Rating: 
Summary: I WISH!!!
Review: I have only just begun this book and just reading the instructions of the do's and don'ts has truly amazed me. I wish I had something like this when I was going through school and with my first two kids, who are 14 and 8 at this time.
I am now working with my 4 year old third child, and I also use it with my forth and last child whose almost 2.
But I'm wondering about my 4 year old whose having trouble with pronouncing her s. Mostly when it's at the beginning of a word, like she--see--say--said. Sometimes she pronounce it like "sk or g". What can I do? The imphasizes not to skip, so I'm waiting to find out what to do next.
Rating:
Summary: It's working for us -- so far
Review: I have been using this book to teach my 4-year-old to read and have found it to be very, very helpful. I needed the script although I vary from it now that I'm comfortable with the system. We are only about 1/4 through the book, but my daughter now picks up other books and looks for words to sound out.Yes, it is dry but I like that. She is focused on the learning, not on brightly colored pictures, music, etc., and in general is excited by the letters and words. We tend to spend about 30 minutes, not 20, on each lesson, breaking them up with sips of juice (a special treat for her). What I REALLY don't like about this book is that it is full of typos. I have thought about doing a thorough proof-read and sending it back to the publisher, red marks and all!
Rating: 
Summary: A skeptic now won-over
Review: I was quite skeptical about the idea of teaching my child to read. He is 6, but with a September birthday, he has just started kindergarten. Despite being a kindergartner, he is very eager to learn to read. Being only a kindergartner, though, reading emphatically does not come easily for him. We tried the first few lessons (available here as 'Look and See' pages), and he not only 'got it' but also enjoyed it. After having bought the book, and continued with a lesson per day for the past three weeks, his interest has not waned, and his progress is very solid. I'm extremely happy that we decided to try it. One thing parents should be aware of is that this book is truly incremental. The child gets a new sound to learn every *other* lesson. Each new idea or skill is introduced incredibly gradually. If you're thinking that you'll have a reader in a month, you'll probably hate this book. On the other hand, if you're willing to be patient, and are eager not to overwhelm and frustrate your child, this series works extremely well. We started out needing about 5-7 minutes per lesson--no where near the stated '20 minutes a day' the book describes. Now, at lesson 30 or so, we spend more like 10-12 minutes, as the number of activities has increased. As a last note, I would imagine that a child who already has a number of reading concepts or has been (perhaps unsuccessfully) 'taught' to read before, would probably find this book deadly dull. For a child like mine who wants to do it, hasn't had any drilling before, and really is old enough cognitively, this book works beautifully.
Rating: 
Summary: Far less than adequate
Review: I have tried several books and software to teach my children. This book was my least favorite. The idea is good but that is all. Nearly everything in it is poorly done. The text does not need to be so distorted. The lessons are painful in their insistence on doing it according to the script. I would like to meet the person who can get the child through the instructional drivel. The stories are cute but always too long. This is a book with major flaws and is not for younger kids. If you have a child who is less than enthusiastic to learn to read, he will hate this overly regimented, artificial approach. I discovered another book - The Reading Lesson, used and liked it very much. Similar approach but what a difference!
Rating: 
Summary: Not sure if we'll get through it
Review: 9/20/2002 Update: We tried Phonics Pathways, and my son liked it a lot better (I think because it has pictures starting with the first lesson). But I had a much harder time with it because it wasn't scripted. It doesn't give you the confidence that you are doing it right like "Teach Your Child" does. We are going to give "Teach Your Child" another try. Original Post: My 4 year old son (who loves to be read to, and to "read" the pictures in books) and I have struggled just to get through lesson 9 of this book. Some of the lessons have gone better than others, but the "Teach Your Child To Read..." system just doesn't keep my son focused. Every lesson so far has had at least one "Saying The Sounds" task block in which the student is to take a turn saying letter sounds very slowly (at least 2 seconds for each letter sound). When you get to 3-letter sounds (e.g. "sin" sounded slowly as in "sssiiinnn", "ram" sounded slowly as in "rrraaammm"), with each letter sound being held for at least 2 seconds, that means at least 6 seconds total for each 3-letter sound. The sounding tasks sections have you do about 10 of these 3-letter sounds in a row, and then go back and repeat them all over again. My son would lose attention about half way through the first pass in doing these 3-letter sounds and most of the rest of the lesson would be down hill from there. And the book admonishes you to not skip any parts with the first child you take through it's system or you will most likely run into trouble and have to go back and do them anyway. I found another phonics book we will try, "Phonics Pathways" by Dolores Hiskes. It looks like it has a much less monotonous approach.
