update on 100 EZ lessons

[Leslie in MD]

Hi gang, just thought I'd ask for an update from you Moms that I talked into using 100 EZ lessons. It is fun for me to see your progress, and might encourage others to give it a try with their kids. It may not be for everyone, but it sure does work!
My son is now on lesson 71 and doing great! I am struggling to do it every day, but I really see progress when I am consistent. It's just so easy to focus on my 2nd grader since, by law, I am "supposed" to be schooling him. Son #2 sometimes gets put on the back burner, but I'm trying! He now helps me read Easy Reader Books and Dr. Seuss. It's fun to cuddle up and read together too. I think it will also help him to begin decoding the more difficult words.
Anyway, wondering if anyone wants to give details about how their lessons are going. I was thinking of asking about once a month or so to check. Where do you do your lessons? We sit on the couch in our den and ds likes to lie on his stomach and cradle his head in his hands to read.
Thanks in Advance!
Leslie in MD

[lilyka]

We still do the word list but never the story. We read BOB books and easy readers. The pictures and colors make them more enjoyable. i think we are on lesson 76. We probably wont finish. She didn't transition well from the dystar alphebet to the typed alphebet and when a word has an "fi" (like first or fin) the dot of the "i" is part of the "f". It confuses her and annoys me. I also have issues with thier bad grammer. (For Ex : She did not like chocolate. But liked vanilla) I am forever marking stuff out and correcting which baffles and distracts my dd but i can't help myself. Must correct. Anyway while we don't get a ton of use out of the book now she did learn to read very easily using it.

[scifimom]

i missed this before what is it? a book?

[teastaigh]

I bought this book about a year ago, and started out on the first lesson with my son as he was frustrated that he couldn't read. He was then 3 1/2.

To be truthful, I didn't find it very fun, but I did and still do sometimes use some of the read-aloud techniques. Anyway, sometime this past summer when I was often attending to our baby, my son taught himself to read. He's reading board-books aloud to his little brother, he reads the newspaper to me (we've stopped getting it for a bit as it's too upsetting), and reads labels and anything else he sees. The way he learned to read, *I think*,
was that he learned to WRITE first. He was always writing signs for his baby brother about what not to touch, what not to do, etc.

I've often been told that if we just read aloud often to our children and make books friendly and accessible, they will teach themselves. I have nothing against the 100EZ lessons, it was just too much effort for me right now. We're basically unschooling and sort of Waldorf-inspired about rhythms and some content.

I've also often been told that children should see their parents reading often. Now, that's an EZ lesson for me to do!

[Ryan]

We're still using 100 EZ but I'm not the type of parent to force "lessons" so we don't do it daily anymore. I'd say maybe 4 days a week and only when my daughter wants to. She's stopped reading the stories that go with the lessons and chooses Bob books or others stories instead (like lilyka said). Instead, I read the 100 EZ story to her and ask her all the questions at the end for listening comprehension. She likes it this way better. She and I both want her to learn to read but what's most important to me is that she LOVES reading. That's why I don't force. I still think these lessons are helpful. She has made an amazing improvement since we began and she is constantly sounding out words she sees. Also, she has started writing stories and illustrating them. Even though the words are not always spelled correctly I can usually tell what they are as they are spelled phonetically and she is also increasing her repetoire of sight words (her stories are often based on the same themes or ideas). Overall, I am happy with this program but I find it difficult to follow it to the letter. We are supplementing with our own stories and bits and pieces of "The Writing Road to Reading", though we don't follow that one closely either. We're ecclectic to the core.

[Leslie in MD]

100 EZ lessons...

Thanks ladies!

Sci-Fi mom, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann is an inexpensive reading program you can use to teach your child to read. It is a great opportunity to cuddle with your "babe" for 20 min. each day. You can tell by this thread that everyone is using it in their own way, and they are getting good results. Maybe I am using it more completely than anyone here, and my four year old is reading great now. I think you have to use this book to suit your needs, but you should use it consistently so your child doesn't get frustrated. I not only use this book, but we use easy readers too. JUST using any reading program would be pretty lame in my opinion when you are trying to expose a child to the love of reading.... Anyway, I think it is a great program. It's very systematic and easy to use.

Hope others will try it!
Leslie in MD, board moderator

[Jenmom]

we didn't like it...

we tried it but didn't like it. DD said it was BO-RING. I taught her the letter sounds, Montessori-style. We practiced writing them in cornmeal, we made letter shapes with glitter, we traced letters, etc. Once they know a handful of letter sounds, they can read! We moved on to the "Bob Books", I think they are fabulous. My daughter just turned six and reads on a 3.5 grade level. Certainly, there are different ways of teaching and I know many people who have loved 100 EZ lessons. Just offering up our experience.

[Sheri]

I am on lesson 62 with my 6 year old DD. We do it about 4 days a week and although she also thought it was boring she stuck with it and now becomes very proud of herself when she accomplishes the story. We only read the story through once though instead of the two times they suggest. She has gotten to the point where she doesn't want me to give her the instructions unless she is not doing it right. Works fine for me. I am pretty unstructured so we are doing very little else until we finish this book. So for me and DD this book has been an excellent way for a sometimes impatient mother to help her child learn to read.
Sheri

[rsps]

FYI they have it for half off at our local bargain book store. If you have one in your area your might take a look for it.

[scifimom]

hmm sounds interesting,my three year old is not yet interestd in reading but i'm trying to encourage him, i just bought the bob books but i'm not sure yet how much he likes them. always interested in something new though so thanks!

[Ryan]

trying another new way

I've seen lots of used copies of 100EZ at http://www.vegsource.com/homeschool in the PreK-2 for sale section. In case anyone was looking. I've also seen the "writing road to reading" which we are using along with 100EZ (we started that around lesson 50 of 100 EZ).

We have started do the lessons differently once again. Dd seems to like when I change things around. I use the word list for the next day and make flash cards of the words. She loves using flashcards for anything and they makes it easier when reading the stories the next day. Also, we have been taking turns reading every other sentence in the story. She reads one then I read one and we keep going until the end of the story. She thinks this is a blast and it's been more fun for me too. We then do all of the questions at the end instead of interupting the story. I have to reword them bit sometimes but then I can see how well she understood the story as a whole instead of one particular sentence. Just wanted to give you an update.