Children Learning Reading review – why its one of the best methods to teach reading to kids.
When my daughter was two and a half, the LAST thing on my mind was teaching her how to read. Because like any other normal toddler parent, I was too busy fretting over things like potty-training and taming her tantrums.
I still remember it like it was yesterday; I had a play date planned with some neighborhood friends and their toddlers. Because my daughter had a tendency to not share her toys, I was super nervous (back then, I was a new parent and things like that used to really frazzle me! I’m a lot more chill now :).
So off I went to my best friend YouTube and typed “how to teach a toddler to share”. And a video popped up called “how to teach a toddler to read”.
I remember rolling my eyes and thinking “Oh God are there seriously parents out there who would teach such young kids to read? This is their age to PLAY!”
Nonetheless I clicked on the video. I watched in jaw drop amazement as Jim Yang, a father of four demonstrated how he’d taught his kids to read fluently before their third birthday.
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Here are the first few thoughts that came to my head:
- His kids must be super smart
- Children this age are not developmentally ready to acquire reading skills
- I would never have the time, energy or patience to do this
- My daughter will learn reading at school sooner or later so why should I bother
But my curiosity was definitely piqued and I couldn’t help but go check out their website. And I’ll be honest: the raving reviews from the other parents and videos of their little kids reading so confidently and happily got me hooked.
That night, I mentioned it to my husband and he was super psyched. Lets give it a try and see how it goes we decided.
So what were our results? Phenomenal! Within a few weeks of starting, my daughter learned blending and could start reading 3 letter words.
She soon progressed to reading short sentences and then short stories. The delight of seeing your little one being able to read a story from start to finish is indescribable!
By the age of 5 she was reading 20+ short stories IN A DAY (she needs to be forced to come out of her reading corner!) and reading at third grade level.
Update: She’s 7 years old now and reads authors like Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton. When we visit the library she comes home with at least 40 books (we’re allowed to borrow 50 books per library card). She sits in her reading corner and can easily read 10 200 page books in 24 hours. I literally have to tell her to stop reading sometimes and give her eyes a break!
Her fluency and confidence while reading along with her IMMENSE love for books is something that I owe to Children Learning Reading. And I have no qualms in giving it all the credit.
This post is all about Children Learning Reading Review and why it really works to help your child read.
Teach Reading the RIGHT Way – Children Learning Reading Review
So what exactly is Children Learning Reading? The Children Learning Reading Program was created by Jim and Elena Yang, parents who taught all 4 of their kids to read exceptionally before the age of 3.
What form does it come in? The reading program comes in the form of two e-books that present a simple, logical and step by step system which teaches your child to read fluently and confidently without having to sit in front of a screen.
What age group is it for? It was designed keeping in mind the 2-6 year old age group. So it’s super simple, especially at the beginning. Whether your child is in preschool, kindergarten, 1rst grade or a struggling reader, the program is simple enough to teach reading to kids of all ages.
Children Learning Reading Review – How does it work?
Children Learning Reading includes 2 teaching manuals – Stage 1 and Stage 2. The first stage covers Phonics Foundation while the second stage is Advanced Phonics. In total there are 65 step by step, extremely simple and effective synthetic phonic lessons.
Apart from the two main teaching manuals, there are bonus resources included too. I found these bonuses super helpful. They include:
Bonus#1: Fun to read lesson stories with illustrations
To help make learning to read fun and engaging, the reading program includes lesson stories that are matched to the progress of your child’s reading abilities.
These lesson stories are part of the learning program, and comes with colorful illustrations to make learning reading fun and engaging for kids.
Bonus#2. Letter sound mp3 audio
This entire reading program is based on PHONICS so it’s super important that parents know the proper pronunciation of phonic sounds.
The included audio clips demonstrate in detail how to properly pronounce all the phonics sounds. That way you’re better equipped to teach your child to sound out words and read words, sentences, and stories.
Bonus#3. Stage 1&2 lesson printouts
These 2 books contain the complete lesson printouts of the entire program. All the lesson-prep work has been done for you. Simply hit the print button, and you’re ready to teach reading to your child!
How is it different from other reading programs?
Many reading methods teach kids to read by memorizing the shape of the words, which is completely the WRONG and detrimental way to teach kids reading.
Unfortunately, many schools also use this method and teach reading to kids by giving them sight words to memorize. Extensive research by the National Reading Panel shows that an understanding of phonics and NOT memorization of sight words is the correct way to teach a child to read.
This program is based on teaching a child synthetic phonics and phonemic awareness.
Put simply, children are taught to recognize the sounds that each letter makes and then string those sounds together using a concept called blending. Blending is the building block for a child’s success in reading; once they catch on to blending, reading becomes a piece of cake for them.
Blending is super important because being able to mentally join speech sounds together to make words helps students to decode unfamiliar words using letter-sound patterns when reading. Difficulties with the ability to blend is a hallmark sign of the struggling reader.
homeschoolingwithdyslexia.com
Pros of Children Learning Reading
I’ve written this Children Learning Reading Review because I believe in it SO strongly. Here’s why I would recommend it to all my toddler mommy friends without batting an eye lid:
1. It starts off very basic and slow and only gradually moves on to higher concepts. So it’s tailor made to cater to a very young child ( Ican’t emphasize this enough!)
