Thursday, January 26, 2012

My Best Thrift Store Find Ever!

Okay, so first I have a stack of projects that I am finishing up this week.  I promise I will have some great things soon, but until then I wanted to post about one of my most time consuming projects and that is teaching my children how to read. 

I have 3 boys ages: 8, 5 and 4.  They are in 1st grade, kindergarten, and preschool and all three are ready to read but not reading, yet.  My oldest is the sweetest 8 year old but is struggling with some special challenges.  It seems like every day he is falling farther and farther behind.  I am so worried about him.  So I try to use education related play at home to try and supplement what he is learning at school.  My favorite place to look for teaching resources is at my local thrift store. I cannot leave the store without scouring the book section for books that we can use at home. 

Not too long ago I stumbled on the book:  Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons for $1 at my thrift store.  I brought it home and read the Amazon.com reviews.  There were over 700 reviews and more than 500 were 5 star ratings, all from parents who had taught their children to read using this book.  Glancing through the book I noticed that every lesson was a script that I could read to my children.  We could spend "20 minutes" per day learning how to read together.  Not only that all I had to do (aside from the initial preparation) was to read along with them consistently every day. 

Now I am sure that there are a million other awesome reading programs, but for the price and work, this has been a fantastic resource for us.  My oldest is learning, and is able to sound out words, despite his challenges.  My other two boys are also learning so quickly!!  We are about 1/5 of the way through the 100 lessons.  Some days are better than others.  Sometimes we repeat lessons, sometimes we don't.  Sometimes we finish in 20 minutes, but it usually takes us closer to 30-40 minutes per lesson.  All the time has been and will be SO worth it!

I can't say enough good things about this book, and it truly has been one of my best thrift store finds ever!! 
If you are looking for a great way to teach your children how to read, whether they have special needs or not I HIGHLY recommend it. 

Do you have a favorite thrift store find?!

Thanks for the visit!
 

 

1 comment:

  1. Hey I need too look for that book. I will see if I can find it. Thanks for the recommendation. My best find was a Blue's Clues chair. .Happy hunting

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