Is it as complicated as it looks? Teach Your Child to Read...

[AimeeM]

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

 

The preview on Amazon makes it look pretty complicated. Is it as complicated as it looks?

[CrunchyGirl]

I bought it when LegoMan was really young and never used it. There are MUCH better options available. We're using All About Reading with ArtsyGirl. But I'd recommend The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading over 100 Easy Lessons for sure. I think they're even about the same price.

[Chris in VA]

Is that the one with the weird font? 

I remember not wanting to teach dd to read using anything but real letters, not smooshed-together things or smaller- than- the- other- letters (silent e made smaller so you wouldn't say it). It was too complicated for me.

 

Phonics Pathways with several games for fun was the way to go for me. Not too many rules all thrown in there, willy-nilly--Just simple, straightforward, get 'em reading and then let'em practice!

[jennynd]

My daughter ran the other way when she saw the book. She is my book loving kid. That says a lot. We ended up dump the book and used hooked on phonic and Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. Ez100 just too boring for her

[MerryAtHope]

I found it visually overwhelming as well.

[jewellsmommy]

It is not complicated to use, but it made my dd miserable. I finally gave it up when just touching the book on the shelf made my dd cry. :crying:

[Brenda in FL]

I taught my kids to read using this book - no problems, very easy, skipped the writing portion.  My children needed no further phonics instruction afterward.

[AimeeM]

We have two phonics programs already - Phonics Pathways and Little Stories for Little Folks (Catholic Heritage Curricula), but Nico is getting stuck on fluidity. He's starting to fade on me - he wants so badly to read, but the two-letter blend sheets in PP (which he CAN do) are getting old and tedious, yet he isn't progressing with the CVC words enough to move on.

I think I'm just going to set it all aside for now.

[kwg]

I taught my kids to read using this book - no problems, very easy, skipped the writing portion.  My children needed no further phonics instruction afterward.

 

Same here. The squished up writing goes away in later lessons.

 

It drove me bonkers but ds didn't mind it.  I kind of want to have a book burning party (we just finished it a day or so ago).

[momma2three]

My kids hated it and thought it was boring.

 

I ended up teaching my oldest with BOB books and Reading Eggs.  My middle has just started learning, and has read the first 2 BOB books.  I think I'm just going to stick to those this time around.

[PentecostalMom]

OPGTR made my dd cry.  I dropped it and tried 100 Easy Lessons because it was recommended by a friend.  Voila, she learned to read!  We also skipped the writing.  After we completed the book, we picked up OPGTR and just do the lessons we need.  She was able to start about halfway through the book.  We use Reading Pathways for fluency.

[Mrs Twain]

100EZ is one if my all time favorite books ever. All of my kids learned to read with it. They all finished 100 lessons, though it took anywhere from 9 months to a year to complete. We only did 10-15 minutes per day, sometimes taking three days to get through one lesson. We also skipped the writing.

 

My kids all read above grade level, especially my first grader who reads all kinds of chapter books. People are always surprised by what books they see her reading. I just say, "Thanks 100EZ!"

 

Definitely read all of the directions before you start the program. That is a pain but a crucial exercise. Once you get the hang of it, the program is simple.

[Chloe]

I used it to teach my oldest to read.  We never even got to the 100th lesson.  I think by lesson 75 she was reading pretty fluently.  It did not work for my other three dc, especially my boys.  The pages were too cluttered.

 

FWIW, my two favorite resources for teaching reading are The Reading Lesson and Phonics Pathways.

[TheBugs]

When I found 100EZ lessons at the bookstore, I decided to buy it. I had never been to these boards and I didn't really know about any other books to teach reading. I read all the directions first, and I followed the script exactly which felt silly, but I did it anyway. It worked for my children. I don't think it is as complicated as it looks. It does look strange but at the end of the book the transition to standard orthography is smooth.

[RootAnn]

It isn't complicated, IMO. But, you do need to read the front of the book.

 

If you get it, don't teach the writing part along with the phonics part. (You can do it separately if you like - just don't MAKE them tie the two together.)

 

It works for some. It doesn't work for others. You'll figure out pretty quick which bucket your kid falls in - so I always suggest trying to borrow it (library or fellow homeschooler) first. 

 

I'm on my 4th kid learning to read & we almost always have to put the book away and work on something else for awhile (and sometimes several whiles) before swinging back to it (or not coming back to it if that kid wasn't one it would work with). They aren't "easy" lessons in our house - more like Excruciating lessons, But it does work for some!

[Alicia64]

My son who learned slower than his twin LOVED the I See Sam books. I highly recommend! It was such a great experience for us that I saved the books for grandkids!

 

Alley

[AimeeM]

I have looked at the I See Sam books - but I'm not quite understanding where the explicit phonics instructions comes into the equation - or did I miss something?

[Amy M]

We're doing 100 EZ right now. It's not complicated at all. It's not my favorite, but it was cheap, and it's working okay. I don't really care for the font, and right now we're splitting the lessons in half. (We're in the 30s for lessons right now.) We also don't do the writing portion. It's just the last one of 10 or so steps; NO problem to skip it. We have another reading program for K, so I just use 100 EZ as an intro for pre-K and see how far my kids get with it. If they don't like it, we won't use it. No pressure!

[Miss Tick]

We alternate lessons with 100EZ, which dd is not enthusiastic about, and Progressive Phonics , which is free for the printing and she likes.

[mumto2]

Both dc's refused to do more around lesson 10. Ended up using BOB books mainly. Ordinary Parents guide came out when ds was finishing learning. We loved it!

[Erica in OR]

Used it successfully here with three kids so far. I was looking for something scripted, so it appealed to me.

 

Erica in OR

[blondeviolin]

It's what I used with Emmett after lots of books (including OPGTR) caused anger or fits of frustration. I suspect it was mostly the big font he liked.

[ocelotmom]

I agree with the general consensus - not complicated, but not my first choice (DS hated it). The notation would be confusing if you tried to jump in partway through, but not if you do it from the start.

[maize]

I like it, don't do the scripted part though. I just read through the letters and words with my kids, worked great with the first two and I am using it with #3 now. Not complicated at all the way I use it.