100 EZ Lessons or The Reading Lesson?

[Happy2bMommyof3]

Hi Ladies,
I am just trying to think ahead to next fall, since it is tax return time and I am about to to purchase curriculum (can anyone relate?)..anyway, my ds who just turned 5 is "sort-of" doing 100 EZ lessons and it is not going as smoothly as it did with my dd when she was even younger. I was wondering if anyone had looked at both programs and could possibly give me a rundown of the differences? I am wondering if I should order "The Reading Lesson" when I order Little Hearts for ds or if I should hold off and stick with 100 EZ Lessons.

Thanks for any input!

[krismoose]

We have been using TRL since ds was almost 5, and it has worked great for us. The book is set up so you can do as many or as few pages per lesson as fits your dc. For us, that was 1 page/day until ds had a great attitude about it ! It was well within his abilities, and SO quick once he got on board! Despite how "little" it seemed we were covering, he made steady progress, and now we're moving a bit faster, since his confidence has grown. The stories are all included, and it's very open-and-go for Mom You can download the first couple of lessons at the readinglesson.com. The format stays the same, but the text gets smaller as you progress through the book, and the few extra marks on the letters used to differentiate some letters and sounds (100 EZ lessons uses way more) are eliminated by the end of the book. The only thing I do extra is look up the phonics rules in another resource when new ones (or exceptions) are introduced. My ds hasn't needed much explanation, but it helps me to have more info. HTH

[Busymomma1]

I totally can relate! My dd learned to read with ease, with 100EZ. But my ds struggled with it. We switched to TRL, and it has worked much better for him! Each child can be different, and we have to figure out what works best for each, I suppose. TRL is certainly less cluttered. The pictures are simple and the page just looks cleaner. So maybe that will help! We struggled last year (his K year) to get past short vowel words. We are now beginning lesson 16 in TRL and the end is in sight!

[my3sons]

I think TRL is a short, straight-forward program that makes it super easy to learn to read. It gets right to the point, and I think especially for boys (though I may be biased as I have 3 sons ), getting right to the point is pretty important. Frustration can begin to set in when lessons take too long or become stressful. The pace of TRL is very friendly to dc, and if your ds is needing a change, I would think TRL would be an excellent change to make.

In Christ,
Julie