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Reading Made Easy is a phonics based, self-contained reading program plus so much more. The program is scripted so the teacher doesn't have much preparation time. It is all contained in the 500+ pages. There are 108 lessons; it is suggested that you work three times per week. The amount of time for each session can vary with each child but it is about 30 minutes worth of work. Review is plentiful with the program so mastery is achieved.
Valerie is a homeschooling mom of six. Her friendly, approachable writing style makes her a gem to her fellow homeschoolers. She wants you to teach your child, not just a program, so she offers ideas of how to make the program work for your family. Moreover, the content is from a Christian perspective.
The premise of the whole program is that the children will learn to read if the desire is there or groomed to be there. Most agree, that whatever method is selected it is most important to encourage the reading of "fine" literature to children. Taken a step further, when children are learning to read they should not be limited to boring primers.
At the end of each day's lesson, your child chooses a book from your home collection to read. This is yet another way that Reading Made Easy keeps the focus on why we are doing these reading lessons. Accordingly, your child sees immediate real life application.
In addition to teaching children to read, Reading Made Easy introduces writing skills such as capitalization and punctuation. Subscribers to the Charlotte Mason way of thinking will love that these grammar items are taught via copy work. Children also create, illustrate and dictate stories to the teacher. They then are encouraged to read their own stories to reinforce reading skills. Furthermore, comprehension and thinking skills are naturally fostered throughout the book.
The book uses print cues to help students recognize sounds made by specific letters or letter combinations. One fear I had was that students would become too dependent on the cues but the weaning process is cleverly built in.
We enjoyed this program from beginning until the end. The only sad thing is that when the program ends you still want more. Fortunately, there are more, your bookshelves at home or at your library are full, so just have the children pick up some books and read them together with their newfound skills.
-- Product Review by: Stephanie D. Scarborough, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
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