lessons. We are not in a hurry to learn in only 100 lessons, I just want my children to have a firm reading foundation before going to school.
Great book, based on solid methods, simple and straight forward.

I used this book with my 3 year old daughter, and so far am pleased with her results. It did start out slowly, as other reviewers complained about, but we stuck with it. I really like how it introduces one sound at a time, and is very methodical about presenting things in patterns the child soon becomes very familiar with. I did like the unusual orthography, and I don't understand why people are so against that. It really does seem to help kids understand when a vowel is long vs. short. And besides, when you actually do the whole program, regular print is introduced in lesson 74, so it's not like your kid is going to only learn how to read the "unusual" way. You just have to trust that the concepts are introduced at the right times.
What I really disliked, however, was the incredible number of editorial mistakes in the book (at least in my edition). Even my back cover is missing words. There are errors in the orthography symbols in various lessons (usually a symbol missing), errors in the colors (print is black when it should be red and vice versa), and numerous other errors that drove me nuts!
Maybe they'll get those things corrected, and then this would be a terrific book for parents.

This book is amazing! I taught my children to read... they are now 8 and 6. They were reading by the time they were 5!! Take your time, repeat lessons if you have to. This book works!!

I'm rating this five star, but with some caveats. When I was in college, one of my professors in an LBD (learning and behavior disorders) course mentioned this system in class one day. He said that this system (DISTAR) was the subject of the largest and most expensive government study ever done. Kids in Headstart were followed for thirty years, based on the reading system used in their Headstart program. Kids who learned to read from DISTAR did better than those who learned from any other reading system at every check and continuing to thirty years out.

I borrowed this book from a neighbor, who is also a special ed teacher. Eventually, I bought my own copy. Just because it says 100 lessons, that doesn't mean that you can do it in 3 - 4 months. I started with my daughter when she was three. What I found was that for my child (and maybe not for every child), it was a little too much to do only DISTAR. So we did maybe twenty lessons and put it away for a while. We interspersed reading story books and flash cards to get sight words. Then we went back to DISTAR. Now, at four and a half, she is finally starting to "get it." We are at the halfway point now, and she is suddenly starting to read independently, just in the last few days. This system has given her solid word attack skills that will serve her well for the rest of her life. She is starting to read simple story books, like Go Dog Go on her own. She can read sentences and even simple repetitive paragraphs. The only thing holding her back at this point is her own willfulness. When she is willing to do the work, she reads quite well.

To sum up, this is a well-studied system that gives a child solid reading skills that will carry them through life. However, I don't think you can expect that every child will be able to learn to read from only this, done in lock step: a lesson a day for a hundred days. You will have to pay attention to and know your child. Take it at your child's pace and it will serve you well.

I am the mother of 3 children. I bought this book 7 years ago for my first child. It was difficult going through this book the first time because you don't always understand why things are presented in the order they are. Once you have been totally through it, however, it makes perfect sense. The authors start introducing sounds that can immediately be put together to form words. One of the biggest mistakes made in teaching children to read is that isolated sounds like the letter "t" for example, are often pronounced "tuh". Which is not correct. Also, the child should not pause between sounds. The word "cat" for example is the NOT the combination of "cuh" "a" "tuh"...putting those isolated sounds together will NOT produce "cat". This book does such an excellent job teaching both parents and the child the correct way to phonetically put sounds together to make words. Without pausing between sounds and without adding extra sounds to each letter. The "say if fast" and "say it slow" games are perfect. I love that it starts reading stories very early on, way before the child has learned most of the sounds. Reading is absolutely the key to early success in school. Zachary, my 5 year old son, is on lesson 43 and doing very well. My two older daughters are in 3rd and 5th grade and are excellent students/readers. They have tested 2 to 3 grades above their actual grade level each time they have been tested in reading. I credit much of their early sucess to this book. Having success early allowed them the opportunity to feel confident in class and created a "love to learn" attitude. This has stuck with both of my daughters and I see my son following the same path. I am not a teacher so I needed the parent guidance this book provides. I encourage every parent to give this a try. Don't be discouraged early on as is can be slightly confusing. Stick with it and you will be amazed. I have 3 great readers to prove it!!!

I used this book to teach my daughter to read 25 years ago. Still being used by my grandchildren. Clear, easy and it works.

