Book Review—Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons Review

by Mary Follin

Many parents have considered using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons to teach their children to read. And with good reason; this book offers a fairly solid approach to teaching reading. Many families have used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons—written by Siegfried Englemann and Phyllis Haddox and published in 1986—to successfully teach their children to read.

In this article, we will discuss the pros and cons of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  Once you've read the pros and cons, keep reading to find out if Teach Your Child to Read™ might be a better fit for you.

So let's get started! First, we'll talk about what you might like about Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

4 'Pros' of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

1) Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons takes a phonics-based approach to teaching reading. Science tells us that phonics is the best way for most children to learn to read, so as a parent, you will want to start your child off with phonics. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons organizes lessons in a linear fashion, which is critical for a direct instruction, phonics-based method of teaching reading. Simply put, your child will start with the basics and build from there. 

2) By using a book, you're able to avoid the computer altogether. A lot of parents are concerned about how much time children are spending in front of screens—learning, playing games, and watching TV—and understandably so. Many parents who are opting to use print materials for teaching are pretty excited to find a tool that doesn't require planting their children in front of a computer.

3) Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons presents the process of teaching reading with fairly clear instructions. Step-by-step, you're able to develop a non-reader into a reader by following what the book tells you to do.

4) A lot of parents like the idea of using methodologies that stand the test of time. Perhaps your parents taught YOU to read with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Like music and literature, when something persists for over 35 years, you can probably count on it delivering what it promises.
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So if you are considering using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons to teach YOUR child to read, you might be happy with this book. That said, there are some key ingredients missing; read below to find out what's NOT in the book!

4 'Cons' of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

Why Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons Might Not Be Right for You

Although Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is a decent approach to teaching a child how to read, for some families, this book may pose a few challenges:

1) The presentation is a little dry. The narrative relies on an academic style of teaching that was more commonly used in the 1980's. Today, people expect a more engaging experience from their learning tools. Plus, there's more information in this book than you actually need to teach your child to read using phonics. That said, if you have a background in education, you will probably appreciate the depth of knowledge this book shares with its readers about phonics. 

2) It's up to you, the parent, to figure out how to creatively present lessons to your child. If you make learning too rote, you might find your child begins to shut down each time you open the book. So what would this involve? Getting out colored markers, cardboard for cards, picture cut-outs from magazines to create stories, and a tremendous imagination! For some busy families, this may be too much of a time commitment.

3) Phonics is a sound-based approach to teaching reading, so it's critical you know how to pronounce all the sounds of the alphabet correctly. Since Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons doesn't have an audio component, you will be on your own figuring that out. If at this point you're thinking: "There's no way I can figure out how to do this," you may want to go with a program that pronounces the sounds for you. That said, everybody reads phonetically, even if they weren't taught phonics as a child. If you are good at 'reverse engineering' things, it might be a fun challenge for you to figure out how to correctly pronounce the sounds so your child can learn them.
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4) Can’t sit still. Short attention span. Easily distracted. Who does that sound like? If your answer was “Me!” fair enough. But chances are, your child is a bit like that, too. If your child is between the ages of 3 and 6, the lessons in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons may simply be too long. At 20 minutes-a-day, you may be challenged to get your child to sit still long enough. And how about you? Do you have 20 minutes each day to dedicate to teaching your child to read? If you don't—AND your child has a short attention span--Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons might not be the right book for you.

ASK MOM: I can't stop worrying!

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Try a New Approach with Teach Your Child to Read™

Assuming responsibility for teaching a child to read can be daunting for many parents. While some take to it right away, others lack confidence and continually ask themselves: "Can I really do this?" 

To add more stress to those feelings of uncertainty, parents are up against obstacles never experienced before. Classrooms are overcrowded, and many teachers do not have the resources to give each child the individual attention he or she deserves. On top of that, a global pandemic caused a disruption in learning that many children are still trying to catch up on. 

What does this mean for your child? If you are the parent of a kindergartener or first grader, these disruptive times happen to coincide with a highly favorable window for teaching your child to read. This is where the unique features of Teach Your Child to Read™ come in. 

