Reading Made Easy : A Guide to Teach Your Child to Read

by Valerie Bendt

“Valerie Bendt’s latest book, Reading Made Easy is just that – an easy to follow reading manual that requires no advanced preparation on the part of the parent. She has created her own symbols to designate the varying phonetic sounds, such as for the short and long vowels and silent letters. She also includes original stories and poems to use as readers as the child progresses through the manual. In an effort to make learning to read more fun and interesting for the child, some of the lessons incorporate simple games, such as Sight Word Bingo and Sight Word Worms, for which patterns are provided. Sight words are introduced at an earlier level than in other reading programs, allowing the child to read more interesting passages. Introduction to the use of capital letters, periods, commas, questions marks, quotation marks, and exclamation marks are also slipped into the material with ease. Without placing a heavy emphasis on grammar, the child is introduced to more advanced concepts in a very natural and easy fashion. Valerie has a true love of reading and realizes the pleasure books can offer. She enthusiastically shares this passion with others. Valerie motivates the child to see the true joy of reading by quickly gaining an understanding of the written word. To further assist the child’s comprehension, the child is shown a simple drawing that relates to the story. She encourages the child to draw his own pictures and to write sentences about his picture. Gradually, she encourages the child to write his own stories (by dictating them to his parent) and to practice his reading using these stories. Reading Made Easy concludes with Mrs. Bendt’s, twelve-chapter short story, “Gideon’s Gift.” This heartfelt story emphasizes the joy of reading and writing while stressing the significance of giving God the glory in all situations and finding our God given gifts. Each chapter’s suspenseful conclusion urges the child on to the next lesson. This beautifully written account exposes the child to vocabulary not normally used in today’s books for children.” Cathy Pierce – Children’s Librarian

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am using this book to teach my son to read. It is very easy to use and he has caught on very well. We are 13 lessons into it. So far I am very impressed he read the sentence, "a rat has a cap" today. My son has a short attention span and these lessons are the perfect length. The pictures that go with the lessons really add to the enjoyment of the lessons for him too. ****UPDATE*** This book was awesome for us. He is full on reading now. We like to get rookie readers from the library to read now, but he reads anything he can find to read.

[Razzberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter loves books with a passion. A highly auditory learner, she is able to sit through challenging books and even chapter books. Her reading skills though need to be worked on and we tried several approaches, none of which seemed to work. I have Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelmann, Phyllis Haddox & Elaine Bruner but could not bear its boring layout and drills. Other online phonics resources seemed to only scratch the surface. They were also very inconvenient... I would have to spend a long time printing, preparing flash cards and stapling books.

Then I read about Valerie Bendt's "Reading Made Easy : A Guide to Teach Your Child to Read". It is such a gem that I wish I had heard about it sooner. With this book, absolutely NOTHING else is needed. I don't even have to prepare - all I have to do is read the 'script' prepared and point to the word lists. Maryam did 12 lessons in ONE sitting! I feel so positive about this!

A must-have!

[Lekeshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

We enjoyed this resource to help our daughter to read. She grew tired of the book near the end. She has gained a great foundation in phonics and sight words. I believe she would have preferred more pictures with the stories. The stories was her favorite part.

[Maryam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is helping me read! It is really good because it helps my mum teach and breaks the hard job of reading down into simple bits. I feel happy after my lessons as I feel I have done a good job.

[Joli Rumrill]

We are using this along with Explode the Code this year.