The Reading Lesson: Teach Your Child to Read in 20 Easy Lessons
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-09-21 06:54:59
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Michael Levin
- ISBN：0913063029
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Summary
The Reading Lesson is a bestselling program that teaches young children to read in 20 easy lessons。 It is designed as a step-by-step course for parents who want to teach their young children to read at home。 The teaching method is based on phonics and key-word recognition， and with its innovative and guided approach， the 20 step-by-step lessons provide an easy-to-follow recipe for teaching children to read。 Developed by pediatrician Michael Levin， the program has also been used successfully for children with disabilities。
How do I use the Reading Lesson？
There are twenty lessons in this book。 Each lesson takes about two weeks to complete （with about 15 minutes of study per day）。 Before starting a lesson， we suggest that you read the instructions for that lesson。 Each lesson begins with an introduction and a description of how to proceed。 For example， lesson two introduces the letters “m”， “d”， and “r”。 At the beginning of the lesson， there is an introduction with some words of advice and thoughts on how to go through the sounds of those letters and how to read them in words。
Each lesson consists of words， exercises and short stories。 When reading the words， ask the child to tell you what the word means。 Before you read the story， read the title and talk a little bit about the content of the story。 Approximately 300 key words form the basis of reading skills in this course。 Each lesson introduces a set of key words。 Your child should learn them well before you proceed to the next lesson， since these words are used in later lessons。
For many young readers （including children who are familiar with the alphabet）， the letters in words seem to melt together。 The instructions in Lesson One teach the child basic sound blending。 The special typography and font style the book uses will help your child to identify and separate the letters she already knows。 These bars， dots， and special graphics are there as guides and are used to blend the sounds into words。 This process is called “sounding out”。 At first， blending is difficult for most children。 You will need to help the child but he will get better at it with practice。
How fast should I go through the book？
The length and the pace of the daily lessons will vary with your child's age and abilities。 We suggest the following schedule: For children under five， one page per day will suffice and maintain their concentration on the lesson。 For children between five and six， two to three pages per day will be sufficient。 For children over six， three or more pages per day will be fine。
Children have a very short attention span。 Try to keep each lesson under fifteen minutes， and spend no more than five to seven minutes per page。 If your child is young， don't rush！ Work at a leisurely and comfortable pace。 Remember: you have plenty of time to complete the course and， if necessary， to go back and repeat the course before your child starts reading instruction in school。
How old should my child be when we start the Reading Lesson？
The book is meant for children between the ages of 3 and 8。 We do not suggest that you try to teach a child under the age of three to read。 Contrary to some books that suggest that you can teach infants to read， there is no proof that such a thing is possible。 Children need certain developmental skills before they can read。 Flashing cards with letters and words at a baby is a fun thing to do and makes us feel like good parents， but it does not work！
The Reading Lesson is a totally developmentally appropriate course that is easy to follow， and makes learning to read fun for parents and kids。 The book is an easy and cheap solution to teaching your children to read at home， and has been a success with families all around the world。 Give it a try – you’re sure to love it。
How do I use the Reading Lesson？
There are twenty lessons in this book。 Each lesson takes about two weeks to complete （with about 15 minutes of study per day）。 Before starting a lesson， we suggest that you read the instructions for that lesson。 Each lesson begins with an introduction and a description of how to proceed。 For example， lesson two introduces the letters “m”， “d”， and “r”。 At the beginning of the lesson， there is an introduction with some words of advice and thoughts on how to go through the sounds of those letters and how to read them in words。
Each lesson consists of words， exercises and short stories。 When reading the words， ask the child to tell you what the word means。 Before you read the story， read the title and talk a little bit about the content of the story。 Approximately 300 key words form the basis of reading skills in this course。 Each lesson introduces a set of key words。 Your child should learn them well before you proceed to the next lesson， since these words are used in later lessons。
For many young readers （including children who are familiar with the alphabet）， the letters in words seem to melt together。 The instructions in Lesson One teach the child basic sound blending。 The special typography and font style the book uses will help your child to identify and separate the letters she already knows。 These bars， dots， and special graphics are there as guides and are used to blend the sounds into words。 This process is called “sounding out”。 At first， blending is difficult for most children。 You will need to help the child but he will get better at it with practice。
How fast should I go through the book？
The length and the pace of the daily lessons will vary with your child's age and abilities。 We suggest the following schedule: For children under five， one page per day will suffice and maintain their concentration on the lesson。 For children between five and six， two to three pages per day will be sufficient。 For children over six， three or more pages per day will be fine。
Children have a very short attention span。 Try to keep each lesson under fifteen minutes， and spend no more than five to seven minutes per page。 If your child is young， don't rush！ Work at a leisurely and comfortable pace。 Remember: you have plenty of time to complete the course and， if necessary， to go back and repeat the course before your child starts reading instruction in school。