Learn more about Teach Your Child to Read™

How is Teach Your Child to Read™ Different from 'Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons'?

1) Like Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, our program is a purely phonics-based approach to teaching reading. Simply put, your child learns the 'code' of the English language, which enables her to then sound out almost any word she might come across. In multiple studies, science has shown us that phonics is the best way to teach a child to read. (For a really, really great story about a school that adopted a systematic, phonics-based approach to good effect, read this.) Fortunately, phonics is also the easiest way to teach reading. Phonics takes a linear approach to building the foundational skills that develop a child into an independent reader. If you've never taught anyone to read before, you will find a phonics-based approach to be simple and straightforward for you. 

Although Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and Teach Your Child to Read™ are both phonics-based, you can't learn how to pronounce the sounds of the letters by using a book. You will need a degree of knowledge about phonics (or a resident expert you can ask) if you are going to learn how to teach reading from a paperback. Teach Your Child to Read™ has an audio component that not only pronounces the sounds for you, it will also guide you through each lesson.

2) When you're learning something new, isn't it nice to have someone demonstrate each lesson for you? Just to make sure you've got the presentation right? In the upper-left corner of each STEP in Teach Your Child to Read™, you can click on the cartoon laptop to see an animated presentation of how to teach the lesson, something you can't do with a paperback.

WATCH: Demonstration of how to teach STEP 1 ​to your child
Sample lessons are included with each step

3) Early on, Teach Your Child to Read™ made a commitment to the wellbeing of your child, which is why the program was designed for you and your child to do together, preferably with your child on your lap. In today's busy world, children don't get enough one-on-one time with their parents. Wouldn't it be nice to have 5 minutes built into your schedule every day for you and your child to spend together? Many of the programs on today's market are designed for children to sit in front of a screen and passively learn from some form of entertainment—videos, games, cartoons. Alternatively, the interactive nature of our program creates a bond between the two of you and encourages your child to play an active role in his ability to learn new concepts. Besides, when you take the time to teach your child to read, you send the message that learning to read is important to you. Your child will never forget the time you spent together helping him learn this important skill.

4) The lessons in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons are 20 minutes in length, which isn't horrible. But honestly, do you have 20 minutes every day to spend on this? Does your child? In an ideal world, maybe. But in the real world, 20 minutes is tough to carve out. We feel the maximum amount of time you should spend on teaching a 3-6 year old child to read is 5 minutes-a-day, which is why we designed our lessons to be completed in very short periods of time. While some of the lessons take 5 minutes, many are even shorter.

5) How much do you really need to know to teach your child to read? Some disciplines would lead you to believe you need to know quite a bit, including Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. But we don't! We've stripped out what you DON'T need to know, so you can get straight to the lessons and develop your child into a reader fast. In fact, your child can actually learn to read in 6 STEPS. We think you will find our approach the easiest one to use, and the easiest one for your child to learn. Within minutes of logging in for the first time, you will be ready to get started on STEP 1, lesson 1.

​While we do feel Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons is a fine way to go, we invite you to consider Teach Your Child to Read™. Our program takes a step-by-step approach to teaching phonics, and lessons are only 5 minutes-a-day, rather than 20. Plus, you won't have to wait until lesson 100 to see results! The instructions are easier and more straightforward, and the audio component pronounces the sounds for you. And screen time? Minimal. Since lessons are 5 minutes or less, you can actually do your lessons standing up—or even on the go. Plus, once your child progresses in his or her reading skills, Teach Your Child to Read™ includes 10 e-storybooks for your new reader to enjoy. ​​​

Teach YOUR Child to Read with Phonics in 6 Easy Steps

Online Phonics Program for Kids Ages 3-6

VIDEO: How it Works 

Teach Your Child to Read™ is a 6-STEP online phonics program that makes teaching reading easy for you and fun for your child.

Rather than teaching your child 'textbook' style as in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, you will be presenting reading concepts in short 'micro lessons' that bring reading skills alive!

Learn more about Teach Your Child to Read™

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