Rating:
Summary: ok book, but hopefully you can find better
Review: This book did help my son learn to read somewhat, but he was by no means a "reader" when we were done with it, and we had to supplement with other things to get him really reading. The system taught is so specific to the DISTAR program that you can't really quit in the middle if it isn't working for you. ALso, the lessons are dreadfully boring, and were painful to get through, for both my son and for me. We had to promse a trip to 6 flags to him to motivate him to finish it! Might work for some, but didn't do much for us.
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Summary: Homeschooler loves Reading Lessons
Review: My daughter and I are thoroughly enjoying the lessons. Amazon has included a lot of the intro information that explains why this is a great system.
Anyway, my daughter turns four in a couple of weeks and we've done 30 of the lessons. She is learning so fast and we're both excited about it. She loves to sit down for school time when we do our Reading Lesson followed by Math. This book makes it easy for parents and I think it is even better than just phonics. I highly recommend this book for anyone that wants to teach someone to read! The added exercises they suggest sound great, too. It has been fun so far, and I'm so proud of her (and of me!). This book tells you exactly what to do and how to do it. I just wish they had beginner books out with the same Orthography in them. THAT would be great!
Rating:
Summary: Homeschooler loves Reading Lessons
Review: My daughter and I are thoroughly enjoying the lessons. Amazon has included a lot of the intro information that explains why this is a great system. Anyway, my daughter turns four in a couple of weeks and we've done 30 of the lessons. She is learning so fast and we're both excited about it. She loves to sit down for school time when we do our Reading Lesson followed by Math. This book makes it easy for parents and I think it is even better than just phonics. I highly recommend this book for anyone that wants to teach someone to read! The added exercises they suggest sound great, too. It has been fun so far, and I'm so proud of her (and of me!). This book tells you exactly what to do and how to do it. I just wish they had beginner books out with the same Orthography in them. THAT would be great!
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book!!
Review: What has previously been said is far more eloquent than anything I might add.
However, I had to mention that as a new home school mom I was so overwhelmed, at the curriculum fair I attended, about teaching my daughter to read. I was about convinced I had to spend 100's of dollars to buy some huge phonics curriculum. All the vendors there had huge colorful sets of phonics stuff that were so expensive and so intimidating. A nice veteran home school mom took me aside and said, "Lady I have 5 kids and one of these books...give it a go for $20.00, spend your money on quality reading books for your daughter, (She also suggested for the reading material Lamberts "Five In A Row" another great suggestion) and if I'm wrong you can still spend your money on all this expensive phonics stuff and you will have lost little time." Being I am not a wealthy person, I talked to a few friends and then to my husband and gave it a go. My daughter is now 8 and reading far above grade level, and my son is now 6 and is also a fantastic reader!!! I am so greatful to that lady!!!! I saved a good deal of money and got fantastic results!! I also found out at this years evaluation that the public school is using Distar to teach reading as it is so fantastic....and new to the florida public school system! So, the evaluator borrowed my copy and loves it!!! Says it is much simpler to use than the Distar books for the school system! It really only takes a 1/2 hour daily and it does work. Now I have wonderful books of childrens literature on my bookshelves , and have happy readers!!!
Rating:
Summary: IT WORKS!
Review: I have three children in the public school system. The two older children were taught to read with the "whole language" approach. While my fourth-grader is an excellent reader now, my 2nd grader still struggles and hates to read. He has not found the keys to decoding. So,I decided that my pre-schooler would be spared the trials of whole-language and began exploring phonics-based programs. This program, quite frankly, appealed to me initially because of the directed teaching style. Now we are 51 lessons into the book and I deeply respect all elements of the book. Even aspects I was sceptical about have begun to take shape and make sense to me. My five year old son has learned to read very well thus far with this approach. He begs for his lessons, and I don't mind giving them at all. We do supplement with Bob Books and recently, the "Now I'm Reading" series just becaue it helps my son feel a sense of accomplishment to read real books. A friend of mine is using this for her son, too and finds that he loves it as well. You will especially appreciate the writing integration in this program. It is not very tedious, and by lesson 25 or so, you'll realize that your child can write pretty well, too!
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