Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (TYCTR) is a wonderful curriculum for teaching young children to read. We have also heard that it is sometimes used to teach reading to adults who are learning English as a second language or are coming from a low-literacy background. We stumbled upon it by chance when my mom happened to read about it and decided to give us a copy. Overall, we have had a great experience with it and find it to be very effective! I wrote more about our overall experience with the book so far here.
In this post, I want to cover some of the less-than-ideal experiences we had with our three-year-old while we’ve been teaching him to read using this book and strategies we used to respond to those challenges. Some are specific to this program, but most are just side effects of trying to get a little one to focus on anything, period! We will give some specific tips that helped us, but the biggest thing to remember is attitude–none of these strategies will work unless you’re keeping the reading experience light-hearted and positive.
Attention Span / Distractions
This one isn’t surprising at all… three year olds have short attention spans. Lucky for us, T seems to have a pretty impressive attention span for his age, but it’s still a challenge. Failing attention is what has turned many of these 20-minute lessons into upwards of an hour. When a child’s attention is failing, there are two general approaches to take: 1) use focus strategies, or 2) take a break.
Focus Strategies
Use a stopwatch. This has been working magic for us! T loves to see how long it takes him to read a set of lines or words. We will even set goals to beat, like, “Let’s see if you can read these three lines in two minutes!” It helps gamify reading the stories and keeps him focused and motivated. He loves to push the green button on my apple watch to start the stopwatch.
Invite your child’s stuffed animals or toys to read with your child or watch him read (Disclaimer: we found that this works about half the time for us, and the other half it is actually more distracting)
Ensure that your time and environment are not hindering focus: choose a time/place away from other family members and distractions like toys, TV, etc. We do our lessons at the kitchen table, which is usually great, but occasionally something so small as Dad coming in to get a snack can make T lose his train of thought.
Use a sheet of paper to cover up the rest of the page or reading passage. We found that T often gets distracted by seeing words/sounds on the other side of the page and has to tell us all about them while we we’re trying to get him to focus on the task at hand. Covering them up helps a lot.
Switch things up. Sometimes a simple change of scenery or routine makes a huge difference and adds some variety. For example, we’ll occasionally do the lesson on my bed instead of at the table, or we’ll do a list of sounds/words backward.
Take a break
Rather than fighting to get your child to regain focus, sometimes it’s better to just give them a couple minutes to get their wiggles out. We will often take a two minute break to get a drink, eat a snack, jump on the trampoline, or play before we jump back in. This usually makes a big difference.
Some days, the attention span is just GONE and/or the parent is losing patience. These are the times it might be good to take a longer break and finish the lesson later in the day or just wait until the next day. You may need to backtrack a little, but that’s way better than losing your cool and allowing your child to get upset and associate reading with negative emotions.
Motivation
We want our kids to be intrinsically motivated to learn, but rewards definitely have their place. This is true at any age, but especially for littles. We’re asking a lot of them! So sometimes some deliberate motivation programs can be helpful. This includes praise and rewards. Here’s what’s been working for us.
Praise
Praise your child. Use specific compliments like, “You’ve been working so hard to learn that sound!” or, “Wow, you have been focusing really well today!”
Praise publicly. Take opportunities to praise your child to others, such as a grandparent. Make sure your little one hears you! “I love watching T learn to read. He’s making great progress with sounding out words!”
Rewards
Use a progress chart. This can be as simple as a 10×10 grid like the one you find in the TYC book, or you can use a chart like this. Just find a way to visually convey to your child how much progress they’ve made! This is also a great way to help your child understand what is required to meet a benchmark and help them work toward a specific reward.
Small rewards every day/lesson. For us, this varies. But generally, we let T play on the tablet for a bit after he finishes a lesson (or half a lesson if that’s how the day’s going). We also frequently let him choose a piece of candy if he’s been working hard that day.
Larger rewards every 5 lessons (or however many suits your needs). We told T at the beginning of the program that he had two choices each time he completed 5 lessons. He could either pick out a donut at the grocery store (which we buy at night because they’re discounted!) or pick out a toy at the dollar store (which always ends up being a car/truck). He looks forward to these so much, and we like that it works out to being a reward about once a week (and is super cheap!).
BIG reward when he/she hits 50 lessons (or some other significant benchmark). We let T pick out a bigger, nicer hot wheels truck from a different store. He was so excited about it and felt so accomplished.
