Making it through the last 25 lessons of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

[Nart]

I have been teaching my son to read for the last five months using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. So far he has enjoyed doing his reading lessons that last anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes. We are now on Lesson 75 and the lessons have increased in difficulty at a really fast pace and get even harder for the last 25 lessons. He has started to say that reading is hard during the last couple of lessons, whereas before he would say that reading was easy and he was a good reader.

So I am wondering if we should do the last 25 lessons, which would end up really being 50 lessons because we do around 10 lessons then go back and repeat the lessons because I do not make him read the story two times since the stories are now so long. Since I plan to switch to Funnix 2 anyway, I could just switch him into Funnix 1 now ( I actually bought the textbooks used that Funnix is based on so I have Levels 1 and 2 of the reading program available). I would love to complete 100 Easy Lessons, more for the idea of finishing what we started, but I don't want to discourage him or have him not be enthusiastic about reading lessons. He likes the format of the lessons and so far has not been interested in reading any books independently. When I read to him I will often point out words that he knows and he will read the words, but he prefers only to really read in the 100 Easy Lessons book.

Any advice?

[Brenda in FL]

I think a lot of students/teachers face those last 25 lessons the same way!!

 

We only read the story once and did not repeat the lesson to get it a second time.

 

Do you have any incentive or progress chart to help him see the light at the ed of the tunnel? We always used a calendar and stickers to mark completion of each lesson. Their own library card was the reward for completing the book.

 

The only books they read while doing 100 EZ were the Bob Books. Once completing 100 EZ, my kids differed on independent reading. The one who always loved books from babyhood - read constantly all the time. The other one - never thought to pick up a book to read it for fun!! (that took a few years!) With that same child we had to take a break at about the same spot. I have a set of Mcguffy readers - so I had her read from the primer each day instead - when she tired of that, she was ready to complete 100 EZ. So you may consider a short break, if 100EZ is becoming a burden.

[mhornby56]

We switched to Funnix 1 at that point and backtracked to about lesson 70 with great success. I understand wanting to finish what you started, but around here that would have led to a revolt. :D I'm glad we switched and my daughter had no problem reading the stories twice because of the way it is set up in Funnix. It was so, so much better.

 

I don't think I will use Funnix with my next girl, but it did get my first reading at an early second grade level. She does need more phonics work though, so I we're working on that now. Good luck!

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

We also read the stories only once, and my son never got a grip on "the fast way" while using this book, so he was still sounding out at that point. Once we finished, we switched to Explode the Code, and it has been amazing for my son. He zipped through the first two books, and now we are going through book 3 at 2 pages per day and his reading ability has skyrocketed. He now reads most 3-5 letter words "the fast way", understands the reules that are not explicitly taught in 100EZL, etc.

[Carol in Cal.]

When the lessons in that book started to get lengthy, I started spreading them out over two days. It worked out just fine. I do think that the second reading of each story is important, because it builds confidence and true proficiency. It is easy to forget that kids are asked to work at the limits of their capability all. the. time. Could I do that? There is something to be said for letting them bask in their accomplishments and solidify them, and that is what the second reading does.

[RootAnn]

I have heard of a lot of people taking a break with 100EL around that point ... and some never go back to it. Please feel free to switch to Funnix or anything else. If you want to go back to 100EL when it will be "easier" to face the stories, then do it later. If you don't want to pick it back up again, that's fine too.

 

 

I have found that my kids like 100EL a lot better when their next sibling is working on it and they now find it "easy." They'll read the stories in the back to their younger sibling(s) and really enjoy them. But when they are going through the book themselves? Sometimes, it is very painful (for all of us).

[Mrs Twain]

We spent two or three days on the latter lessons. That way we only worked on reading about 10-15 minutes per day so it wasn't too burdensome. Often we ended up reading the story the first time through one day, and then read it the second time through the next day. It worked out well for all of my kids, and I did give rewards for completion of a certain number of lessons. The last part of the book is defintely more challenging, but if you can get through it, I think it will bring great reward. If it is hurting your child's desire to read, however, I can see why you would want to switch to something else.

[Boxing Hare]

We dropped it and did Bob books instead. We never went back, but by then my son was reading. If I had kept with it, I'm afraid my son would have hated reading. There's so many other programs out there, why force it?

[coffeegal]

I've never completed 100 Easy Lessons. We always stopped around lesson 50 - 70 and switched over to Phonics Pathways. Once we completed PP, the children were excellent readers. :001_smile:

[rieshy]

I never "finished" 100 Easy Lessons with any child either. I never wanted/needed to.

 

The stories started to bore me about the same time they got harder- around 70. So we always switched to "real" books with great fanfare at that point. Depending on the child it was BOB books or Little Bear or something from the library that tickled our fancy.

 

Then pretty quickly after that I'd have the child read to me from the book of Luke each for 10 minutes each day. Plus they generally would do Explode the code at that point.

 

Actually I consider that finishing 100 Easy Lessons. We used it to learn to read...

[Evergreen Academy]

We've never made it all the way through that book, or Phonics Pathways or any of the other books of that sort I've used to teach my youngest four to read. When the lessons started to drive us both crazy, but they had reached a degree of proficiency, we moved into Bob books, and then into the Pathway reading series, starting with the pre-primer, which has a page for you to read, then a page for the child. I get bored with the series after a while, but the kids love the stories of farm life and animals, and my littlest is happily reading through the second grade texts now.

