Rating: 
Summary: A real life saver.
Review: I bought this book while my son was in first grade. The school he attended used phonics and whole language in an "integrated" approach. This sounded great at the outset... the best of both worlds. We quickly found, however, that this "integrated" approach meant a disorganized approach. After three quarters of first grade, my son still could not read basic words and ranked at the bottom of his class for reading. He was placed in a special reading group for children below grade level. Although my son received additional help, this special class was very hard on his self esteem and we eventually removed him from it and increased the time we spent tutoring him at home. We began using the book at the recommendation of a retired special education teacher. My son's reading progress was very slow at the beginning of the book and we became somewhat frustrated but continued on. After completing 70 lessons, things began to click. A foundation had been built. We completed the book and later bought several other books based on direct instruction methods. We have been enormously pleased with the results. My son was tested during the first quarter of second grade and placed in an advanced reading group of children reading at the third grade level. This progress occurred over six months!! If schools used this method it would markedly improve the literacy rate in the USA. Our 4 year old son is currently completing the book and now reads at a first grade level. Buy this book if your child is having difficulty with reading. For the price, it is a great investment!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Easy-to-Use Phonics Program!
Review: We have used this book for 4 of our children so far, and plan on using it for the rest. I recommend it to new home educating families who are just starting out and want to get their child reading. The book has a thorough explaination of how it is to be used, in the beginning of the book. Then, throughout the book, what the parent (teacher) says (your "script", as it were) is in red print. It is fun and sometimes nicely silly. We all really enjoyed it. Each lesson takes from 15 to 20 minutes to go through (just about right for a young one). Then there are a few "letter sounds" for the child to practice writing on her own paper or notebook. Your child will probably be like mine, in that he/she will be reading and perhaps writing short stories before he/she is even done with the book. There are suggestions at the end of the book for further recommended reading, or help if the child is still moving slowly. This book is very easy to use and produces results, both in teaching your child to read, as well as in a closer relationship with your child. Save the "Big Guns" programs for those with learning disabilities.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for kids not familiar with letters
Review: I bought this book for my 5 and 4 year olds. I LOVED the concept and can see how wonderfully it would work with young kids who have not yet been introduced to letters.
My kids were already very familiar with the names and sounds of the letters and did not like to call them "sounds". We stopped using the books for now because they are reading well with phonics and love the other books we have. However, maybe at some point they will get confused with words where the sounds don't make much sense.
I might return to this book and continue from the last half - it is amazing the texts kids can read if they follow this book religiously!!!
Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK
Review: I had tried unsuccessfully to teach my daughter to read using whole language approach and Hooked on Phonics. This book is much better than either of those programs. In only a few short weeks she's picked up reading and asking to do 3 or 4 lessons a day. It is clearly laid out for the parents as to what to do and it's simple and fun for the kids.
Rating:
Summary: Succeeded when $300 of home-school curriculum didn't.
Review: When my husband and I decided to homeschool, we looked at a lot of different curriculums and found one that we thought was just the best thing on the face of the earth. It was $285 for about a year and a half worth of books. After four months of repetitive drills for over an hour each day, my son and I both hated school time.He just didn't see the point of all of those blends he had to repeat over and over. And with a two year old and a two month old I had trouble staying encouraged to do it. Then my friend introduced me to this book. Her daughter who is 1 year and 7 months younger than my son was on lesson 40 and doing wonderfully. I headed straight to the store. By lesson 13 (which was just day 4 for us because of the foundation that took 4 months to lay) when he read his first sentence he was totally hooked. FINALLY all those letters meant something. We usually did 2-3 lessons a day. We have completed the book and he is now reading wonderfully and loving it. Our other curriculum hasn't left the shelf since. This will be our phonics curriculum for teaching all of our children. It alone was worth $300.
Rating:
Summary: Great for young gifted children!
Review: My son is (...) very bright. He had letter recognition and understood most of the letter sounds before we started this book (since he was about [quite young]), so this method gave me a format to teach him. When he kept insisting to learn how to read and began sounding out words on his own, often incorrectly, I knew it was time to start a program. Now he's so excited that he's learning how to read... he loves reading lesson time! For him, the pace is slow, and repeatative, but I'm able to modify. We're doing two to three lessons every day. I've caught him picking out letter sounds in every day life: a sign at the grocery store, a word on a magazine etc.. This is a perfect method for the child who is ready to launch into reading. After establishing the basics this book offers, then you can go onto more complex methods. I strongly suggest simply reading to your child often. The method in this book will teach the fundamentals, but only enjoying stories will foster the love of reading.
Rating:
Summary: excellent teaching tool
Review: I love this book. My four year old has just completed it and can read all the stories in it. It is excellent because it teaches them in a few, short, effective lessons the sounds and how to blend them all together. He now has a good solid foundation and will be able to progress quickly. I'll have to say my four year old is very active and so teaching him at first from a book with no color pictures that basically looked boring etc. was tricky and it did take determination, but all of it paid off! I think also this 'boring' aspect of it will help him transition to chapter books more easily in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Best book for teaching phonic reading
Review: I taught all three of my children how to read by using this simple and easy method. It teaches children to sound out letters, and not to just guess words by using picture clues. It also teaches commonly used words first, like "me", so children quickly become readers. This method produces a strong reader very quickly. It is amazing!
Rating: 
Summary: There are better resources out there.
Review: Although my son and I enjoyed the first handful of lessons from this book (especially the "say it slow/say it fast" game!), we soon found it difficult to follow and I personally thought that some of it was a little confusing. I also did not care for the way the letters and words were printed. That's not how they're going to look in a regular book, so I don't really want to teach him to read that way. I would like to recommend a great program by Bob Jones University Press. It's not a packaged deal but there are basically 3 components: K5 Reading Books Teachers Edition (#190314), K5 Reading Books (a set of 28 readers to go along with the teaching book) (#190330), and the K5 Phonics Practice Book (#187948) and these items can be ordered from www.bjup.com.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book
Review: I am now teaching my 2nd child (just turned 4) to read with this book. She loves it and wants to do 2-3 lessons every day. My oldest child learned to ready about 3 months ago with this book and is ready at 1st to 2nd grade level books if not higher. Yes the stories are really corny and so are some of the words, but I guess it works and I highly recommend this book.
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