For a child who is really struggling with focus or motivation, smaller, more frequent rewards might be necessary. On hard days, we have gotten out a lollipop and let T lick it once after every word he read successfully – works wonders!
Discouragement / Frustration
I really feel for the littles on this one. I can relate to the feeling of working so hard at something and suppressing the absolute rage that accompanies repeated failure, criticism, or setbacks. We know how hard this can be to handle, so let’s do our best to be supportive and patient when our kids feel this way.
Giving Correction
Always mix correction with praise and enthusiasm. Soften the blow however works best for your child. They need to be corrected sometimes, but they also need to feel that correction isn’t a big deal or a negative thing.
Sometimes T handles correction really well, but other times he melts into a puddle of sadness, no matter how nicely I do it. It’s best to correct at the moment of error (and the book gives tips about how to do this effectively), but sometimes a kid’s mood may indicate that you should delay correction for a more appropriate moment, or in some cases, just withhold it and correct it another day if the mistake recurs.
Choose wording that your child responds well to. The book has helpful scripts, but you can always adjust to fit your needs. Some phrases we use are “Can you say that one again?” “I couldn’t hear that word- can you read it for me again?” “Close! Let’s sound this one out together.” “Do you want help on that one or do you want to sound it out yourself?” “That one’s tricky! Let’s try it again.”
While correction is essential to build a strong reading foundation, I have found that there is no need to worry about your child mastering a particular exercise/task the first (or even second and third!) time around, so there’s no need to press it to the point of frustration. The structure of the TYC course includes a lot of repetition over multiple lessons and many chances to practice, master, and apply skills. I can recall no instance in which a new skill had to be mastered in one lesson in order to succeed in subsequent lessons. There’s also a lot of value to letting the concept sink in and process while your child sleeps. So give yourself and your kid a break and wait a few days before you start to drill something.
Help Them See their Progress
Show your child words they can now read in picture books, etc. This is a great way to let your child see how far they’ve come and the fruits of working hard and sticking with it!
Refer back to their progress/sticker chart. Help them see how much they’ve already accomplished! (Warning: stay away from this if your child is really discouraged, because they might see the proverbial glass half empty instead of half full.)
Remind them that at the beginning of their lessons, they probably didn’t know how to read any words at all! Consider flipping back to the beginning of the book to show them what they used to find challenging and remind them that they overcame that obstacle and can continue to accomplish difficult things.
Some Specific Issues We Ran Into
Guessing Words
This one is so incredibly frustrating. Mistakes are easy to correct compared to this. T went through a short phase of guessing/assuming words a lot, but he does it only occasionally now. I guess that’s a natural side effect of starting to read faster and learn sight words rather than sounding out every little thing. I found that a lot of reminders, combined with prompts to “keep your eyes on the page” and “use your finger to point to the word you’re reading” were helpful.
Whether the child is guessing or just making an error, one dialogue that has worked for us is: “I didn’t see mmmmm in that word. What sound is this? [point to the sound] … Yes! Now read the word again.” You can also just underline the word with your finger to hint that they need to try it again, rather than correcting vocally. I think it can also help to kindly reassure your child that it’s okay to slow down, sound it out, or ask for help if they’re not sure about a word, rather than guessing.
Going Painfully Slow
Here, I am not talking about when a child is struggling to figure something out and needs time to think. I am referring to when a child, for whatever reason, is just dragging their feet and taking what feels like minutes between word, sound, or task. You can usually tell when it’s just a behavior rather than when your child is having a hard time with a skill. If you’re a busy parent with limited time to knock out a lesson, this one might grind at your gears like it does to me.
Since T is usually motivated to learn and finish his lessons, sometimes I will tell him something along the lines of, “Look, T. I have other things I would like to get done while E is napping, so if you’re not ready to focus and get this done, I’m going to go do XYZ right now and we can do this later.” Usually he’ll say, “I want to do it!” and his speed and focus pick up significantly. This wouldn’t work on every child, but it works great for us.
Another thing I’ve found is that sometimes validation that he read the previous word correctly helps him move on faster to the next word. Simple words like, “good” or “right” can do the trick, but I found it more effective to repeat the word he just read. This assures him that he did it correctly and can move on, but it’s also a great way to give him opportunities to hear proper pronunciation.
Refusing to Do a Task
There are tons of ways to handle this one, but as a parent, you’re most equipped to predict what will work best for your child. One phrase that worked for us was, “Okay, we can come back to this after the next task.” Make sure your child agrees to this arrangement before you move on. Usually this doesn’t upset the flow of the lesson too much.
