Delightful! This is beautifully simple audio story. The narrator drew us in and held us captive. My children are 7, 5, 3 and 2.5, they all sat and worked on puzzles or hung on the couch listening. We cried with Heidi when she missed home, laughed at the scampering goats and learned compassion as Heidi saved her rolls for Grandma. My children are asking for “more stories!” Thanks Timber!! Highly recommend.

I was trying to find a reader that my 8 year old boy would enjoy. After reading a lot of reviews I decided to give the Pathway Readers a try. He loves them! The books are well within his grade level. I love how the books talk about different values. It’s started a lot of great conversations with us!

Studypod? YES, please!

Do you remember in high school, back in the dark ages when you took keyboarding as a class, with a real typewriter, and they had those specially made books that stood up so you could read them without holding them? Well this takes the concept a step further, by being usable with ANY book.  Honestly, I think I’ve found this more useful than my kiddos with me developing old lady hands and really appreciating the chance to read without the hand strain and nurse while reading without having to use a hand to hold a book.  However, this also is very handy for copywork in particular and specifically the Bible copywork books that Timberdoodle sells- because how frustrating is it to be copying from the Bible, your Bible flat on the table, being held open by whatever object is nearby to anchor it open only to have the item fall off and have to find your place several more times…  Why deal with all that when the StudyPod is such a reasonable price!

Watch a video demo of the StudyPod, available at Timberdoodle.com

now I’m reading stories = serious giggles

Whether it’s the fun pictures or the silly words, my daughter can’t read through her Clever Critters books without a huge smile! I love how the back of each book features questions to ask your little reader from rhyming words from the book to making sentences of their own. I plan on ordering more soon!

I started gently teaching my son letter sounds at the age of 2.  He had learned colors, numbers, shapes, and letter names already, so other than fine motor skills, it was about all I could think of to teach him.

I started with another reading program and he did it, but he didn’t particularly like it.  When I found The Reading Lesson, this was the perfect fit for him.  The pages are very uncluttered, so a child isn’t looking at a bunch of words that he can’t read yet (but that you can).

We took it really slow.  As he got older, he was able to handle a little more.  We have finished the book and are moving on to Phonics Pathways.  When you finish The Reading Lesson, your child should be reading at about a 2nd grade reading level.

Not all children at a young age are ready to learn to read, but if you’ve got a young eager beaver, I’d say this program is perfect for children 2-7 years of age.

Put this on your child’s wish list for them!

We held off on buying these for years because of the price, but when we lucked out and happened to see they were on sale last year before Christmas one day we jumped on the offer quickly to try them out and haven’t regretted the purchase yet! If anything, we wish we would have invested in one (or more) sooner! Works as well as everyone else describes. Car trips and camping trips and overnights at the grandparents where all the kids share a room are now much more pleasant because the kids are all readers and we don’t have the light problems like we did before. It’s pricier, but I’d go straight for the bigger one (my kids don’t read a lot of smaller paperbacks), and the case as well (my kids are somewhat careless and I’d like to protect my investment as long as possible!) If these are properly returned to their cases after use, they should last for all my kids childhoods!

Lightwedge Paperback Ocean is on sale at Timberdoodle.com for only $14.50 (save $9.90)!

This product (LightWedge Paperback) has been a total blessing to our family. My husband has a degenerative eye disease that has left him legally blind. I gave him the paperback LightWedge for Christmas. He reads the bible to the kids every night, and uses the lightwedge. It really enables him to be able to read again by providing the additional light and it seems to have a slight magnifying quality as well. As his vision grows weaker it’s wonderful to find something that helps him see better and enjoy reading. I’d recommend this product to anyone who wants help seeing to read in low light! It’s also pretty durable. Though I don’t think it’s made to be a rough and tumble kind of product, ours did accidentally get dropped and is still working great! Also, using the paperback size in a larger book works just fine, you can adjust it’s position easily, without it being a distraction to the reading. As easily as brushing away cookie crumbs if you eat while reading!

LightWedge Paperback is on sale a www.timberdoodle.com for only $14.50!

BOB Books

While we borrowed some of these from our local library, our kids liked them so much that we eventually bought three sets.   Our second child needed a little more phonics reinforcement and these did the trick and were fun at the same time.  I’d highly recommend them.

Reading To Learn Series

They make GREAT gifts!!

This series of Mennonite readers is wonderful!!  Plenty of challenging words in an interesting format means both my daughter and I, as her teacher, were satisfied.  I have bought several books in this series, and will continue to do so!!!  They also make GREAT gifts!

Pathway Readers are by far my favorite way to teach reading skills while at the same time discussing all the true-to-life character dilemmas faced by all children growing up in close-knit families today.  The children portrayed in the readers are real kids, not perfect by any means, but they demonstrate a teachable spirit when corrected, and a thoughtfulness of others’ feelings.  The parents in the stories are wise and kind and worthy of the children’s respect.  Some of my most cherished memories with my kids growing up are our reading times around the Pathway Readers.  The reason I would not buy them again is because they are tough hardback books, and aside from a few crayon marks, are still good as new after all my kids read from them, and can be passed on to my grown children to use with my grandkids (the first one will be old enough in about 2 years!) On second thought, I may be buying them again after all, if my kids don’t live close enough to pass them around, or if they have kids the same age (don’t want to start any bickering between siblings after all these years of character training!)