Reading Made Easy vs. The Reading Lesson

kerby · Post by **kerby** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:14 pm

Hi, all you wonderful ladies~

I looked at the links for these and only TRL has samples to "see" it. Carrie has recommended both so I know that either one would be great to use.

I like working with word families as dd seems to grasp rhyming. But, both my older boys learned w/ ABeka at private school so I have worked w/ beginning blends, too.

So, my question is: which have you used/preferred and why?

K

Melanie · Post by **Melanie** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:23 pm

I can't help you out with choosing....I haven't used either. I'm sure there are probably an equal number of people happy in both camps!

Here's a link for samples from RME
http://www.readingmadeeasy.net/ReadingMadeEasy.aspx

Good luck deciding!!

Mel

kerby · Post by **kerby** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:08 pm

Thank you, Melanie, for the link. It helped. I am leaning in one direction but would love to hear eveyone's input.

K

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 6:25 pm

Kerby,

Here is the link to see The Reading Lesson Samples for lesson one and two also the CD.
http://www.readinglesson.com/goodys.htm
There is a lot on the site there so...
Check out Demo movies from The Reading Lesson CD-ROM under the fish and then go to the lesson downloads just under Reviews of the Reading Lesson in red. HTH

kerby · Post by **kerby** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:25 pm

Thanks, W2W. I have seen the links. I am looking for personal opinions and experiences.

K

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:36 pm

Oh, sorry. I only have experience with TRL. We love, love, LOVE it! Why? It is like magic.

You do the number of pages they suggest by age (which I am tending to stick with so I do not push too hard), then you plug them into the CD and Whalah! Done, they know it. Pretty much that is it. I have held my breath a couple of times when they seemed stuck for the day but let them do the CD the next day no problem they got it all and more. It's effortless and very effective. So that is my story on that.

Oh one more thing it's quick. The going through the book part of the lesson takes us 5 - at most 15 minutes for my kids doing LHFHG. And the CD part is independent. Never helped with anything except getting it started.

netpea · Post by **netpea** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:17 pm

We are using the Reading Lesson for the 2nd time now. I really like it. If my dd gets stuck, we just stop for the day and pick it up the next day. She beams as she puts her sticker on each page she completes. I bought my copy used and the CD doesn't work. But I never felt like we missed it. My son did just fine without the CD. There are some extra things you can print at their website. We printed out the wordbook and use it as a review for the chapters she has completed. http://www.readinglesson.com/pdffiles/wordbook.pdf

faith0428 · Post by **faith0428** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:21 am

I've used the reading lesson with my two daughters. I used it with my oldest when she was almost 5. She took to it really well and even though we have only gotten through lesson 13 (we stopped for a while and then she started kindergarten at a private school) she is reading really well. She is currently in kindergarten and can read way more than what she is being taught at school. I would say on at least a 1st grade if not 2nd grade level. I credit that to what she learned through the reading lesson and what she has picked up on her own. Plus I read to her a lot. I still plan on finishing the reading lesson with her over the summer. I also started this with my second daughter when she was 3 1/2. We have only gotten through lesson 8 with her, and she is reading at almost the same level as her big sister. They are now ages 6 and 4.

I haven't used any other reading program, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I really like how it has worked for us. Each section has one page of instructions for the parent, so it isn't overwhelming. Also, within the lessons, the font is quite large. This is nice because it is easy for the kids to see and there isn't too much on one page. Also, there are pictures on some of the pages.

We got the CD with ours because amazon was having a sale at the time. I really like the CD. It has all the lessons on it that are in the book. It makes it fun and reinforces what the lesson teaches. They recommend doing the lesson on the cd and then in the book. That is how we did it and I think it helped a lot.

Hope that helps a little. I would be happy to answer any questions you have. Also, there are some reviews of The Reading Lesson on amazon and on homeschoolreviews.com That's what helped me decide to go with The Reading Lesson.