Teach Your Child To Read 100

[mommamoody]

Hello, my first post in this forum.:)

 

I have a 5.5 year old boy and I have been dragging/bribing him etc to get him through TYCTR for the past year, year and half. We only went full on serious with the lessons for the past 6 months. I have pressure to show big changes with homeschool to my dh (in prayer that I can continue with it).

So he doesn't like reading. He likes the pictures of course. He can do it, we are on Lesson 78. But if you ask him if he likes reading "No". he says.

I mean it is forcing practically every lesson. We do it sporadically, every 2 days or so. And even break the lessons up (I don't make him do the 2nd read through of the big end story until another day).

 

I want him to love reading, but I don't know what to do. He is a bright kid and of course we have some normal behavior/control issues around here (wish it were different/I am always working on it).

 

EDIT: I even go outside and let him ride his bike in a circle after every sentence. And yes that helps. I just want to be sure I am not stifling the love of learning...:)

 

So should I just keep on keeping on hoping he will love reading? Or back off for a while?

 

At this point we are doing Saxon K Math every day or 2.

Some HWT (slowly).

My Fathers World Unit Study (just science part/the calendar/the straws/the game and activities for the unit)

 

I have a lot of small children under my feet so its difficult to be consistent (i.e the same time every day), we just squeeze in lessons when we can. One on the AM one day, one the afternoon the next or so.

 

Thanks for the advice

Edited October 30, 2010 by mommamoody

[johnandtinagilbert]

After the mid-60's the lessons do get harder. I motivated my ds by making his own "books" from 100EZL. I simply typed up and marked with pencil the stories he had already learned and inserted via clip art a picture here or there. Stapled them as little books and made his very own book basket. It encouraged us to practice until I felt he was ready, and more willing, to move on.

[QuirkyKapers]

Since he is 5.5, I personally would just spend time reading books to him. Maybe don't not do any lessons ever but do less.

 

I know sometimes my daughter likes it when I read a sentance than she reads a sentance type thing.

[mammaofbean]

we paid dd. ha! for real, she wanted a way to earn money for a toy i told her santa wouldn't buy- the dora links doll- and i told her $ .25 per book. she ended up getting grandparents to match, so she cleaned up. she had been reading for awhile and we were whizzing through 100ez but she didn't love the books on her reading level and would get horribly upset when she got something wrong. and if there was too much text she was intimidated.

 

the terms were that it had to be a book she hadn't yet read. i asked that she read one book or section of a book a day. she LOVED to read the books on skype to family members. the cap for earning was $60. when she got to $60 and we went to the store the doll was on sale and she decided to use the left over cash to buy a book!

 

and i can't say i have ever read anywhere that kids should be paid for reading, it may even be advised against. lol but it helped her focus on something other than the reading. and now, a year later, she can read what she wants and she does, all of the time.

[Snowfall]

Have you tried Progressivephonics.com? You have to register, but it's free. The stories are better, because they're a combination of words the kids are to read (in red) and you are to read (in black). My DD likes reading those.

[Brenda in FL]

You're at the part of the book where many kids start rebelling! So you are not alone! Do you have an incentive for when he finishes the book? My kids all got their own library card when they finished lesson 100. We would mark each lesson completed with a sticker on the calendar. FWIW - we only read the story once. But my kids were always able to answer the comp. questions. I think my second child had to take a short break at about 70 something. I pulled out a McGuffy's primer and had her read that instead - she eventually wanted to finish 100EZ before Kindergarten was up. But she was not one to take to reading on her own even once she knew how. Some kids just take some time to get there. Your child sounds very normal! And yes - you should keep on - but because he needs to learn to read, not because he needs to love to read. He's almost there! Show him on a calendar when he can potentially be through with the book - maybe that will help motivate him!

