I cannot imagine an easier, less frustrating, more rewarding way to teach a little one to read. It felt like our special ten minutes a day that over a few months added up to having a little reader. The way it adds one sound at a time builds confidence first, sneaking in weird exceptions towards the end when they're already convinced reading is a manageable task.

This book comes highly recommended, and I have no doubt a lot of people have had success with it. But I hated it. On the plus side, my son did learn to read, it is comprehensive and very easy to use. On the other...
First, as to the methodology: It teaches a special orthography to introduce different phonetics. I didn't have a problem with this, but I think it was frustrating for my son. It isn't until lesson 73 that the standardized alphabet is introduced--which means that for literally months, he thought he couldn't read because he couldn't pick up a normal book and read it. It also meant he couldn't practice during the day with normal books. We started doing two lessons a day just to get through it quicker so he could see that he had learned something. I also question the wisdom of not introducing certain phonetic rules, like the long vowel if an 'e' is at the end of the word, earlier. The child is expected to read such words in standard type several lessons before the rule is formally introduced. And so, not having learned the rule, when my son got to the standardized type, he had no idea how to figure those words out. I went off script and introduced the rule myself. I don't know how he ever would've figured it out--was he supposed to infer the rule on his own? It was terribly frustrating that he was expected to read words without knowing how to sound them out. I am also confused as to why the book didn't introduce some letter combinations at all--like 'oa' or 'ci' and 'ce'. I had to tack on a lesson at the end to introduce those.
Second, the manual itself: The editing in this book has to be the absolute worst I've ever seen. In one lesson, I found FOUR different typos (the script would refer to circled letters and none would be circled, for example). If you're going to teach a child a specialized orthography--if you're going to teach him that 's' and 'h' make a different sound when they're connected than when they're just right next to each other--well, at the very least you ought to make quite sure you are consistent. The book was rife with such mistakes--even my son pointed a couple out. I finally took to using a black pen to fix the text as we went along. There is no excuse for such sloppy editing in a reading manual of all things!
And I haven't even mentioned my minor complaints--the illustrations are poorly drawn, a few of the stories involve a hunter with a gun (thanks including unnecessary violence, book!), too many of the reading comprehension questions are yes/no questions, etc.
I will definitely not use this book with my other children.

I am a homeschooling mama, and I have used this book for 5 years when teaching my kids to read. It’s awesome, easy, and doesn’t take all day to do! My almost 9yo is a proficient reader, and is reading far above his grade level.

Note: I used to be an elementary teacher, too! And I worked in reading recovery. Fantastic book!!! Highly recommend

I have had some requests for more information about how I teach my children to read. I use this book, and I read aloud ALOT.

We start off each lesson with a picture book (child's choice) then a chapter from a chapter book (my choice). Then we read the lesson. Sometimes we stop in the middle of the lesson (depending on attention span and how well the lesson is going, etc.) We always peek ahead to see if there is a "new sound" coming up. (A very exciting development, if you can imagine.) After the lesson we read from a phonics reader. For small breaks during the lesson we often read nursery rhyme and poetry books. At the end of the lesson we read another picture book--my choice. It often has something to reinforce the lesson. Sallie gets a treat every tenth lesson. Funny how the ante rises with each child. Aerie got a book every 10th lesson, Coco got something from the dollar store. Sallie gets Polly Pockets. We pick the next prize the day the first prize is finished. Sallie usually does two lessons on the days she is close to earning a prize. I never push, and if she is reluctant, we stop the lesson read aloud and call it good. I do not use the writing portion of the book. We keep writing completely separate. (I like Handwriting Without Tears and Draw Write Now, but I use them only loosely, mostly I just let them draw and write on their own.

Sallie and I have started to incorporate some writing time into her reading lesson. She dictates a story to me, I write it, fold it, staple it and she illustrates it. We've done that a couple of times now and it has been great fun. She usually uses a couple of the words for her lesson, so I am careful to point those out. She loves to read her book to me when she is finished.

So there you have it! Luckily, my children haven't had any reading troubles (eye problems, dyslexia, ADD, etc.) So learning to read has been fairly easy and painless as well as fun for all of us!

