Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Eight years ago, I read The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and found myself agreeing with it lock, stock, and barrell. The book is written in such a way that makes everything seem so--right! It made me feel as if my daughter would turn out just the way I wanted--if only I followed the education plan set forth in this book. I am a trained teacher with my MA Ed. and I had taught in public and private schools. Homeschooling is a different ball game, though. What I realized over the next two years as I followed the teaching methods and curriculum recommended by the Well Trained Mind is that there is no "right" formula that can fit every child. The curriculum and teaching methods of the book did not fit for me or my kids. I couldn't manage the amount of work they recommended (though I'm a driven, diligent person). My oldest daughter and I were in tears most days by the middle of first grade so I regrouped and shelved The Well Trained Mind. Long before I shelved WTM, I had shelved this book, The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading (OPG). I had been particularly drawn to this book, which is a part of her Well Trained Mind plan, because I was very intimidated by the process of teaching a child to read (I gravitated to grades 2-8), so I wanted a book that would tell me exactly what to do and was sure to work! This book was not the right answer for my family and I suspect it is probably not the right fit for many other families as well. Here's why: 1. It teaches reading based on rhyme. 2. No reading comprehension component. 3. Too many words on a page makes it difficult to focus. 4. Doesn't do say it fast, say it slow like How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (game helps make important connections!) 1. This book teaches reading based on understanding rhyme (word families). Not all children understand rhyme right off the bat. My daughter didn't get rhyme until she was already a fluent reader. Some children even severely struggle with rhyming. So, if your phonics based reading instruction is built upon a foundation of rhyme, your child is going to have great difficulty learning to read if they don't get rhyme right away! I much prefer How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons for this reason. All 3 of my children are very good readers and I used this book instead. I appreciated it much more because I did try OPG first. I follow up 100 Easy Lessons with Phonics Pathways and Reading Pyramids which gave my children a very strong reading foundation. But, if you want a reading system Hooked on Phonics also is based on rhyme, but it has some positive pluses in its favor that this book don't. 1. HOP uses age appropriate fonts. It takes time for children's eyes to be able to easily focus on smaller fonts. Compare the fonts in this book and HOP and you'll find HOP is much larger. 2. HOP uses much fewer words on a page. This is huge!! When our children are learning to read, we are training their eyes to look at certain symbols. It is difficult to look at and focus on too many symbols at once. this makes sense, right? OPG has so many words on a page--every single page. 3. HOP uses stories and integrates beginning reading comprehension by using pictures and text. This is very important to helping children develop their basic reading comprehension skills. 2. OPG has NO pictures. Connecting pictures with text is the foundation where reading comprehension begins. 3. Recently, I have had a few friends using this book for reading instruction and I wanted to refresh my memory about how reading is taught using this book. I checked it out from the library and brought it home. I sat down, opened the book up, and cringed. I am very visual. I have no learning disabilities, but I am a visual learner. The amount of text on this page blew me away. It all blended together and I struggled to find a place for my eyes to focus. If I am having a hard time focusing, I can't imagine how this book affects many struggling readers. The only thing I can imagine is that many parents use bookmarks with only a space open so that the child can read one line at a time. This would help--greatly. 100 Easy Lessons does so many things that this book doesn't do. It teaches spelling from both an encoding and decoding approach. By using the method of say it fast, say it slow, the teacher helps the child learn to pull words apart and put them back together. 100 Easy Lessons also teaches beginning rhyme and beginning reading comprehension--much better than HOP does. The symbols look strange at first, but none of my kids struggle with it. My one piece of advice about it, though, is that you should start 100 Easy Lessons after your child knows all of their letters and letter sounds. HOP PreK is a wonderful curriculum that can walk you through "How" to teach the letters and their sounds. Explode the Code books A,B,and C are wonderful for helping kids develop their visual discrimination, teaches, and reinforces sound recognition as well as following directions (make sure to get the teacher guide). As for 100 Easy Lessons, I don't do the writing portion and teach 1/2 a less a day for PK4. My kids do 5 lessons, then start over, do 10 lessons and then back up 5, they go forward 5 or 10 again, back up 5 or 10 again. Steadily we move forward. I didn't want my kids to regurgitate a lesson. I wanted them to know it. Well. Many people try to move straight through 100 Easy Lessons and so they get frustrated. There are key clicks that a child must get or else they will struggle moving forward. Take your time and go slow. No rush. It took me 3 years go get through the book with each of my kids, but that's okay because a child has a 2nd grade reading level at the end of it. And don't skip the last lessons! They are important. Many parents stop at the end of the book or near the end thinking their child doesn't need it. But, even advanced readers, like my daughter, do. They can fall into the trap of reading too fast and skipping words. Reading is a very complex skill to master and it takes time. I highly recommend Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons all the time over OPG. OPG makes parents feel like they're covering all the bases, but they're really not. No reading comprehension is introduced and no connection between encoding and decoding is fostered in the way that 100 Easy Lessons does. I am honestly quite surprised that there are not more negative reviews of this book. It is definitely not good for struggling readers, but it is also not good for many average and above average kids as well.