Look what came in the mail! Isn’t that a beautiful stack of books, software, and DVDs?!! I wasn’t familiar with all of the options available from Mountcastle Company, but I’m so glad to have found them!
The Reading Lesson: Teach Your Child to Read in 20 Easy Lessons (Review)
I honestly love teaching my children to read. It’s such an amazing achievement for them, and it’s so much fun to play a part!
Through the years, I’ve researched and looked through several reading programs, but The Reading Lesson was new to me. Up to this point, I’ve used several different approaches–mainly utilizing what was available in our curriculum and supplementing with BOB books, other easy readers, and whatever else I can find in my old teaching files!
If you are like me and haven’t heard of The Reading Lesson, it’s a complete reading curriculum that uses phonics, sight words, and a guided-reading approach to get children from a beginning level to a second-grade level. The book is aimed at young children ages 4-7.
What I loved about The Reading Lesson:
- It’s all in one spot! All of the lessons are contained in one book, and I didn’t have to compile various resources just to get started.
- It’s easy-to-use. Grab a pencil (and we grab an “eye” spy wand, too), sit down beside your child, and you’re ready to begin. It’s simple!
- It’s inexpensive. It’s a complete reading curriculum to get your child to a 2nd grade reading level for under $25.
- It has simple computer software to go along with it.
- There is also a companion video for teaching your child letter sounds. My younger girls thought it was “really funny, mom!”
- But…you don’t need any of the extras! The Reading Lesson can be used all by itself–supplemented with favorite books and easy readers just for fun, of course!
- My daughter asks to do it every single day. What else can I say?!!
As a former teacher, I am quite happy with the order and depth of the lessons in The Reading Lesson: Teach Your Child to Read in 20 Easy Lessons. I will mention that you might be fooled by the title! If you are expecting 20 short lessons, you won’t find them in this book. These are longer lessons–more like units (probably 15 pages or so per lesson). We took about a week each on the first two lessons.
There are some unique things about the lessons. For example, in the beginning, sentences are not capitalized. If you don’t understand the purpose of that, it might seem a little disconcerting (especially if you are Type A)! This actually goes quite well with my belief that lower-case letters should be taught first.
You’ll also find words that have a space in them–i.e. grandma is printed as grand ma. Teaching children to break words down–especially when you are teaching very young children to read–is essential or it can be overwhelming to them.
Overall, I think The Reading Lesson is an amazing value for the price and will be effective for many young children.
You can find out more about the program and download two free lessons here.
Big Words for Little Kids
We have been working on Latin and Greek roots this year, so this book fits perfectly. It teaches roots, prefixes, and suffixes to help little kids gain an advanced vocabulary quickly and easily. Embarrassingly, I’ve learned a few new things just by skimming the book! We’ll work on this during our summer lessons!
The Verbal Math Lesson 1 & 2
Honestly, math isn’t my strength. I took calculus in high school just so I could do well on my ACT (then, I promptly forgot everything I learned). 🙂
The Verbal Math Lesson books guide your child to thinking mathematically and teach your child to work the problems mentally. This is a great benefit and something my little learners need help doing.
These are recommended for ages 4-7 (Book 1) and 7-8 (Book 2). These are also a summer project, and I’ll share more once we’ve used them for more than a few days!
I also received:
You can find individual items or a complete package for a discounted price over at MountcastleShop.com. Shipping is free on orders over $20. Also, use the code motherhoodonadime00 to save 20%!
If you’re just interested in purchasing The Reading Lesson, be sure to check Amazon as the price is pretty great!
Overall my impression of all the books and software I received are definitely favorable. I’m really excited that my 4-year-old seems to be picking up on reading quite quickly!
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I feel honored to be able to give away a package just like I received to one of you! Filled with eight different titles (all mentioned above), I know you’ll be blessed by these resources!
I’m trying something a little different for my giveaway today. You’ll need to fill out the form below to enter. There is only one mandatory entry (which is just to enter). There are also several other ways to enter, and they receive slightly more “weight” in the giveaway if you choose to complete them. Just follow the instructions on the form below to enter!
This giveaway will end on February 7, 2013 at 10 PM CT. The winner will be randomly chosen and have 48 hours to respond. This giveaway is open to US residents over the age of 18.
Disclaimer: I received these books to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
(If you are viewing this in your email inbox, go here to the original post to find the entry form!)
Tara H says
I’d love to win!
Cori says
I’m currently teaching my 4 year old to read – this would be mighty handy!
AW says
My son just turned 4 and I would love to see more of this product!
Dee Johnson says
Thanks for the giveaway!
Daneille says
I am very excited about this giveaway!!
mrs. king says
This is such a timely post! My preschool@home day could use some freshening! Very neat that they have not 1, but 2 samples-…will have to try! Thank you so very much!
heather says
Thank you for this great opportunity.
Dony says
I would love to try this with my 5 yr old. I will be most excited to try out the verbal maths book.
Rachel Anna says
I’d love to win this! I can’t wait to start homeschooling my little one!
Willow says
You are such an inspiration!! I love reading your blogs!!! Thank you so much for all the time you put into this so that the rest of us can benefit!!! 😉
Karla says
This program sounds great. I love how words are broken up.
Elizabeth Thompson says
This sounds like something my 4-yr old would love! He is already learning to spell simple words and knows his letter sounds, so I think he would do great!
Amanda Ehrichs says
A reading program for less than $25 is amazing! Glad to see programs for an affordable price.
