Oh joy! It's time to teach my child to read...

Yikes! When I realized it was time to start teaching my oldest to read, I panicked. Reading came so easy for me as a child. At age 5 or 6 (I can't quite remember now) I was reading the "Little House On The Prairie" book by myself. My Mom was actually worried about me because reading came so easy for me at a young age. That was back in the days when there was hardly any support in the late eighties with homeschooling, so everything was new for her!

I sensed that it wouldn't be quite that easy for my son though. First of all, he is a boy. :-) I have always read studies, and been told by many Mom's that boys can take longer to read than girls. Obviously this is not true for everyone, but I think there is truth in it for sure.

We have done a variety of things, starfall.com, flashcards, Pre-Victory Drill Book, and now we are using the American Language Series. I love it! I'm not one that is big on cartoon looking workbooks, so many of the reading programs out there I don't like. I still wanted something that had color pictures in it though. I really like how this program broadens their knowledge of words, using words that we don't use as often in our watered down language. We started the program for a while, stopped it to do the Pre-Victory Drill book, and now we are back at it. I'm so excited that Mosiah is doing excellent in his reader book, and the program seems to really be working!

Israel started asking to be taught to read at four. I held him off for a while, but when I was sent the book "The Reading Lesson" to review, I decided it was time to start! I have been happy with using this book, and after he gets a better idea of what he is doing we will then switch him over to the Pre-Victory Drill Book, and then the American Language Series also.

The Reading Lesson book starts out using just a few letters, requiring the child to learn three-four sounds and then start reading sight words with those sounds. I like it that the letters are large, and there are not a lot of them on a page making it easier for a child to stay focused on what he is reading. They start teaching the most common sounds used in the American Language. All the letters are lower-cased, as that seems to be the most challenging for children to learn. It will help them quickly get familiar with them.

This book is designed for ages 4-8. The company also has a CD-ROM with fun games and alphabet practice that goes along with this book. I do not have that, so I can't say if I like it or not.

Overall, I have been pleased with the progress Israel is making! If you are trying to teach a young child to read, this seems to be a great way to do it without investing a lot of money into a huge program.