How old should my child be when we start the Reading Lesson？
The book is meant for children between the ages of 3 and 8。 We do not suggest that you try to teach a child under the age of three to read。 Contrary to some books that suggest that you can teach infants to read， there is no proof that such a thing is possible。 Children need certain developmental skills before they can read。 Flashing cards with letters and words at a baby is a fun thing to do and makes us feel like good parents， but it does not work！
The Reading Lesson is a totally developmentally appropriate course that is easy to follow， and makes learning to read fun for parents and kids。 The book is an easy and cheap solution to teaching your children to read at home， and has been a success with families all around the world。 Give it a try – you’re sure to love it。
Reviews
Joy
，
First off， the title is a lie。 "Each lesson will take two weeks。" Let's see。。。 20x14=280。 So， "20 easy lessons" easily becomes 200+ lessons。。。 Then， words taught as "sight words" in later lessons are not and should and can be sounded out。 Also， I hate the caveman sentences。 "tall man fast。 meg sad。 dad mad at tom。" They just sound so insulting to a child's intelligence。 I know I'm biased toward 100 Easy Lessons。 I can't help but compare the two。 I'm sure this book has helped some （"Everybody has First off， the title is a lie。 "Each lesson will take two weeks。" Let's see。。。 20x14=280。 So， "20 easy lessons" easily becomes 200+ lessons。。。 Then， words taught as "sight words" in later lessons are not and should and can be sounded out。 Also， I hate the caveman sentences。 "tall man fast。 meg sad。 dad mad at tom。" They just sound so insulting to a child's intelligence。 I know I'm biased toward 100 Easy Lessons。 I can't help but compare the two。 I'm sure this book has helped some （"Everybody has there level。。。"）， but I found this book to be a very cheap imitation of 100 Easy Lessons。 To be completely fair， I liked how letter activities/ worksheets are included in the lessons。 The pictures are cute。 Could you teach your child to read with this book？ Obviously， you can。 For context， I am a homeschooling mother of 11 and we have used 100 Easy Lessons for the majority of them。Editing to add: After reconsidering， my main objection is with the title。 If I saw this book sitting on a shelf next to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons， I would possibly pick up this book thinking my child could be taught to read in 20 lessons， but that isn't really the case。 It's just deceptive， in my opinion。 。。。more
Nathan Albright
，
This book was， admittedly， a book that I was somewhat disappointed in and that had at least some elements of it that I could approve of。 On the one hand， the book adopts mostly a very basic phonics approach to reading， and uses various aids to make it easier for the reader to pronounce words that are being taught， but on the other hand there is a lot of emphasis on see and spell teaching of words， especially animals， that are far above the level of difficulty in the actual words being taught pho This book was， admittedly， a book that I was somewhat disappointed in and that had at least some elements of it that I could approve of。 On the one hand， the book adopts mostly a very basic phonics approach to reading， and uses various aids to make it easier for the reader to pronounce words that are being taught， but on the other hand there is a lot of emphasis on see and spell teaching of words， especially animals， that are far above the level of difficulty in the actual words being taught phonetically。 On the one hand， the authors provide a look at family that includes a father， mother， brother， sister， as well as a pet dog and a pet cat， but on the other hand the book occasionally contains content that is quite alarming to hear coming from a small child， including a great many bossy commands and the query "Will you kiss me？" This particular book was published twenty years ago， and so it avoids the worst of contemporary moral tendencies and shows people reading books and not using a great many cell phones and other technology that was not as widely available to small children in 2000， but it certainly demonstrates a coarsening trend when it comes to the sort of language that we teach children to read and say that is less than ideal。In terms of its contents， this book contains 20 chapters， each of which is a lesson in a few sounds。 In this book， the following sounds are explored: c， o， s， a， t （1）， m， d， r （2）， g， e， th （3）， n， i， f （4）， u， b， h （5）， e， ee， ea， l， p （6）， a， sh， w （7）， i， st （8）， ar， k （9）， er， ir， ur （10）， y， oo （11）， a， ai， ay， wh （12）， o， oa， ow （13）， ch， j， u （14）， v， y （15）， x， z （16）， qu， ing （17）， ou， ow， th （18）， ew， igh （19）， and c， g， ph （20）。 Each of the chapters uses various alphabet sounds based on animals and other items， and uses matching， connecting words and pictures， basic rhymes， all lowercase letters and frequently fragmented and rather rudely phrased sentences to repeat。 Later chapters move beyond one-syllable words to look at words of two syllables and sometimes include basic stories to teach how to use a group of sounds。 Moreover， each of the lessons of this book provide a discussion at the beginning about the lesson that is being taught and how it is approached that is a page long and easy enough for the teacher of this book to read and understand。 The issue is that the book has some rough spots and the mixture of phonics and see and spell is certainly an uncomfortable one， although the book makes it clear why it is that so many children seem to know animals well because such words are among the earliest that are taught to young readers。 。。。more
Jill
，
It really works！ Really grateful to have found this resource to teach my child to read。 We just did 3 pages daily and slowly worked our way through the book。 The only （very minor） issue I have is that the book is based on American pronunciation so I had to tell my child to ignore the book when it came to pronouncing words like “fast” and just listen to Mummy。 Something to note if you follow the British pronunciation。
Rebekah Guiliano
，