Jolynda says
What an awesome tool to help me teach my son to read!! Thank you!!
Krysten says
I run a childcare facility for low income families and this would be a great tool for my preschool teacher to use with the children.
Lucy C says
What a great tool for kindergarten next year!
Vanessa says
Would be great to win this for my 4 year old!
Vanessa says
This looks like its simple to use! Thanks for the info and opportunity!
Lori Johnson says
This looks like it would be fabulous for my 4 yr. old!
Keyana Williams says
Can’t wait to try this with preschool students.
Rissa says
This looks like such a great collection of lessons!! I especially like the verbal math lessons since it sounds like it might follow the way I’ve been trying to teach my son.
Lisa Forrest says
My 4YO daughter recently asked me to teach her to read and I truly had no idea where to begin! This would be such a blessing to both of us! So excited to see her embracing these huge steps!!!
Nicole Stoddard says
This would be a great collection of lessons to get my 5yr old started on reading and help improve on my 6yr olds skills. We have already started using the ‘Eye Spy’ wands. Great idea! We were just using fingers or pencils before.
Nicole Stoddard says
I love your blog. It is such a wealth of inspiration and motivation for me.
Melissa S says
I hope to be able to try this out!
Toni says
I have been using the baby can read system but would like to move into something that involves writing too 🙂
Cherie says
I would love to win this awesome prize! Love your blog!!!
Sally says
This would be perfect timing for teaching my youngest.
Sarah K. says
I love to win! The Reading Lesson looks like the perfect system to work on with my 4 yr. old.
Bridget says
The reading program sounds really neat. I’m going to try the 2 freebie lessons. Thanks for the information.
Sharon R says
This sounds great to help my 4 year old twins learn to read.
Faith says
Would love to win. Thanks for the giveaway!
Jennifer Turpin says
This would be an amazing win. I am new to homeschooling and it would great to have something that was so well put together. Thank you for hosting this giveaway.
Teish says
I’ve been looking for something for my middle son. This looks perfect!
Season says
I used to teach Special Education and now I am tutoring on the side. This looks like just the program I need to teach those little guys how to read, thank you so much!
grace says
This sounds great to help son learn to read better ..thanks!
Sara B says
My daughter is almost 4 and enjoys being read to and “reading” by reciting the books she has heard before. I’ve been looking for a next step for trying to teach her to read- this sounds great for that! Thanks for the review.
Sabrina says
Band new to homeschooling and would absolutely love to win this for my daughters!!
Melanie says
My almost four year-old would love this. She’s so anxious to read on her own!
Nancy Termer says
Wow…. What a great resource
Kecia says
This would be very helpful as we’ve just started the process with my 4 year old using some online resources.
Carol says
Looking for something like this- sounds great for my 4 year old- already receive the motherhood on a dime emails : )
Sarah H says
I would love to win and try this out!
Rachel Beita says
I would love to win this! I have a 4 year old that is just about ready to learn. Thanks for the great review!
AnnMarie E says
Looks amazing…I’d love to win this!
Kathleen C. says
This looks great…thanks for the giveaway! 🙂
Audria Torian says
I have a 2 1/2 year old and a 4 year old who both love learning about letters, sounds and new words. They love to read and the library is a frequent outing! I would love to try this program with both of them!
April M says
I have a elementary education degree and have spent a lot of time looking over programs to use with kids at all levels and from the little I have seen, this one seems exceptional! I would love to use this one with my daughter!
Cristina says
What a fab resource
MaLedford says
What a neat program. I’d love to try it out!!!
Jennifer Bilbrey says
Sounds neat!
Carissa H. says
Sounds like a great resource! Thank you for the giveaway!
Becky says
i’d LOVE this! i have such a hard time teaching my kids to read!
Nelda says
Thank you for the opportunity.
ShannonA says
What a great tool to have!
eva says
My daughter is so excited to try reading, this looks great.
Ally says
My two are ready to start reading!
Melissa B says
My daughter is asking me to teach her to read, so these would be fabulous!
Tatia says
This program would be amazing for my almost 4 year old. She is SO ready to read and this looks great!
Krystal says
This looks like an awesome resource! Thanks for sharing!
Melinda T says
Thanks for the chance, would love this for my youngest!
Kelly says
This looks like a great way to teach my boys to read. I would love to have it, but cannot afford it myself. Thanks for this opportunity. Kelly
Julie says
thanks for the chance!!!!
Katie A says
Trying hard to help my 5 year old want to read.. These supplies look very helpful! Thank you!
Angela says
Wow. This looks really cool. I love the math part of it. I would be very excited to use it all twice.
Bethany says
Hi. I am very interested in your package for reading, math etc. that you featured here. the link for mountcastleshop.com isn’t working. Is the site closed? do you have another place I can get the whole set for a good deal? Thanks so much.
Stacie Nelson says
Thanks for letting me know! I am on the road, but I will try to look at it later!
Stacie Nelson says
Hmm…I just clicked through the link, and I was able to get through to http://www.mountcastleshop.com. The cheapest place I’ve found is through Amazon…although they don’t have the packages!
Lauren Stevens says
Hello there! I am trying to add the complete reading lesson bundle to our learning experience and can’t seem to find it. He web page provided is no longer up and going possibly? And the full package is not available through Amazon. If you have any information on this. Please let me know! I’m excited to incorporate this with Gods Little Explorers that we will be starting in a few weeks!!