Reading Program: Children Learning Reading

This article is not about whether you should or should not try to teach your baby or child to read. This article is a product review of the Children Learning Reading program to teach a child to read.

Why Did I Use the Children Learning Reading Program? Videos of Baby and Child Reading Teach a Child How to Read What Is the Best Age to Teach a Child to Read? How Much Time Will I Spend on Reading Lessons? What Do You Get with Your Purchase? End Note

If you want to purchase the Children Learning Reading program please click on the image above and "Teach Your Child to Read."

Why Did I Use the Children Learning Reading Program?
My 4 year old has always had an interest in learning. By the end of his 3 year old preschool (he went to preschool 3 times a week for 4 hours a day), he knew all of his alphabet (could pick out the letters even when they were not in alphabetical order), could make most of the alphabet sounds, write every letter of the alphabet, write his name and other words (with spelling assistance), and count to one hundred (with occasional help).

My 4 year old loves doing workbooks with his Nana when she visits. He loves playing memory games, rhyming games, and has a long attention span when it comes to learning activities. For me, it seemed the natural progression to help teach him additional skills so he can read on his own.

Since my 4 year old already knew several of the skills taught at the beginning the Children Learning Reading program, the first week I actually went through Lesson 1 - Lesson 8 to get him started in the program when normally you would only go through Lesson 1 and Lesson 2 in the first week. By the seventh day of doing the program with my son, he started to sound out words on his own. As documented in the videos below, the first day of the program my son could identify the letters in each word but he did not know how to sound out the words. On the first day he quickly recognized the word "cat" but I believe that was from memorization from his baby books but by day 7 he understood the process of trying to sound out a word. We need to practice smooth blending but for his first week, I was very happy with his progress.

For my 21 month old, who is still learning to pronounce words, I started the program to teach her alphabet sounds. I do not plan to really "teach" her to read for awhile but the Children Learning Reading program helps me teach her the proper alphabet sound and start utilizing smooth blending techniques so when she is ready to learn, reading may be easier for her.

Overall, I love the program because it requires very little time (approximately 15 minutes a day) and is just a natural extension to our normal bedtime reading activities.
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Videos of Baby and Child Reading

Teach a Child How to Read
What I like about the Children Learning Reading program is it teaches phonics, phonemic awareness, and smooth blending rather than a memorization technique. The program guide also includes letter sounds via MP3 audio clips to ensure you are teaching the appropriate letter sound. The overall teaching philosophy is a very common sense approach that allows you to easily integrate techniques into your normal schedule to help build a strong foundation to more easily teach your child to read.
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What Is the Best Age to Teach a Child to Read?
There are different studies that have conflicting information as to when your child should learn to read. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, if your child is interested in the following things, your child may be ready to read:

• Interested in learning names of letters
• Likes to look through books and magazines on own
• Likes to write with a pencil or pen
• Listens attentively during story time

According to Cox, most children learn to read and write in kindergarten or first grade, although "the foundation for literacy skills is laid years before children enter school."

I personally feel only you know when your child is ready to read. Many researchers suggest the best way to teach the foundation for reading is to simply read to your child. As your child gains a better understanding of books, understands the letters form words and that you reading the words rather than the pictures you may want to further her understanding and give her the skills to read on her own.

Teaching your child the alphabet, how to write each letter (there is a specific way to write each letter of the alphabet), and the sounds each letter makes also helps establish a reading foundation. I believe the Children Learning Reading program may help you address all of these skills.
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How Much Time Will I Spend on Reading Lessons?
How much time you spend on each lesson is really up to you and your child. The recommended time on the first five to six lessons is less than three minutes per lesson and the program recommends to do one lesson three times a day. As you progress it is recommended to spend about five - seven minutes per lesson and continue to do the lessons about three times a day for a total commitment of 15 minutes a day.

Many parents may not be able to do the lessons more than once a day especially if the children are in an outside care situation. Even for me, I admit most days I was only able to do the official lessons once a day. But you are able to easily incorporate the Children Learning Reading techniques in your day to day interaction with your child whether it is when you are making dinner or helping them get ready for bed. In the end, you will get out of the program the effort you put in. For our family, my four year old enjoyed working with the flash cards before we read his bedtime stories. It is a great way for him to stall before bed and we do not mind spending the extra time increasing his reading foundation.
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What You Get with Your Purchase?
The cost of the Children Learning Reading program is very reasonable. The standard package has an introductory rate of only $37 and the Premium Package is only an additional $22.98 over the standard package. All of the materials will be sent electronically, i.e. no physical books/ handouts. The standard package will require you to make flash cards/ printouts for the lessons. The premium package comes with a pre-set of printouts so all you need to do is select the print button and you can immediately start teaching your child. Please refer to the Children Learning Reading website by clicking on the image at the top of the page.

If you want to purchase the Children Learning Reading program please click on the image above or below and "Teach Your Child to Read."
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End Note
MOMMBY LLC was not paid for this review. MOMMBY LLC did receive a free copy of the Standard Children Learning Reading package to facilitate the review. MOMMBY LLC is also an affiliate with ChildrenLearningReading.com and may earn a commission if you buy the program by clicking on the links at MOMMBY.com. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” Please refer to the MOMMBY Advertising and Link Policy for more information.

MOMMBY LLC does not guarantee that your child will learn to read with the Children Learning Reading program.
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Last updated: August 2012