Reading Made Easy
Reading Made Easy is an easy-to-follow manual for teaching reading written by seasoned teacher Valerie Bendt. It includes 108 fully-scripted lessons that each take about 30 minutes to complete. The author recommends covering 3 lessons each week, with review between lessons.
This plan will allow a child to finish this phonics program in a typical school year consisting of 36 weeks. However, the author firmly emphasizes the necessity of pacing the program as needed to help your child be successful.
Original Stories and Poems
Original stories and poems are provided as reading material as you progress through the manual. The author uses symbols to designate various sounds, such as short and long vowels and silent letters. She introduces sight words at an earlier level than in other reading programs, so the child can read more interesting passages.
Beginning English Grammar Concepts
The lessons include a gentle introduction to the use of capital letters, periods, commas, questions marks, quotation marks, and exclamation marks. The child watches the teacher copy a sentence from the story onto index cards, writing one word per card.
The teacher points out capitalization, punctuation, and phonics clues and then mixes the cards up. The student then puts the words back in the correct order and copies the sentence. The copywork is optional for students who might not be ready for a lot of handwriting. In this way, without placing a heavy emphasis on grammar, the child learns more advanced concepts in a very natural and easy fashion.
Simple and Fun Games
Some lessons incorporate simple games like “Sight Word Bingo” and “Sight Word Worms.” Other lessons include simple drawings that relate to the story. Children trace or draw their own picture from the model and write or dictate a sentence about the picture. Gradually, children “write” their own stories (by dictating them to the parent) and practice reading these stories.
A Heartfelt Conclusion
Reading Made Easy concludes with Valerie Bendt’s, twelve-chapter short story, “Gideon’s Gift.” This heartfelt story emphasizes the joy of reading and writing, while stressing finding our God-given gifts and giving God the glory in all situations. Each chapter’s suspenseful conclusion urges the child on to the next lesson. This beautifully written account exposes the child to vocabulary not normally used in today’s books for children. Cathy Pierce – Children’s Librarian
You can view a sample here.
- Note: If your child can write, you will enjoy the Student Activity Books! This is another way to reinforce the phonics lesson that gets the whole body involved with the memory work. And a bonus for the parent is that this is something that your child can do independently!
You can buy a set of 4 workbooks here.
