The White's

Hi all,
Again I am behind on reading of my digests, maybe I should unsubscribe to a
couple...

Anyway, I wanted to say that when my son was 5, almost 6 he learned to read
relatively quickly and easily. I used Ruth Beechick's A Home Start in
Reading (one of her 3 easy books) and the Bob books. I began with his name
and introduced letter sounds from his name, then other words. A few days
later he read the 1st Bob book. He liked feeling masterful of reading as he
was able to read a whole book by himself, all the way through. He would
read 1-3 Bob Books a day from the 1st set (blue box).

He read a book a day in the 2nd set (red box) and began reading other things
like Mercer Mayer's Little Critter Books, etc. By the time we got to the
3rd set (yellow box) we never finished.

Once he began reading confidently I began finding "real" books for him to
read (about 4-5 weeks later). No more "phonics" and never any controlled
readers. He was so excited about reading for himself it was easy to keep
him excited because he loves "real" books. He's now 7 & is reading 3rd-4th
grade level. I know that the most important thing by far is for the child
to be ready. Mine was or I would have waited. If he had trouble or fussed
at the task we would have stopped and waited. But the timing was right for
him & the Bob Books were a great kick-off! I would recommend them to anyone
whose wants to try a relaxed approach to learning to read.

Some of the easy readers he liked were Geoffrey Hayes books (Otto & Uncle
Tooth Adventures) like The Secret of Foghorn Island--I think there are only
4 of these. He liked the Mr. Putter & Tabby books and Henry and Mudge. Now
if my youngest wakes from her nap before we are finished with a chapter in
the Hobbit, or Harry Potter, he picks up the book & continues on his own.

Good luck & enjoy the Bob books!
Cindy