 

It sounds like you are doing just what you need to do for kindergarten. However, if you are still trying to get DH on board - I would try to be very disciplined and organized in getting "school" done each day. It won't get any easier as the kids get older. Somethings may be easier but there will always be new challenges and different demands on your time. What is the alternative if DH isn't convinced of HS by next year? Will your child enter first grade or Kindergarten at school? If there's a possibility that he might be out in first grade at school - then its even more important to get more handwriting and math in this year - once or twice a week may not get him ready for first grade. I only say this, because you mentioned that your dh is not yet convinced that homeschool is best for your family. Otherwise - I'd say take your time and progress as he's ready, but it sounds like you do have some circumstances to consider.

 

Good Luck!!

[newlifemom]

I have had two who did fine with it and one who could not handle it. I asked SWB for advice [she's my hero :D] She told me that if your child cried when you brought out a reading book to stop it. Wait a couple of weeks and try another. Of course she recommended her mother's. :tongue_smilie: OPGTR Well, it worked and I liked it so much I took my son through the 2nd half of it as well. Not every reading program works for every child.

 

BTW, the child that rejected 100EZ at age 4 is now 7, working at a 3rd grade level and her decoding skills maxed out one online resource at 7th grade.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I recommend you adding in some starfall! My ds loves this site! You start in the top left corner and go in order, play, book, skills, then go to the next line, play, book, skills :001_smile:

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Hello, my first post in this forum.:)

 

I have a 5.5 year old boy and I have been dragging/bribing him etc to get him through TYCTR for the past year, year and half. We only went full on serious with the lessons for the past 6 months. I have pressure to show big changes with homeschool to my dh (in prayer that I can continue with it).

So he doesn't like reading. He likes the pictures of course. He can do it, we are on Lesson 78. But if you ask him if he likes reading "No". he says.

I mean it is forcing practically every lesson. We do it sporadically, every 2 days or so. And even break the lessons up (I don't make him do the 2nd read through of the big end story until another day).

 

I want him to love reading, but I don't know what to do. He is a bright kid and of course we have some normal behavior/control issues around here (wish it were different/I am always working on it).

 

EDIT: I even go outside and let him ride his bike in a circle after every sentence. And yes that helps. I just want to be sure I am not stifling the love of learning...:)

 

So should I just keep on keeping on hoping he will love reading? Or back off for a while?

 

At this point we are doing Saxon K Math every day or 2.

Some HWT (slowly).

My Fathers World Unit Study (just science part/the calendar/the straws/the game and activities for the unit)

 

I have a lot of small children under my feet so its difficult to be consistent (i.e the same time every day), we just squeeze in lessons when we can. One on the AM one day, one the afternoon the next or so.

 

Thanks for the advice

 

Your son might not be quite ready to read. I had one read around 5.5, his brother at 4 and the youngest at 6. Each child is ready when he is ready, within a general window. Sometimes the best thing is to back away a little and go back to lots of read alouds and shared reading. I would suggest the Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease as a good resource.

 

You might want to be more consistent. My youngest was teh most broken up, because we moved several times in his early years, including two international moves. He was the slowest to develop good reading skills. I think a large part of this was that I wasn't consistent. In hindsight I would have held off starting for a couple months and then done lessons DAILY without fail.

 

Around lesson 65 there is an increase in the number of sight words introduced. The book doesn't always do the best job of explaining that there are more rules (especially for vowel digraphs) or words that don't follow the phonics rules that the child has already learned. You will need to explain this. Some flashcards with high frequency and sight words can be helpful at this stage.

 

A couple other suggestions. Cover up the picture with a post it note and only reveal it after the story has been read the second time. Have your son read the story once to himself before he reads it to you. DO have him do both readings right then and there.

 

I would gently caution against setting up an expectation that school will always be fun. Sometimes it is and that is great. Sometimes it really is just work to get to the next stage, where it is rewarding again. You are going to want to have an eight year old who can buckle down and do what is needed just because that is what has to be done. Ditto with the teen years. And laying the foundations for this start with the early days.

