Why do I Home School? Easy Read System Review

I want to share one of the reasons why I chose to home school both of my children. 

When Xander was 3 I had him enrolled in a Pre-Pre-k Program for 3-4 year olds and he LOVED it, his teacher was awesome (Thank you Mrs Joanne!) and she was kind, and patient, fun and loving, and made Xander feel special every day. I SAW this for myself, as well as Xander told me how much he liked her. 

It was hard to say goodbye to Mrs Joanne. But, it was time to move on. 

When Xander was 4 he went to Pre-K with his best friend Michael (Casey's son, and Xander's cousin). In Pre-K Xander did great. He learned a little, but mostly it was to learn how to get along with other kids and follow directions. 

His teacher (Miss Sarah) was terrific. He came home every day happy and enthusiastic about school. 

Then came Kindergarten. 

This is where is all went bad. 

In Florida, we have A B and C schools (I don't know if they go to D or F but I know fore sure about the first 3) 

Xander was enrolled in an A school because that's where he was zoned. 

Great! Right? 

They will be teaching him in a way that will put him ahead, not ahead of other kids in class, but ahead of the other schools that were B and C. 

That's what I thought. Then I spoke with the teacher. She said the teachers are pressured to keep the A in each class, so if she has any problems with a student learning she has to be hard on them. 

Xander has always had a speech impediment, and for a long time couldn't say L or R, he replaced them both with a W, so instead of saying "look" he said "wook". 

He has since learned to say L's but the R's are still a problem. 

Anyway, at that time, in Kindergarten, he couldn't say either letter, and that was giving him difficulty in reading. Every word with an R or L he would read as a W, he knew what the word WAS but because he couldn't say it properly, it was counted as wrong. 

I knew something wasn't right when Xander started coming home and being sad. This had never happened before. Xander has always been such a happy child. So I started really trying to figure out what was wrong, and then at the end of that week, a bunch of his school work came home with him. 

He had papers where he had to write words, like "RED" and he wrote "WED" because that's how he heard it, and his teacher, wrote a large red X on his paper with a huge sad face. 

When I asked Xander about it he said she was always making him feel bad about his reading and spelling and he said to me "mom, i am a terrible reader!" and "My teacher told me I am not good at spelling or reading!" I tried telling him no, that SHE is wrong, but it was too late, she had already done the damage. 

I called on Monday and had a meeting with her, to which she said I had no business asking about her teaching skills and that her way of teaching was her business and if I didn't like it I could send him to a different school. 

So I did. I pulled him out that day and started a homeschool program. 

For the next 2 years I have encouraged Xander every day, telling him he is a GREAT reader, but he still says "Mrs G told me I am not" I don't know if she realized how long this would last. 

So, this year in the 2nd grade, his reading is picking up, he is getting better but I wanted a program that had good results, so I contacted the Easy Read System

to find out what it was all about. 

They offered me a free month to try the program, and I immediately started Xander on it. 

He LOVES the program, they teach by assigning each letter to a picture, so for example, A is for Ant, so when you read the word CAT, above it you see an ant on top of the A and it reminds you that it's an A. 

After 2 weeks, Xander, by himself started reading a book in his room for the FIRST time. 

The book was not on his grade level, but that's OK, it's a start. 

He was SO proud the day he read it, I was in tears and so was he. 

He said "Mom, Mrs G was wrong! I am a great reader!" 

It made me SO happy to see that the Easy Read System had broken through what a teacher did to him, after 2 years. 

If you have a child struggling with reading, please consider trying Easy Read. You can get a free trial here.