Note:
Sallie is on lesson 57. This is a great "teach your child" to read book. But, I think it only works after hundreds of hours of reading aloud. If I was starting from scratch with a new reader, I would still recommend hundreds of hours of read aloud, but I would also look into Jessie Wise's "The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading." I haven't used it, but it looks fantastic, and I have really loved her other "homeschool" aids. Just a thought.

N0te:
I have used this book to teach Aerie and Coco to read. I cheated a little and customized it (turned it into games) for Coco, but by the end of the book (along with lots of read aloud at home) the child is considered on a second grade reading level. I'm starting to use the same "games" with Sallie, like "say it fast" and "say it slow", but we won't start on the real lessons until she is 4 or so.

This worked so well! Quirky stories keep the budding reader’s attention and it’s a very comprehensive phonics based approach. It’s blown my mind to see my son go from barely discerning the sound a letter would make, to reading long stories! So great! Favorite story: the eagle that looked like a fat rock and saved the little eagle from the tiger!

With the nugget “every child is unique” in mind, if you are looking for a resource to help your child learn to read, this is it! We used this as part of a homeschool curriculum for my 5 year old.
Initially I was skeptical - the Distal method was not something I was familiar with, but the book does a good job equipping teachers with what they need to know and do to be effective. Around lesson 20 (and after a lot moaning, groaning, and negotiating with said 5 year old

This is going to be perfect, I can already tell. I'll come back and edit my review when we get through it.

I read the intro and checked out a couple of the lessons. I love how well it's written and how helpful it is for someone to teach a little one!

My mom wrapped this up as a birthday present for my third birthday as she had for my two older siblings, and later did for my two younger siblings. I learned to read with this book and was definitely ahead of the other kids in my kindergarten class by the time I started school. My mom gave it to her friends and they taught their children to read with it as well. It's a great program that makes reading simple for any child, and will teach children to become avid readers. Also, I probably wouldn't have a goodreads account without it. ;]

5 stars all the way!!! This book is AMAZING for teaching your little ones to read. I started these lessons with my daughter when she turned 5 and she was reading in no time! She enjoyed the lessons and did not get overwhelmed at all. She was reading fluently before kindergarten. If you are nervous or unsure about teaching your little one to read, this book is for you! It makes it so easy to teach them. It highlights exactly what you need to say to them throughout the lesson in red. There are thorough parent directions in the beginning of the book for you to review before you start the lessons that let you know what to expect. I highly recommend this for all caretakers teaching your littles to read!!

I wanted to love this book, but it was just taking way too much time, and my daughter was getting frustrated. We're going to try "Explode the Code" instead, but maybe we'll come back to this one. I really, really like their method:
- repetition of all the lessons woven together (spiral)
- handwriting in every lesson
- lessons appear short
- method of teaching pre-reading and reading skills is brilliant
- I liked how they made little changes to the letters to make it easier for the child to differentiate "ta hha" as "Th"
- I liked the black-and-white pages and occasional pictures. I felt that it helped us focus on the words instead of pictures. But that was something that my daughter didn't like about it.
Great methodology, just didn't work for us this time.

This book may not be for every child but it was great for my 7 year old daughter. I really feel this book works great if your child already has an understanding of letters and their sounds and what words are. It goes a lot smoother. If it doesnt work for your (young) child, just put it up and save it for later. We first checked it out from our library to "test it out" on my daughter first before I purchased my own copy.

I originally started her on it when she was 5, but she had no interest... Waited a couple of years and it worked really well for her.

Teaching my preschooler how to read was such an overwhelming task. This book, though daunting at first due to the very specific nature the authors instruct to present the information, is worth trying out. I suggest watching YouTube videos of parents enacting the program in order to see how easy it really is, don't let the intimidating instructions stop you! We broke up lessons, taking 2 days on one lesson to help my son from burnout. It took us about 7 months to complete, and at the end of these 7 months MY CHILD READS AT A 2ND GRADE LEVEL! I am amazed. No sight words, all phonetics- so that now he notices words he has never seen before and can sound them out to read them! This book is like magic, if you stick with it you may have a preschooler who can read, opening up their world and giving so much confidence in the classroom and I feel much more confident in my ability to teach my child at home. This also became a very bonding experience and I treasure the hard work and persistence we both put in each day. I highly recommend!