 

It may be a while before you see a love for reading. I saw it early with my first two, but it's really only been this year for my youngest, who is now eight. You might want to do a reboot on the reading. Pick another similarly phonics based program. Then be consistent with every day. Or put it aside for a couple months, then be consistent with every day. Lessons can be short, but you want to develop the habit of doing lessons as much as learning the actual material. I fear that with only doing every couple days, you aren't building the momentum that you might otherwise get.

 

**When we hit the block around lesson 65, we took a detour into a set of phonics readers from Scholastic (Clifford readers) and came back. With my youngest we slogged through 100 EZ Lessons and then did the readers from Sonlight (I Can Read It), which he loved. My middle son used 100 EZ Lessons and just took off reading. Every kid is a little different.

[KarenNC]

My daughter cried buckets and fought both 100 EZL and Phonics Pathways (the two that were recommended in the edition of TWTM that I had, OPGTR wasn't out yet). We dropped them both and went with Explode the Code. For her, it was like night and day. Instead of a battle, she was bringing it to me asking to do more! When I tried to stop using it (at level 5 or so when she was reading fluently) in favor of switching to Spelling Power, she wistfully saw one of the ETC books. "Can't we go back to that? It was my favorite." So we went back to ETC through level 8 using it mainly as spelling. They are inexpensive and easy to try.

 

My approach was not the TWTM orthodox way ;). We used ETC, flashcards for the Dolch sight words to improve fluency, made my own stories for her using pet and friend names which she got to illustrate if she could read, leveled readers from the library (and Bob books) and---yes---Dick and Jane. The Dick and Jane really improved my daughter's confidence and willingness to read for anyone other than me. So, a combination of solid phonics and realistically chosen sight words was the ticket for us. She's a very advanced reader (5th grade) and tests extremely well in vocabulary, reading, spelling, comprehension, decoding, etc.

[....]

We tried the 100 EZ book and my daughter cried and cried. I kept at it for a few weeks and then tossed it. That same kid loves HOP K - I think because the books are colorful, have pictures that she can color in them and it's obviously a different story line in each book. :glare: She also reads the CLE Primers, but...once again, there's animals, goats who are escaping their pens, etc.

 

What about switching gears and reading through BOB Books, the HOP Books or something like that? Also, there's stuff like Headsprout (but we've never used it). You still need a phonics program, but he's only 5...:tongue_smilie: I've been really lax about kindergarten and my K-er is learning a LOT.

[TracyP]

I think you've been given some good advice already. But you said you wanted your ds to love reading. I can understand. I was sooo worried about this. So far, no need to worry. Tears during 100 EZL (not constant btw, just a couple at a rough spot) did not translate to disliking reading. The two most important things you can do is read to your ds and model for him a love of reading by taking the time to enjoy a book of your own. Encourage Dad to take some time to read too. I highly recommend The Read-Aloud Handbook for more on this and some great read aloud suggestions.

[Wheres Toto]

My son hated both OPGTR and TYCTR. The whole format did not work for him. Shocking as it was, he ended up being a workbook-loving kid - he's very visual but also needs to be hands-on, definitely can't just listen.

 

We used Progressive Phonics for a while and he did like that. We currently use ETC, AAS (he loves the tiles), Hubbards Cupboard emergent readers, Starfall, games from Kelly's Kindergarten (lots of card games like UNO, Snap, etc. but with words - they're great because they are Word files and you can put in whatever words you are working on) and he has some Leapster games that require reading. Most of these are free or low-cost (ETC books are under $8) and being able to mix things up works really well - when he gets bored with one thing we can take a break and do something different.

 

We are still in ETC Book 1 and about Lesson 7 in AAS but he pretty much can read any CVC words and a lot of high frequency words. We're continuing along in order just to make sure we don't miss things. The first books he was able to read were "Hop on Pop" and "Great Day for Up". Being able to read "real" books did a lot toward getting him excited about reading.

