Category Archives: Book Reviews

Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons-Does it Really Work?

Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons

So I bought the book “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” last year for my 5 year old, Ekid. I had read the rave reviews on Amazon.com and decided to buy it. I never used a book like this for Nboy, but he was always more interested in practicing reading and writing than Ekid is and so I didn’t feel I needed a “curriculum” to teach him. Ekid on the other hand needs more to keep him interested.

So this book has 100 lessons and claims that your child will be able to read and write by the end of it. Each lesson goes over sounds and writing those sounds at the end of the lesson. One of the first sounds is the short “A” sound as in “cat”. You put your finger on the first ball and slide it on the arrow to the ball under the letter and you have your child say the sound slowly, drawing it out as in “aaaaaa” as you slide your finger to the end of the arrow. They learn to say the sound slowly at first and then you have them “say it fast”.

Each lesson progresses and a new sound is added every couple lessons. There is a lot of repetition in order for your child to remember each sound from lesson to lesson.

Eventually they start putting letters together to form words, and then this progresses to putting the words together in short sentences with a picture for reading comprehension.

Now for my review:

I LOVE this book! Ekid is doing so well with it, and he really enjoys it. He has very little trouble remembering the sounds he learned in the previous lesson when we get to the next lesson because there is so much repetition in learning each sound. We would have been completely through the book by now, but we only did a few lessons last year and then stopped because at the time he just wasn’t quite as interested. But now we are on lesson 16 and he is able to read the short sentence that has been in the last couple lessons by sounding it out. I really think Siegfried Engelmann did an excellent job with this book.

Even if you are not homeschooling, “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” is still a wonderful book to get to give your child a head start in reading and writing before entering school, and it gives parent and child a nice chance to spend some time together learning.

One Fish Two Fish,Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss

You might find it quite laughable if you were to stand outside the kids bedroom and listen to me reading to them some nights. I love to read, and I enjoy reading children’s books where you can put so much emphasis and feeling into the story!

One of my favorites, since our oldest was probably 4 or 5,  is “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish” by Dr. Seuss I really love Dr. Seuss and you’d think I’d have lots of his books, but sadly, I only have a couple. All three of my boys have absolutely loved One Fish Two Fish, and my 8 year old (Nboy) still gets a kick out of it when I read it to my 2(Baby) and 5 year old (Ekid) at bedtime.

One Fish Two Fish is truly a universal book!

So, I will go over some of my favorite parts of the book although I love the whole thing and it is especially fun to try and read it fast without getting tongue tied!  I used to do that with my oldest when I didn’t want to have to read for very long. With many books, a 4 or 5 year old will not allow you to rush it or skip pages, but with One Fish Two Fish, you can totally make it fun and get it read quickly! Sneaky, I know….

"One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish" by Dr. Seuss

This is it, the book that keeps hangin’ around!

I posted some excerpts from the book below. All of the pages are wonderful, I just chose a few of my favorites!

 

One Fish Two Fish is a well used book!

 

As you can tell, One Fish Two Fish is a well used book!

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss

“One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish”

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some are very, very bad! "One Fish Two Fish"

“Why are they sad and glad and bad? I do not know go ask your dad!

At this point the boys like to say “Ok” and then run in the other room calling for their dad :)  a couple pages after this it says “go ask your mother” and I fall for it every time when they say “Mommy?” (they get a kick out of that!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He has eleven! This is something new. I wish I had eleven two! "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish"

 

He has eleven! This is something new. I wish I had eleven too :)

The boys always HAVE to count his fingers to make sure he really has eleven! haha

 

 

 

 

 

"I do not like my little bed" One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

 

And this is one of my favorite parts in the book. “And when I pull them in, Oh Dear!! My head sticks out of bed up here! ”  haha I love it.

 

 

 

 

 

"I do not like this bed at all, a lot of things have come to call!" One Fish Two Fish

 

 

And then of course the sequel 2 pages later….. “A lot of things have come to call, a cow a dog a cat a mouse! Oh what a bed! Oh what a house!!”

lol

 

 

 

"These things are fun and fun is good" One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

 

“Have you ever milked this kind of cow? Well we can do it, we know how!” “if you never did, you should, these things are fun and fun is good.”  Dr. Seuss has a very interesting imagination! Ha!

 

 

 

 

"Today is gone, today was fun, tomorrow is another one." One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

 

 

“And now good night, it is time to sleep, so we will sleep with our pet Zeep. Today is gone, today was fun, tomorrow is another one”

 

A great note to end on for a bed time story!

 

So there you have it, Dr. Seuss “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish”

A must have book for your childrens book collection!  If you don’t have it, you can buy it here new or used.

The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room

This post is for a book week hosted by  O My Family!

I’ve loved the Berenstain Bears ever since I was a kid. We got this the last time we were at the library and it hits home soooo much!  I totally relate to Mama Bear!

berenstain bears book and the messy room

The Berenstains keep a neat and orderly home. (Well, maybe I can’t quite relate to that!)

The Berenstain Bears Page 1

Except for the kids room(Now that I know all about!)

The Berenstain Bears Messy Room

Momma Bear is Fed up with all thier arguing when they’re supposed to be cleaning and ends up cleaning it up herself. She is NOT happy!

Berenstain Bears, Momma Bear Cleaning

Oh boy, isn’t that just a picture of what goes on at our house!lol

Anyway, Momma Bear snaps….(I had to laugh at this!)

Papa Bear hears the commotion all the way outside in his workshop and comes to the rescue and suggests they make boxes to organize thier room.

berenstain bears book

The story ends well, and Momma Bear did not have to be hauled away to the mental hospital! LOL

You may also want to visit my Favorite Things Tuesday! This weeks theme has been “Spring/Summer”. You can blog about your favorite things about Spring and/or Summer and add the link to your post! Also check out Next Weeks Theme!