Time to Read with Rime to Read!

3. November 2008 by Shannon.

Sometimes we try to “complicate” things.  We get all fancy and involved… when only clear and simple is necessary for success.  I’m SO guilty of that, I tend to try to give “essay answers” to “true/false questions”… it can lead to much frustration and tears.  The same is true I find of many of the “teach your child to read” type programs out there.

Now,  when my oldest was learning to read, we had this cute little set of books called Bob Books.  Ever heard of them?  They are small for small hands, simple stories based on “word families” (see more in a minute…).  They were easy enough to offer success, and they progressed nicely to keep him learning.  Problem was?  They got loved to death… Ev slept with his Bob Books… and well, they were not the better for it.  LOL!

Now, along comes this site Rime to Read.  Yup, that’s no typo!  RIMES are words that not only sound alike, they LOOK alike… another word for “word families”.  Word families are simple groups of sounds that work together in many words when just the first consonant is changed.  (you know this already, I know… but humour me).  Such as:

CAT

MAT

FAT

SAT

HAT

BAT

RAT

SLAT

(etc….)

Well, Lynn Klaiman and Dr. Sara Hines, PhD, over at Rime to Read have developed an interactive, DIGITAL reader system similar to the beloved Bob Books that allow children to experience the same fun and excitement over reading success, and use the computer at the same time!  (kids love that kind of stuff! *grin*)   

The best thing about this is that you can also chose to print out the books if you like… so once your child masters the book on the screen, go ahead, print them out a copy that they can “love to death” if they like.  My younger son is so thrilled when I print out the book he knows how to read and he can show off to Daddy what he did “in homeschool” that day.  He loves writing his name on it and feeling like he owns that reading… and I’m not worried about the costs, because he can always go back and read it again on the computer if his copy gets mucked up of forgotten at Gramma’s house.  Best of both worlds! :o)

Currently, Rime to Read has 20 books available to purchase.  Each package of 4 books costs only $9.99 or you can choose to buy access to all 20 for $44.99.  Now, for me this seemed at first like a high cost (oh, btw… Bob Books cost $16.95 for a set of 12 - or a whopping 23.95 here in Canada - and that is just for the basic books, no bells and whistles, and when they get loved to death, that’s it, that’s all!) but when you consider that  you can read Rime to Read’s books unlimited number of times online (with their nifty, engaging page flip technology), and that you can print the books out as many times as you need for personal use (yes, several children in the same family counts as personal use.  No, every child in the whole town does not. *grin*)… it’s worth the money and then some.  Another way to use them as well might be to print out the pages as review/colouring pages (since the drawings are simple line type drawings) for your child’s notebook.  A wonderful record of their learning progress!

As you can see, there are many ways to use this program.  And the Book Team is working with the Web Team to get SOUND into the books too!  Infact, the mechanism is in place now, but of course, as with anything new, it’s in the “testing” stages.  So if you child is stumbling on a word, there is an option to click the word to hear the “rime” read aloud to him/her.  This would be fantastic for independent review… and allowed your beginning reader to feel in control of their learning - even if it is a little thing.  (little kids love “I can do it myself” moments *grin*)

If you choose to read the books online, you should know that the loading time is amazing… even on dialup, the pages only took a few seconds each.  That’s simply fantastic for those of us who are still livin’ in the dark ages.  The page design (online) makes it obvious, even a three year old, what they have to do to turn the page of the story – so they are learning to become independent readers.  There are also even more books in the works, and this company’s customer service cannot be beat!  All very good reasons to check out Rime to Read to get your homeschooler reading!

Blessings!

PS.  I posted this under Mondays are for Mom because these books brought back such sweet “Mom and Child” memories for me… and now I’m enjoying curling up on the couch listening to my younger son reading these words and beaming with pride at his accomplishment (with plenty of High Fives – as is his thing).

As a review blogger,  I am provided a free copy of the book, curriculum or product to test and use in order to write an honest review. I receive no other compensation and the opinions I share are my own and not influenced by the company in question.

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