Total Page : 400
Publisher : Peace Hill Press
Publication Date : 2004 10 17
>> great teaching tool
I m the type of person who needs everything spelled out for me Teaching does NOT come natural for me so I love that this book tells me exactly what to say I love how simple and straight forward and SHORT the lessons are I used this for my first son didn t have time to complete it before he started school and with homework and other responsibilities I haven t had time to start again with him I am however using it for my other son not in kindergarten yet and he is reading now Not fluently but he can sound out and decifer phonetic words I love the structure but realize one reading/teaching source isn t the right answer for every child I have had friends recommend this book as well as teaching your child to read in 100 easy lessons I think that s the title who have LOVED both I think my first son would have done better with the 100 easy lessons but my second is really responding to this style I DO recommend this book but definitely know your child and thoroughly research before you buy anything
>> More for parents than for kids
I ordered this book because I have been using the other language arts series First Language Lessons Writing With Ease by Peace Hill Press and have had good success with them While I used 100 Easy Lessons with my first son and it worked well i wondered if this book would make it easier to transition from the phonics alphabet to the regular alphabet while teaching my second son
The first part of this book which teaches the vowel sounds and the consonant sounds is okay My son learned those sounds easily and enjoyed memorizing the little songs But then the book switches to reading words and short sentences and he was lost Partly this is because the typeface in the book is small Young children focus more easily on large words large letters and the sentences were too close together He had trouble focusing on each individual word without his eyes jumping to the sentence above Not enough space between sentences in other words
No pictures and the stories are not very interesting or engaging 100 Easy Lessons uses pictures to help children figure out the sequence of a story which is part of learning to read and logic
I think it is worth pointing out that while 100 Easy Lessons does not call for any props or need extra equipment this book has supplemental items such as a magnetic alphabet board a CD and instructor cards that are available on the publisher s website A good instructing book in my opinion doesn t need props I think the props appeal to modern parents who feel learning must be made into a game And of course they make more money for the publisher Not being cynical just realistic
After struggling with this book I got out 100 Easy Lessons and showed it to my son who is five and asked him which one he would rather us use for reading lessons He pointed to 100 Easy Lessons and said This one I can see the words better And no my son has no vision problems
So I think the Ordinary Parent s Guide might work for a very motivated reader but I still think 100 Easy Lessons is the golden granddaddy of reading instruction based on my admittedly limited experience
>> Surprisingly Easy
This book was surprising easy to use I started on Monday and told my husband Our child will be reading by Friday
I was wrong he was reading by Wednesday I was pleasantly surprised and excited at how easy it made it for me to teach him