Like mentioned before, we’re not above bribery. I will offer a tiny reward (such as a lollipop lick) after small accomplishments, such as every word T reads in a task that he doesn’t want to do.
Rhyming
At first, the concept of a “starting sound” and a “rhyming sound” didn’t click. This was an instance that we ad-libbed the instructions sometimes to help the idea sink in, plus lots and lots of practice. This is one that seems to be easier to show by example than to explain. If they see you doing the exercise, they’re more likely to comprehend what you’re asking them to do.
Reading the Fast Way (Sound it out in your head)
Most of the time, I feel that the suggested wording/script is really effective and following it (more or less) helps me avoid common pitfalls in poor explanations. However, when reading words rather than sounding them out was introduced, I quickly found that this was one instance that using my own wording was more effective. The book suggests phrases like, “Sound it out to yourself before you say it out loud” and “You figure out the word. But don’t say anything out loud until I tell you to read it fast.” T couldn’t figure out how to sound things out silently at first, until I realized that the concept of doing something “out loud” or “in your head” didn’t quite click yet. So I started saying things like, “Keep your mouth closed while you figure out the word, then say it once you know the word.” Whether it was the changes I made, or just practice, I don’t know. But within a few lessons, he was proficient at this skill!
Reading Long Passages
When passages started getting longer (more than a short sentence), T started to resist a bit. I knew it wasn’t because the words themselves were too challenging because he could read individual words just fine. I quickly realized that the long passages felt intimidating and time-consuming to him, even though he was completely able to read them. I started to use a sheet of construction paper to underline the line we were on and hide the rest of the story. It really helped prevent overwhelm and intimidation from looking at a long passage all at once.
Other times, his attention span and willingness really has been pushed to its limit and it’s time to take a break. We will stop before the story, midway through it, or after he’s read through it the first time. We just pick up where we left off when we come back to it and everyone is a lot happier that way.
To Summarize
Attitude is everything! Kids pick up on your mood and tone so easily and will reflect your frustrations back at you.
The script works!… except when it doesn’t. Change the script, your strategies, and your routine as you see fit and as your child develops.
Don’t be afraid to take a break.
Find meaningful ways to recognize, praise, and reward your child’s progress in small and large ways.
We hit a big milestone this week with T! He is officially halfway done with TYCTR (more details on the book here)! Here’s how it’s been going.
For the first 10 lessons or so, the book took some getting used to. In the very beginning, it focuses on practicing some basic skills that are fundamentally important for mastering the rest of the lessons. We had some resistance with learning some of these basic skills. For example, it asks the adult to say a word very slowly, and the child needs to say the same word fast. I might say: “mmmmmmmaaaaaaatttttttt” and T needs to respond, “mat”. But once he got the hang of little skills like this, he started cruising along!
From about lesson 10-40, things went smoothly most of the time. We were so impressed by T’s intrinsic motivation and his love for learning. For the most part, he was willing to do the lessons almost every day and even asked us to teach him the lessons a lot of the days. Our biggest hurdle in this phase was keeping his focus as the lessons got a little bit longer and more involved. During these struggle periods, T would get resistant and frustrated sometimes when a lesson would start to drag on a little bit or if he ran into a task that was a little challenging or less intuitive for him. I wrote a post about how we’ve dealt with setbacks like this. Find it here.Another recurring issue was occasionally guessing words instead of sounding them out, which we just had to keep reminding him not to do until he (mostly) broke the habit.
Here are some tasks that he found frustrating at first, but then conquered just like everything else:
rhyming tasks. These tasks are great for teaching kids to hear sound patterns in word families, but it’s an abstract concept at first, especially since the entire word isn’t written out for the child to sound out. For T, I think he didn’t always comprehend what I was asking him to do in these sections. But with some practice, he got it! And this skill has been really helpful later on in the book, especially when introducing irregular words.
reading a word fast without reading it slow first (sounding it out silently). T was becoming a champion at sounding things out vocally, but learning to do this in his head caused some significant resistance and confusion at first. For this, we found that practice and small adjustments to the script were helpful: “ Keep your mouth closed while you figure out the word.”
having to read longer stories twice. After going through all the work to get through a lengthy passage, T inevitably gets upset when I ask him to do it again (for speed and reading comprehension). We’ve found that taking a break at this point is usually helpful.