This book was highly recommended to me by two different mothers who had taught their children to read at an early age (3-4). I decided to try it with my just turned 4 year old, expecting that we would work on a lesson a day, and at the end of 4 months he would be reading.
It turns out to be a little more work than that! First, unless your child is highly motivated and very bright, the lessons are going to take longer than the promised 15 minutes per day. Plus, I discovered that after 5-7 lessons, my son would start getting overwhelmed, so then we go back and review all those lessons, at which point he's ready to move forward. We've been working for 3 months now, and we're only on lesson 30, and the lessons are starting to feel a little tedious to me, but my son is enjoying himself and feeling proud to be reading the increasingly longer stories.
The positive points about the book are numerous. It increases the difficulty level very gradually, and covers every skill your child will need to become a competant reader. It prepares zero preparation on the parent's part beyond reading the introduction; the parent's part is scripted. The stories and pictures are amusing and my son is always excited to see what the next story will be about.
So buy this book if you are really serious about teaching your child to read, but don't expect it to happen like magic - it will take work and dedication from you and your child.

I love this book. Unfortunately, my son hates it. I wanted to teach him to read, but I wanted someone to tell me exactly how to do it. That's why I love this book. I also love it because my son was doing really well, but he just didn't want to do it. I still don't understand why, but he just cried and cried and I finally had to quit. I will try it again with my daughter because I hope she will respond differently. I think this book just didn't work for him. I have a friend whose son is doing great with it.

What an excellent system - we have a 4 year old son who recently began this "program" (my wife and I take turns providing the lessons before bedtime) and the progress has been great. We initally tried to "teach" reading via the Bob books but for whatever reason, they just did not resonate. I believe its the structure of this program - the fairly short lessons (under 20 minutes), gradual progresson, and notable progress for the student - that makes it a winner.

I received this as a gift, I suppose because we homeschool, and I was wondering how to truly challenge my eldest child. We were reading and learning the best way I knew to teach, which didn't seem to help him. He is a "book kid" who likes to work through things, and see progress. He is now 6 years old, and it was so simple to just read the red words, and let him do the sounding out, just as I read it. It really built both of our confidence levels, and kicked off our "homeschool" when he was 4. Some weeks he only did one or two lessons, other weeks, we did one lesson per day. Now, my 3 year old is on lesson 6, my four year old is on Lesson 21, and my 6 year old is finishing tomorrow!

They are ALL such different learning styles, I didn't think the same book would work with each of them, but it is! I do suggest a little sound knowledge before you begin - they all learned very well with LeapFrog's DVD called the Letter Factory. I truly believe the little knowledge they had first is what kept them from getting frustrated. If you can stick it out to Lesson 10, your child will be reading complete sentences, and that will keep them going!

Good Luck!
Sra. Gose
Author of Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 1 & Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 2

My daughter just turned 4 and we are on lesson 84. It is great to hear her read. It has become a bedtime ritual. At first I started the lessons to early with my daughter, but noticed, and tried again a few months later. We went at her pace, which was usually a lesson a night, but some nights she wasn't up to it. Before you know it, we're almost done. Now I'm looking for the next books and math lessons... I strongly recommend this book!!!

I got this book on a recommendation from my sister-in-law and thought it was a great idea. My daughter is almost five and starting kindergarten in a few months. I thought it would be great to have her reading before she started school and that I would love to teach her how. We're only a couple weeks in and she's already reading some simple words. If you have the discipline to keep going with it, I solidly recommend this book.

This book solved in a definitive way an enormous problem for me. I brought up my two children in another country - Taiwan - where they attended local schools, i.e. they were educated in Mandarin Chinese. This is in fact what I wanted for them, but I badly needed a way to help them learn how to read English, which both could already speak. I tried many different methods - reading aloud to them, workbooks, tapes, videos, posters on the walls - but nothing worked. Then I chanced upon this book, gave it a try, and it worked like a charm. It eases into a phonic approach to reading through regular English orthography with a few added diacritics, in contrast to the approach used in Taiwan, which is based on the Kenyon and Knott pronunciation symbols (or it was at the time). We called and still call the book "the m-s book", and it's now considered a family treasure to pass down to the next generation.

There are many other reviews you can refer to for further details on the book; I would only like to give my strong recommendation to try this book if you are in a similar situation to ours, i.e. living in a non-English speaking country and looking for an effective, time-efficient and relatively painless way to help your children learn how to read English. Going straight to this book may save you a lot of detours and dead ends. My kids still thank me every now and then for teaching them to read English, now an indispensable life skill for everyone in the world.

I had high hopes for this book. Since the title says "Easy" in it. It was not kid friendly or mom friendly. It was hard to use with the small, uninteresting print. The different symbols were confusing and my child was turned off to it right away and dreaded "reading" lessons to my Dismay. I have since purchased, "Mommy, Teach me to Read" and have had a ton more success!

This book works well in ABA or one-on-one situations for children with autism. My daughter learned to read at home at age 4. My son learned at age 6 with this book in the context of ABA with his teacher in school. Both can now read anything! I skipped the writing, because it was just too much. And make sure you cover the pictures so that they are a reward for the kids. I highly recommend this for parents who will commit to daily work. Easy as pie. Excellent! If everyone did this with their kids it would transform the US education system.