My husband and I always joke that we wish our children came with a manual! When having a child there is so much to learn, so many things you don't know about, and so many times when I wish I knew where to begin! Our oldest just turned 6 and over the last year 9 months or so, I have really started to work with her on learning how to read. Wow. I wish I had a manual to know how to teach my daughter to read!
I never realized how difficult teaching a child to read would be! She knows her letters and what sound they make, but teaching, successfully teaching, how to put those sounds together and all the crazy "rules" the English language has that are broken constantly, is really difficult!
There were times over the last few months where I have literally felt lost! I had no clue how to teach her certain things, or to get her to understand certain concepts. I naturally turned to friends, family and even online resources to try to find out how to teach your child to read, but the best I got was a list of beginning readers to have her read. Which was great, but I didn't really understand how to teach her that the letters c-a-t spells cat!
I did my best to teach her "rules" as they came up and to teach her how to blend sounds together and that sometimes letters make different sounds, and my sweet daughter has worked really hard to pick it all up! And she was doing well and progressing nicely. But to be honest, nine months ago I did not know about "blends," "slides" or "schwa"'s, I didn't know, really, how to teach her how to read in a proficient, successful manner. I did ok, but I felt like we were flying by the seat of our pants!
I hope I am not the only one who has felt this way!
And then I literally stumbled upon a great program that walks you through, step by step, of how to teach your child how to read: Reading Horizons. It begins with letters and sounds and progresses to putting letters and sounds together to create "blends" and "slides" and continues on to create a comprehensive guide to help those just learning how to read, or those who are struggling to read.
Reading Horizons has an amazing manual to teach your children how to read! It is an auditory, physical, and visual program that reinforces the teachings through repetition, coupled with physical actions to help reinforce the learning in their mind. Then with the additional visual aids and encouragement of written assignments, this program encompasses all three styles of learning: visual, auditory and kinesthetic.
When I had the opportunity to try the Reading Horizons Intensive Phonics Reading Program I was ecstatic!! Like I said, I felt like we were doing ok, but still flying by the seat of our pants! And I was excited to have an actual program, a manual, to use step by step to guide us through the crazy world of learning how to read! Hurray!
When I got the Intensive Phonics Instructor Materials Kit, to be honest, my first feeling was a little overwhelmed. This kit comes with two large books full of content, plus posters, cards, books etc! It is a serious, amazing kit! And thankfully, the minute I opened the first book, I realized that yes, they were big books, but it was only because it contained a wealth of amazing information! A full manual for how to teach my child to read starting from the beginning!
The Intensive Phonics Instructor Materials Kit is designed for ANYONE to use! They can be used in a classroom setting, in the home or even for a homeschooling setting! You can teach your child to read with this program with no additional training needed!
The program is divided into lessons, each lesson is based on a specific purpose and literally walks you through (for example) how to teach the letter, the sound, has the child draw the letter, repeat the letter name and sound and then associates it with words they are familiar with! The program suggests actions to use to reinforce the information and many of the lessons contain additional information on a cd, several practice sheets, book reading as well as information on posters or cards to further the child's understanding of the lesson material!
Each lesson contains a variety of ways to reinforce the lesson from writing to physical motion to singing to nonsense words to practice sheets so every style of learner can learn, comprehend and retain this information!
As the child progresses you teach more complex information like blends, slides, schwa's, punctuation etc. but they are all in nice, simple, easy to teach lessons.
I wish I could more fully express how impressed I am with the Reading Horizons Intensive Phonics program! I am so impressed how comprehensive the kit is and how easy it is to teach! I love that this information and these lesson plans are truly accessible to anyone and anyone can teach their child how to read with this kit!
Now, of course every child will progress at different speeds and some children may need additional help with certain areas, but that is normal, and this program is flexible enough to allow teaching at the speed that works best for the child. It is repetitive, reviews previous information, ties concepts together from lesson to lesson and creates an auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning environment in a classroom setting or a home setting so every child can learn how to read!
I am so happy with the progress my daughter has made since starting this program! We are not done with it yet, but I am happy with how it has reinforced concepts she already knew, given names to concepts I struggled to teach, was comprehensive enough that I knew my child was learning everything she needed to learn to be a successful reader and simple enough that it is not overwhelming nor do I need any special training in order to teach from the manuals!
And I also loved that the Reading Horizons Intensive Phonics kit comes with beginning readers so that everything I need to teach my daughter to read came right in the kit! This means I didn't have to spend time understanding different reading level codes and digging through books at the library to find things suitable for my daughter to read! This kit comes with a cute set of beginning reader suitable for where my daughter is at in her reading skills! And they are fun for kids to read too!
In addition, Reading Horizons offers a lot of free information and service as well, so you can continue to get help along the way! Reading Horizons has a wonderful newsletter that includes a lot of great information! You can sign up for the Reading Horizons newsletter here. In addition, they offer FREE educational webinars each month! You can register for their free educational webinars here.
I can't wait to finish the program with my daughter! I love reading and honestly look forward to having a daughter (and son) who loves reading too! I fully believe that instilling a love of books and reading begins early in life and I personally want my children to love to read! I love that my children beg for "just one more book please" and it honestly makes me thrilled that I've already caught my daughter reading after bedtime. 🙂
If you are looking for a "manual" to help teach your child to read, or if your child is struggling with reading, I highly suggest you look into Reading Horizons program! Their Intensive Phonics kit is perfect for children who are just starting to read or who are struggling to read. We have really enjoyed working with this program in our home with my daughter and am excited to be able to use the program again with my son in a few years! And all I can say is, Finally!! A manual to teach my daughter how to read!!
And the best news is is that I have the privilege of being able to GIVEAWAY (1) Reading Horizons Intensive Phonics reading kit to one lucky Simply Designing follower!!
It's time for you to enter to WIN!!
Valued at $349
This kit comes complete with:
- (1) set of little reader books
- (2) volumes of instructor manuals
- (1) sound essentials manual
- (1) set of reverse listening cards
- (1) poster pack
TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:
- Enter via Rafflecopter below (wait for the box to fully load)
- You will need to sign in with your email or FB (This information is never sold or given away, but I will use it to contact you in case you win!!)
- Remember to click the "enter" button for your entry to count!
- And please leave some comment love below if you'd like 🙂
And I would LOVE it if you followed me via GFC (google friend's connect) on my right side bar...but it's not mandatory 🙂
The giveaway will end September 21, 2012 at 12:01am EST. The winner will be announced on this blog post and will have three days after announcement to claim their prize otherwise I will select a new winner. Winner must be 18 years or older to win and a US Resident with a US mailing address.
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NessaAnn
She looks so much like her momma. I can't believe she is already reading!!! What a big girl.
w
what a great giveaway! thanks for hosting!
Tina
This is awesome!! I love giveaways!