From about lesson 40-50, our pace slowed down a lot. It started taking us a couple days to get through each lesson, and T’s excitement to sit down and work on a lesson waned significantly. I think this is largely because the stories got quite a bit longer around this point – up to about 10 lines per story. While he remained totally competent and able to read these stories, they started to overwhelm him a bit and the time they took was a little more than his attention span allowed for. So I’ve adjusted my expectations a little bit and accepted the slower pace. I found that pushing him through a lesson when his attention and mood are failing is rarely helpful to either of us. In these cases, we still reward him (in whatever way works for your family) for working on the lesson, even if we didn’t get through the whole thing. But we do expect him to finish the whole lesson(s) to get his sticker and his major rewards. And then we pick up where we left off later that day or the next day.
To celebrate finishing fifty lessons, T got to pick out a really cool Hot Wheels truck from the store. He has been over the moon about it. Achieving something like that is a big deal for a small child, so we wanted him to feel really accomplished and do something for him that felt really special.
If you’re using this book, we’d love to hear about how it’s going and any tips to keep kiddos going strong!
We had been talking about the possibility of homeschooling for a while when my mom randomly bought us a book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. The book had been on a good sale and had great reviews, so she bought it and asked if we were interested in using it. We looked through it, and it looked pretty dry, like a textbook. Now that I think about it, most of my textbooks actually looked more exciting than this book. But we figured we’d take it and give it a shot when the time was right. Well, as it turned out, that time came sooner than we expected.
Our T didn’t seem ready to read at the time we received the book, but he LOVED the alphabet; he loved any book or puzzle that had to do with ABCs. A while later, around the time T turned 3, my husband picked up the book and started to read the introduction. I decided I should know how to use the book too, so I read all the introduction pages, and realized that it didn’t seem unrealistic after all. I asked T if he wanted to learn how to read, and he was enthusiastic about it, so we jumped in.
It took a few lessons for T (and me) to get the hang of the book’s teaching approach, but I could tell very early on that the program was genius. It doesn’t look flashy or fun, but it was proving to be so effective that T got a lot of joy and a sense of achievement from it. Before long, he was begging ME to do reading lessons. He sincerely enjoys learning how to read and is very self-motivated. But we did establish a reward system at the beginning of the program that we think helped jumpstart his interest and re-motivate him when necessary.
We’re still working through the book (T just finished his FIFTIETH lesson!), but I’d love to tell you a little bit about it so you can consider whether you’d like to give it a shot too!
First of all, the cover of the book states, “This remarkable step-by-step program teaches your child to read in just 20 minutes a day–with love, care, and joy a parent and child can share!” This 20-minute timeframe is pretty accurate at the start, but as passages have gotten longer and more complex, we have found that lessons usually take a little longer. That’s been fine for us, as T has a pretty impressive attention span for a 3 year-old, but we’ve also found it helpful to split lessons into two parts as needed (or even do two in a day sometimes if he’s feelin it!).
The book has a wonderful introduction that you shouldn’t skip! It explains the how and why to everything from the “funny print” and the teaching script to giving correction. As I read the introduction and started doing the first few lessons with T, I was floored by how well thought-through this program is. These people have seriously done their research on what works and know what they’re talking about.
Skills your child will Learn
In the first 16 lessons, you will begin teaching your child the following:
new sounds (m, s, a, ē, t, r, d, i, th). There’s a handy pronunciation chart that tells you how to say each sound, in the order they appear in the book!
blending sounds together
saying words slowly and saying them fast
rhyming
guided word and story reading
picture comprehension
irregular words (“is”)
As the lessons progress, your child will learn more complex skills:
more sounds and irregular words
reading with expression
word finding / whole word recognition
quotation finding
story reading and comprehension
“ed” and “ing” endings
long vowels
As the lessons go on, the special aids the book provides are slowly phased out, such as the special script. Things like upper case letters are also phased in.
Some Things I’ve Loved about the Book
the print! It’s so intuitive for kids. For example, the “silent” letters are in smaller font, so they know not to sound them out, but they are exposed to seeing the words spelled correctly so it is an easier transition to regular print. Sounds like “sh” are introduced as one connected character, and then gradually transition to the traditional type.
the script. While it is encouraged to read through and practice each lesson before you teach it, you can absolutely get by without doing so, because the book clearly lays out everything you need to do and say on every page in clear, distinctive type. No prep time necessary!
