How to teach your child to read in 100 lessons

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Permalink Reply by Marie Rippel on February 25, 2010 at 11:36am

Hi Renee,

I used 100 EZ with my daughter when she was in kindergarten. She was the type of child who would have learned with any reading program -- just point her in the right direction, and she'd figure it out. We went through the first 75 lessons or so, and then she took off and I never had to teach her another reading lesson. She is now a sophomore in college and has always loved to read.

My son, on the other hand, did not experience success with 100 EZ lessons. Here's why:

- He couldn't make the transition from the DISTAR orthography that 100EZ uses for digraphs to standard print. (They join the s & h, for example, to show that it is all one sound.) The non-standard script where they join certain letters together confused him terribly.

- The teacher's script was on the same page as the student reading material. His eyes were jumping from the teacher's script to the part that he was really supposed to pay attention to. To eliminate this problem, I used a blank piece of paper to block out the remaining part of the page.

- There wasn't enough reading practice for him at the beginning stages

- He wasn't ready to do the letter formation part of the lesson, so we skipped that

We didn't go very far in the book before I realized that we had a serious problem on our hands. He went from being excited to learn to read to complete disinterest in a short time. He would spend hours looking through real books, but when it came time for a reading lesson, he became upset. The method was not meeting his needs.

Other observations:

- The teaching sequence has short term benefits -- the child begins reading quickly. Of course, this is exciting for the parent! But looking long term, if your child tendencies toward any reading issues at all, this sequence will cause difficulties. For example, Long E is present at the beginning of the book, but short e isn't presented until the second half of the book. Many children will do better in the long run if they learn the short vowel sounds first.

- The method is a blend of phonics and whole language. It isn't a complete phonics program.

- The book covers only beginning reading. Advanced skills aren't taught. The child is still a beginning reader after finishing 100EZ.

- For some kids, you'll want to eliminate the reverse psychology part of the script. Some kids will take a challenge like, "I don't think you can finish this lesson without making mistakes" literally.

- Many of the stories use stilted language, not natural language.

- You'll probably want to add in more interesting reading material so the child can experience the joy of reading.

The 100 EZ book has taught many children to read, but it isn't the answer for all children. We can be thankful that there is such a wide range of teaching materials available to us today! If your child struggles to read, I'd switch to a more thorough program with a different approach.

After you've had time to look at the book from the library, let us know what your reaction is.

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Permalink Reply by Renee on February 25, 2010 at 2:36pm

Thank you for all the information. I have to say that I am a little bais already from the phonics of the program. I am a strong believer in the Orton-Gillingham approach to phonics and reading. I know it has had a big impact on my daughter. It sounds like 100 EZ can work well for some kids.

Yes, I will look over the book and let you know what my reaction is. I will also be more prepared to answer questions about the 100 EZ when comparing AAS. I was just e mailed that the book is ready for me to pick up.

We have been using the Sonlight readers along with AAS and it has worked good for my daughter. I know she has a good foundation. She is trying real hard. Reading is a task for her and it is coming along slowly. Considering all of her challanges I know that I am on the right track.
Thanks again you are always so helpful.
Renee

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