TUESDAY'S TIP teach your child to read

Today's tip comes courtesy of my cousin Laurie. I was telling her that Thing 1 is getting really excited about his letters and is eager to learn to read, but since he is my first, I had no idea how to teach him to read. I really felt like there was a window of opportunity and if I didn't fill it soon, it would go away. She suggested this book. It's Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann. And let me just state for the record: THIS BOOK ROCKS!

We are only on lesson 10, but Thing 1 is reading! I'm serious. Only after 10 lessons, he gets it. Every letter has a sound, and he just sounds out the letters and he is reading. Even when we are driving in the car he will tell me what signs say, and stuff. It's way cool, and I love it! One thing that this book does that I really like, is at the end of each 10 minute lesson there is a writing portion. I got Thing 1 his own pad of learning-how-to-write lined paper (the one that looks like roads), and each day he does his writing on a new page. I don't let him write or color in this notebook except for our lessons. That way it can be his special reading/writing book. It's fun to see his progress from lesson one. I hope to keep it and put it in his scrapbook one day. And the best thing? He loves to write! And read! And being that I read about a two books a week, and therefore have a serious love of reading, I'm ecstatic to be passing on the joy that can be found in reading.

Seriously, it's my new bribe. Do you want to do your reading lesson? Then you must be nice to your sister. He literally cheers every time I tell him it's time for his lesson. I got him a few writing notebooks, and I keep one in my purse for trips in the car, doctors offices, and yesterday in church he literally sat and wrote his letters and numbers for 30 minutes straight!

So, if you are in the market to teach a youngster how to read, then I highly recommend this book. Ba-dum-dum.