Just finished again with my 3rd child。 I absolutely adore this book！ For under 20 dollars， you CAN teach your child to read。 We've finished this book in a month， a year， and and a year and a half。 It's worked for my very different learners and I so highly recommend this for any homeschooling parent。 Just finished again with my 3rd child。 I absolutely adore this book！ For under 20 dollars， you CAN teach your child to read。 We've finished this book in a month， a year， and and a year and a half。 It's worked for my very different learners and I so highly recommend this for any homeschooling parent。 。。。more
Heather Simmons
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Short， achievable lessons that my kid enjoyed。 Combined with several different reading programs like Usbourne beginning readers， my son learned to read at age 5。
Brian Zimba
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Brittany
，
This is a really great resource for learning to read that I plan to use with all of my children。 There are other resources that can be ordered to go with this， but I did not find them to be necessary as I made my own。 I used this with my kindergarten child， but I plan to start it next year with my 4 year old if she seems ready。 This is similar to the 100 Easy Lessons book which I used with one of my older children。 My five year old was literally reading almost instantly。 It gave five letters at This is a really great resource for learning to read that I plan to use with all of my children。 There are other resources that can be ordered to go with this， but I did not find them to be necessary as I made my own。 I used this with my kindergarten child， but I plan to start it next year with my 4 year old if she seems ready。 This is similar to the 100 Easy Lessons book which I used with one of my older children。 My five year old was literally reading almost instantly。 It gave five letters at first and showed him how to blend sounds together （consonants with vowels）， etc。 So he was reading "cat， at， sat" and others by the first few pages。 We are not all the way through it yet， but it has been a very helpful for speedy learning。 I just bought a word wall for him， so he can see his progress！ 。。。more
Jamie
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I started using this book when our daughter was 4 years old。 She really enjoyed the lessons and truly picked up reading faster than I would have expected。 I highly recommend this book if you want a good understanding of phonics and a great start to reading。
Jerilynn
，
good teaching children to read book。 I haven't finished it yet。 good teaching children to read book。 I haven't finished it yet。 。。。more
Anne
，
I cannot say enough about this book， it is amazing！！！ I was really struggling with helping my daughter learn how to read， I had no clue how to actually go about it。 This book has helped a ton！ I would recommend this book to anyone who is trying to help a child learn to read。 I wish I had discovered it when she was in Kindergarten（or earlier）， but it has still helped a ton for first grade reading， and it has helped her catch up to her grade level （she fell behind last year because I was sick， and I cannot say enough about this book， it is amazing！！！ I was really struggling with helping my daughter learn how to read， I had no clue how to actually go about it。 This book has helped a ton！ I would recommend this book to anyone who is trying to help a child learn to read。 I wish I had discovered it when she was in Kindergarten（or earlier）， but it has still helped a ton for first grade reading， and it has helped her catch up to her grade level （she fell behind last year because I was sick， and wasn't helping her read） and now her teacher says she is above grade level。 It is a big book。。。we started reading through it in September and we are only on lesson 13 out of 20 （we spend about 10 minutes a day， 5 days a week。。。the other 10 minutes a day we spend reading books that are sent home from school。） 。。。more
Maryann
，
Out of all the books on teaching your kids to read， I like this one the most。 I'm not a fan of using pictures to help learn the letter sounds （adding more steps to readily recognizing the sounds） or using worksheets （only because it becomes expensive as you progress through 5 kids）。 I think I will give this method a try， adapting to my preferences as I go along。 Out of all the books on teaching your kids to read， I like this one the most。 I'm not a fan of using pictures to help learn the letter sounds （adding more steps to readily recognizing the sounds） or using worksheets （only because it becomes expensive as you progress through 5 kids）。 I think I will give this method a try， adapting to my preferences as I go along。 。。。more
Amanda
，
Great simple teaching tool。 Caden is always proud of his reading accomplishments。 Easy to stop whenever he has had enough。 Love the book！
Stephen
，
Matthew says he likes reading the letters and making the sounds。
Kursten
，
Great combination of phonics and whole language。 Hunter actually asks for this book。 I think it is a simple and fun way to teach reading。
Jen
，
Totally love this book。 Perfect for my 5 year old。 Goes well with Explode the Code stuff， too， if you want more writing， or use it with a younger child who is ready to read but struggles with writing。
Catherine
，
I love this book。 It is fun and easy to use。 My daughter started when she turned four and is now reading chapter books easily at six and we have started our son on them too。 The lessons are simple and you can do as much or as little as you want at a time。 The kids love that they can learn to read stories so quickly， because the layout of the book means they are reading stories by the end of the first chapter。 I also bought the CD so I could print multiple pages， along with their other CD's and D I love this book。 It is fun and easy to use。 My daughter started when she turned four and is now reading chapter books easily at six and we have started our son on them too。 The lessons are simple and you can do as much or as little as you want at a time。 The kids love that they can learn to read stories so quickly， because the layout of the book means they are reading stories by the end of the first chapter。 I also bought the CD so I could print multiple pages， along with their other CD's and DVD's， but the basic Reading Lesson book is the best。 。。。more
Jillybean
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