[musicianmom]

Right around lesson 75-78 of 100 EZ is where we had to put it away for awhile. I found some easy readers at the library and let dd read those for a couple of months! When we went back to 100 EZ, she zipped through the rest of it. Her first book was "Are You My Mother?"

 

Dick and Jane readers were also a success here. I remember her sitting in the back seat of the car reading them to me. When she got to a word she didn't know, she would spell it and I would tell her what it was.

[Crimson Wife]

We tried the 100 EZ book and my daughter cried and cried. I kept at it for a few weeks and then tossed it. That same kid loves HOP K - I think because the books are colorful, have pictures that she can color in them and it's obviously a different story line in each book. :glare: She also reads the CLE Primers, but...once again, there's animals, goats who are escaping their pens, etc.

 

What about switching gears and reading through BOB Books, the HOP Books or something like that? Also, there's stuff like Headsprout (but we've never used it). You still need a phonics program, but he's only 5...:tongue_smilie: I've been really lax about kindergarten and my K-er is learning a LOT.

 

:iagree:

I personally can't stand 100EZ. Hooked on Phonics is way better IMHO! My DS loves the program and especially the "Reading Adventures map" with the stickers that he puts on after finishing the various stories.

[Ellyndria]

Starting when DS turned 4, I made him do reading lessons, because he was already teaching himself sight words on his own. I knew he was capable, and frankly, it was pretty easy for him, so I kept at it. There were never tears, but he would say all the time that he didn't like reading. But guess what? He would go off by himself and read a bunch of his own books to himself. :tongue_smilie: So I wasn't worried (too much). (Ok, I did have thoughts that I was going to make him hate reading.) We've since finished reading lessons (although at some point I plan on having him work on enunciation and reading aloud skills) and he still reads all the time. As far as the actual reading lessons, he tolerated them a bit better if I said we were going to cuddle up in my bed during the lesson, then he gladly went.

[mommamoody]

Update: I took your advice and made a goal this past February.

 

He got to pick anything from the Ice Cream shop nearby, and I made him the entire menu (not all the flavors, just the offerings) so he could make a good decision.

[mom2bee]

I have a 5.5 currently working his way through The Reading Lesson, a program that is BASED on 100EZ, but this little boy abhorred that book. He wanted to learn to read, but when I pulled out 100EZ he groaned and said 'not that book again...Please, can I do the black and white Phonics?'

 

100EZ got him blending sounds (He learned that C-a-t should be read caaaat=cat) from the first few lessons of 100EZ, so we got some good out of it, but since that was the only reason I got 100EZ for him, (He couldn't seem to blend) I was happy to let him stop.

 

I keep lessons short but regular and when we fall off track, I don't force the issue.

We did the first 8 lessons of TRL twice because now that we're back on track, I wanted him to remember how/know what he was doing and why.

Now we're doing just fine, once we get started that is.

 

Have your son do 30 minutes of reading a day, in 10 minute increments if it helps. The reading isn't optional, but it needn't be stiffling misery either.

[mom2bee]

Oh, and when we finish lesson 10 of TRL, we're going to switch to 'cement' the skills 5yo is learning.

 

We're going to do HOP, Progressive Phonics and Funnix to build fluency.

Then go back to lesson 11 of The Reading Lesson, and continue on from there.

[Cabertmom]

This is a long time after the last post, but I have used 100 EZ Lessons (along with Bob books, All about Spelling, and Explode the Code) with 5 kiddos now. We're on lesson 78 or 80 with my youngest. Nobody loved it, but I do like the method of teaching blending.

 

I would say that rather than doing it every other day, try doing it every day, but don't feel like you have to get through a whole lesson every day. I stop when I see attention fading or frustration growing.

 

Typically at this point in the book with my 6-year-old, we do the first half of the lesson one day and the story the next. He repeats the story only if I think he didn't read it fluently enough the first time. Also, since we're using All about Spelling and just starting using Handwriting Without Tears also, I just skip the writing part of it altogether.

 

Hope that helps.