[jenangelcat]

I have heard of a lot of people taking a break with 100EL around that point ... and some never go back to it. Please feel free to switch to Funnix or anything else. If you want to go back to 100EL when it will be "easier" to face the stories, then do it later. If you don't want to pick it back up again, that's fine too.

 

 

 

We ditched it completely at that point. Dd1 was bored with it and she was only 3.5 so it wasn't like we were super concerned. We stopped all reading instruction and by the time she was four, it all clicked and she just started reading really well. I think once they get the basics, going back to just reading books does the job.

[Carol in Cal.]

You know, Phonics Pathways is a lot more complete than 100 EZ lessons, but I never could really figure out what to DO with it. Just have the kid read? Practice parts over and over? How much? It drove me crazy. I felt like it had all the information I needed, but didn't actually tell me how to teach it, and I needed to know that as I was shocked at how much review DD needed to learn to read up to that point--how much review is in 100 EZ lessons, for instance.

 

I went on after 100 EZ lessons to try what they suggested next, unsuccessfully, and then had DD read carefully selected Dr. Seuss books for a while, and then we started a set of levelled phonics readers from Scholastic that I bought by accident on Ebay, alternated with occasional IR books recommended in SOTW1's AG. Those readers were great but challenging. Each focussed on one phonics issue for four stories. As the stories got longer, DD got more resistent. Once they were up to 40 minutes, I decided that she needed to exercise some proficiency, and so I had her read harder Dr. Suess books on her own for 20 minutes, then I would pick one page and she would pick one page to read to me (so that I could make sure that she was really reading), and we would work on the Scholastic books for 20 minutes as well. Somewhere in between 100 EZ lessons and the Scholastic books I made flashcards of the most commonly used 600 or so words in the English language, and we would go through some of those each day as well.

[Sasharowan]

I have 3 kids that are reading well that only went through lesson 70 or less in 100EZ lessons. They switched to Bob books and 1st readers from the library somewhere between lesson 50 and 70. Ds15 now reads anything he can get his hands on, dd11 can read when she sits still long enough, ds10 reads but is easily distracted, and ds5 is starting 100ez.

[EppieJ]

I haven't read the other responses, but when we did 100EZ I think we only made to about lesson 38 before ds tired of it. But at that point we had the jump start we were looking for and I didn't want to make him hate reading, so we dumped 100EZ and just went to reading books. I had him read to me everyday, but let him take the lead in how much. At first it was just a couple of words, then a couple of sentences. Pretty soon he was reading me pages. We used mostly books like Dr. Seuss and other beginner books. We also had a set of SL readers that we used. He is now reading at or above grade level.

[scrapbookbuzz]

By the time we reached those last few lessons, my son was reading quite well! After the first few "lengthy" stories at the end of 100 Easy Lessons, I realized that making him go through those, unless he really wanted to, was not absolutely necessary (and, let's be honest, kind of cheesy). So, we just moved on to other reading material. If your dc understands phonics by this point and can read fairly well because of it, move on to whatever is enjoyable!

[Nart]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I am going to try two more weeks and then if it doesn't work then we will move on to Funnix and /or Phonics Pathways with Pathway Readers. We have been doing a sticker chart and every ten lessons he gets a small prize. I read on a previous thread about giving a treat after every sentence just to get through the last few stories, so I cut up some fruit leather into around 20 really small pieces and after every sentence he got a small piece. He loved it and was motivated to finish the story.

 

I don't want to give him a treat for every story but for now if that is what it takes to get over the hump I think it will be worth it. He has had a lot of ear infections and now needs a third set of ear tubes so I am being really proactive in terms of having him learn to read because he is at a higher risk than others of having difficulty learning to read. So far he has done great so I don't want to risk losing momentum as he progresses even though he is only four. I don't think he will be a kid who will just take off in learning how to read, I think he will need to be systematically, directly taught all of the phonics rules and need practice to become a really fluent reader. My 2-year old son is so different as he is already so verbal, so I don't think I will have to push him as much.

[coffeegal]

I read on a previous thread about giving a treat after every sentence just to get through the last few stories, so I cut up some fruit leather into around 20 really small pieces and after every sentence he got a small piece. He loved it and was motivated to finish the story.

 

I don't want to give him a treat for every story but for now if that is what it takes to get over the hump I think it will be worth it.

 

:D I did that on a difficult page of phonics pathways. I grabbed a bunch of raisons and handed 1 out for every line read. When he finished the page I let him finish the handful. Actually to get the child in question to read, I gave him a snack after every phonics lesson for a year and a half. It worked. He loves reading now, and reads very well. :001_smile:

[Chloe]

I sort of have the opposite problem. My 4yo dd is on lesson 70 of 100 Easy Lessons. She's also working through Explode the Code book 1. She's doing so well that I'd like to stop 100 EL and just have her read Bob books, Dr. Seuss and other easy readers. However, whenever I suggest to her that we skip our "reading lesson" and just read a book instead, she balks. She would rather do 100 EL! It drives me crazy because I'm getting sick of 100 EL. I've used it with 3 of my 4 dc now. I'm ready (and I think she is too, ability-wise) for her to take off with real books. I think part of the issue is that she gets to put a sticker on each page of 100 EL when she's read it. She loves that, and now she has these really cool new princess stickers. She's REALLY into princesses! Maybe when the princess stickers run out we can move to real books. :lol: