Homeschool Book Review: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

As a stay at home mother of ten who has homeschooled for 18 years, teaching a child to read is of course the beginning step of schooling. It's so important that the child learn to read well, and once they can do this, the rest of homeschooling is fairly easy. I take this step seriously enough that, until they can read well, I don't bother really doing other subjects. I have chosen this method because it saves me so much work and effort.

The best book I have found for teaching reading is Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann, Phyllis Haddox, and Elaine Bruner. I have taught several of my children to read with this book. I love it, and highly recommend it. The book completely lays out all the work for you. It even gives you a script; the words for the parent to say are written in red. Here is an example, the words to use when introducing this book to your child:

"I'm going to teach you how to read. We're going to work every day for about fifteen minutes. The work is hard, but I think you can do it. You're going to learn the sounds that you'll use when you read. And you're going to learn some good word games. Today we're going to do Lesson 1."

It's that simple. You just read the script, and have the child repeat after you in the beginning, and then later, quickly they learn to sound out small words, going on to larger text. You do not need flash cards, lesson plans, extra books, or anything else. The book is complete in itself.

The book has a short story for the child to read at the end of each lesson, with pictures to go along. The stories are fun for the child to read. The child reads through the story once, sounding out the words, then reads it again, this time with the parent asking scripted questions at the end of the sentences to make sure the child has comprehended what they read. Once you have done this, you look at the picture, and ask more scripted questions; checking again to be sure the child has comprehended enough of what he or she has read to tell you what is happening in the picture. This was the part my children usually liked the best.

The book is appropriate for children from the age of bright three year olds to five year olds. I usually wait until the child is five, simply because I know by then, they are almost always ready. The more ready they are, the easier it will be. And as a mother of many with a lot of other tasks to do besides homeschooling, I like easy as long as it works well.

The book also includes the letters you are to teach the child to write along with the lessons. I don't always do this part, because it seems to me like some children are ready to read before they are ready to write. Since I want the lessons to be fun, if they struggle with the writing, I might wait a bit for that, and teach it separately later on.

By the time the child has finished the 100 easy lessons, he or she should be reading on a second grade level. That's quite an accomplishment for only three months of work!