My Review of Reading Made Easy

I have had it on my heart to give my own personal reveiws on the different things we use for school so as to maybe help out some other fellow home schooler. That's how I came about choosing the things we have now, so it's only right that I do the same in return.





The first thing I've chosen is Reading Made Easy by Valerie Bendt.





From a very early age I knew I wanted to be a teacher, but my biggest fear was teaching children to read. I always planned on teaching 2nd or 3rd grade so I wouldn't have that burden. I just simply could NOT imagine teaching something as complicated as reading. I didn't have a CLUE how to do that! Never mind that somehow I myself had learned, along with millions of other school kids, so there MUST be a way to do it!





Little did I know that in fact I would one day be a teacher, but not in the way I had always invisioned. Needless to say, when it came time to find a way to teach my children to read, I was a bit scared. I needed something that was already proven and not too difficult, because I already doubted myself big time. I read message boards and curriculum review boards, I asked questions, questions, and more questions.





The one book that seemed to come up repeatedly on the Five In A Row message boards (where I am a frequent visitor and poster) was Reading Made Easy. (The Lamberts now even endorse RME and have a link to it on their website). So, after reading everything I could about it, I ordered it, praying it would be what worked for our family.





Guess what? It has worked, and worked beautifully! I can't imagine using anything else. It is written in such an easy way and in fact, everything the parent/teacher is supposed to say is written right there for you. The sounds/blends etc. that are learned are constantly repeated while also learning new things and each lesson has a little something for the student to read using what they just learned so they really feel like they're reading, which they are! There are extra activities that are suggested, such as making a 'Sight Word Worm' to keep all their sight words in view, but we've not done any of the extra's and it still has worked beautifully for us.





Our RME lessons take us about 5 minutes a day and that's it. It is suggested to do three lessons per week with having a day of review in between, and at first we did do that, but now we don't even need to. We just do a new lesson each day because they are getting it so well. There are 108 lessons and our 6-year-old is on lesson 96 and our 5-year-old is on lesson 70. Our 6-year-old really doesn't even need to finish the last 12 lessons, but just for the sake of saying he finished it, we press on. But I don't even have to tell him any new sounds, he says them before I can even get it out of my mouth! LOL.





Both boys are reading on their own, besides just what they read with RME. It is the most beautiful sound I've ever heard and my heart just sings when I hear them in their room reading outloud (on their own) 'I do not like them here or there. I do not like them anywhere'.





And guess what? It has been the easiest thing I've done with them! It truly, truly is... Reading Made Easy!