2. It’s sequential which is something I really like. Each concept builds upon a previous concept in a very logical way
3. As a parent I have to do zero prep, all the work has been done
4. Each lesson takes 10 minutes or less so you literally need 10 spare minutes in the day in order to make this work
5. By the middle of the stage 1 book, your child is able to read a 3-4 sentence short story. What I love is that at the end of each lesson, there is a short story which corresponds with what the child has just learnt. The story only uses words which your child has learned up till that point. So not only is it a great revision of the concept learnt but it also really boosts your child’s confidence in reading.
6. It WORKS. It’s a simple, effective and proven system that gets results. Your child will actually be reading fluently by the time you finish the program!
Cons of Children Learning Reading
It requires time and engagement from the parent. This is not a program in which you can put your child in front of a screen and expect to see results.
You need to spend 10 minutes a day doing a lesson with your child along with spending some time cuddling up and reading to them. If you can not take out time for this then this reading program isn’t for you.
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Steps on How to Use Children Learning Reading to Teach Reading to Kids
Step 1. Buy the book
Step 2. Go over the introductory content for parents. It really helps lay the foundation for the whole reading program and as a parent helps you understand how to proceed. It’s a bit long but super interesting so don’t skip this step otherwise you’ll be quite confused.
Step 3. Go over the audio clips provided so that you know how to properly sound out each letter
Step 4. Get your child excited about learning to read. Decide on a reward that they get for each lesson that they do with you. This could be a sticker, a small treat, an extra story at bedtime. Whatever gets them motivated!
Step 5. Start off with lesson 1. What I love is that the beginning lessons are suuuuuper simple and only gradually picks up pace. Keep each lesson to ONLY 10 minutes or less. If the lesson is long then break it up into chunks.
Step 6. Follow each lesson step by step and stay consistent. You’ll start seeing results very soon.
Mistakes I made while teaching my child to read
I think the biggest mistake I made was not being consistent. There were sometimes weeks that went by when we didn’t do a lesson. So we had to backtrack a lot.
Things I did ‘right’ while teaching my child to read
I never EVER forced my daughter to sit with me and do a lesson. I made sure that lesson time was so much fun for her that she thought we were playing a game. SHE would be the one running after me asking if we could do the ‘reading game’.
I remember there were many days that i was busy and swamped with work/ not feeling well/ not in the mood to do a lesson and my daughter would beg if we could play her favorite reading game.
The point I’m trying to make is that if you want your child to be an avid reader, never force them to read to you, listen to stories or do lessons. Follow your child’s cue: if they are not in the mood to read and want to go off and play, LET THEM. If you make reading time fun for them, they’ll never view it as a chore.
How we made learning to read fun
Very soon into Stage 1 of Children Learning Reading, your child will be reading 3 letter words. You can get the pre made flashcards for each lesson or make your own.
I chose to make my own. I wrote down each word on bright colored paper using crayons. On the backside of the card, I made a little picture to correspond with each word.
Here’s how we made it into a game:
We’d take our flashcards and sit in the corner of the room. My daughter would take each card and sound out the word eg she would say ccc/aaaa/t and then string the sounds together to say the word CAT.
Then she’d flip the card to see if the word she said matched the picture. If she was right, we’d high five and then race from one corner of the room to the next. And then repeat this for each of the cards.
My daughter LOVED this game especially the part about seeing my silly drawings and then us racing around the room. This game worked for us extremely well and I’d encourage you to give it a try with your little one.
But each child is different so it wont work for everyone. As a parent you need to find out what gets your child excited and how you can make reading lessons into more of a game and less of a chore.
Want to make reading fun for your child? Use these phonics sheets to help your child become superbly confident with phonics!
Children Learning Reading Review: Stay consistent. Don’t compare.
What I’ve learned from this whole journey of teaching reading to my child is that there are two golden rules to follow. 1) Stay consistent. 2) And don’t compare.
Staying consistent means doing something every day, even if its just for two minute. There will be so many days you have a trillion other things on your to-do list and sitting down with your child for 10 minutes to do a lesson isn’t possible.
On those I-don’t-have-a-second-free days, have a backup in mind. A quick revision of a previous concept, a quick story book or a quick blending game. Just do something small every day.
Not comparing means that if your child’s best friend is reading and yours is not, don’t freak out. I know that is easier said than done. As humans we have an innate tendency to compare ourselves with others.
But if you keep your goal in mind, its easier to not get swept away by comparison. And your goal is NOT to have your child reading before other kids; its to open up a whole world of stories, adventure and learning for your little one.
Interested in teaching your child to read and start seeing results? Check out Children Learning Reading to see what other raving parents have to say.
This post was all about Children Learning Reading Review and why it really works to help your child read.
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