It teaches skills that are sometimes overlooked. Specifically, sound blending and reading comprehension. So many kids know their phonics but have a hard time combining them into words, and then combining words into ideas that actually mean something. This book teaches those skills from the very beginning so they become second nature.
no fluff. There’s nothing in the book to distract from the task at hand and you don’t waste time doing anything nonessential. But don’t worry–if you teach with expression, it is still fun! And I would always recommend pairing a reading program such as this one with “real-life” reading such as road signs and cereal boxes, as well as picture books. Here are some of our favorites right now.
I have very few negative things to say about this book, but I have noticed a few very minor typos; you would totally miss them if not reading carefully. There have also been a couple occasions in which I felt a word or sound was introduced for reading before it was adequately taught. For example, we came across the word “kitten” before the “eh” / “ih” sound at the end of the word was introduced. Occurrences like this are rare and pretty easy to ad-lib and move on when they do happen.
All in all, we would absolutely recommend this book to anyone with a child who has a happy temperament, a decent attention span, and a desire to read! For children who don’t fit that description, we still believe it’s a great program, but I would probably expect to make more adjustments to fit your child’s personality!
We have tried to instill a love of reading in our kids starting pretty young. From the time we moved T into his own bedroom at about 4 months old, we’ve been reading at least one book to him before every nap and bedtime. We’ve loved seeing T develop a love for reading, so we’re trying to do the same thing with little E, who is 1 right now. Here are some of our favorites – ones the kids like and that mom and dad can enjoy too! These have varying length and complexity, but they’re all beloved by our kids ages 3 and under. You may notice that our boys have some favorite topics, ha!
Adorable little story that teaches that little kids can be helpful and important, even if they can’t do all the things that big people do. We love that it’s a quick read with really well-done illustrations!
To the little tot that’s obsessed with trains, this one’s for you. I remember reading it as a child and my mom would always encourage us by saying, “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.” Such a cute, classic story! We have probably read this one to T 100 times, no joke. He can’t get enough of it.
This classic book didn’t win a Caldecott medal for nothing. I find the words, pictures, and story to be mesmerizing, and every time I read it, it gets me thinking about different ways to interpret it. Kids just think it’s fun!
We love that this Dr. Suess book is simple, repetitive, and silly, but our favorite thing is that it encourages kids to try foods they assume they won’t like!
These are so simple, they seemed kind of boring to us at first, but T went through a long phase of being obsessed with them. What 2 / 3 year old cares to read about general relativity, Newtonian physics, organic chemistry, and electromagnetism (to name a few)? Plus, they’re super fun to display on a shelf so all your guests assume your kid’s in MENSA or something.
This one by P.D. Eastman is fun for teaching prepositions, and kids that are pretty little can use the pictures to figure out which words are coming next!
This has a bunch of cute poems about different vehicles, from backhoes to ambulances. If you read it all at once, it’s a tiny bit lengthy, but you can always choose to read only a few poems!
I like to read this book to T when a) he’s had a naughty day, b) I’ve been impatient with him, or c) both. It’s a good way for us to bond and remind each other how much we love each other, especially on the rough days.
Another oldy, but goody! Okay, so the mom crawling through her adult son’s window is pretty weird. But the overarching sentiment is really sweet! This is another great bonding book. T loves it when I sing the song to him as we read.
This one is just super silly. We love to laugh about it with T, and we like normalizing some talk about underwear for kiddies that will be potty training soon!
Probably one of the most precious, must-read books for kids. It makes me cry every time. An incredible allegory for children (and adults!) to internalize their relationship with God and recognize their self-worth.
T loves this book, but frankly we’ve never read the entire thing to him. It’s pretty lengthy and intended for kids that are a little bit older, so we abridge it. T loves opening all the little envelopes and reading the letters, as well as learning all the landmarks on the world map. Thanks to this book, he knows about the Eiffel Towel, Pyramids, Tower Bridge, and lots more!
Some books we love for babies – but older kids love them too!
T loved this book when he was little, and now E is obsessed with it too! We read it to a little tune we made up, and they love when we touch their ears and nose and tickle their toes!
I love this book’s illustrations! It also has such a nice rhythm to it and does a great job incorporating train sounds into the bedtime poem. Our kids have adored it since they were tiny.
I just am obsessed with his artwork! And definitely have an attachment to his classics like The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?. Kids love them all!
I think kids’ books are so dang fun, I have a hard time not buying them all. If you’re like me, ThriftBooks is your friend!! And don’t forget to utilize your local library 🙂
