Teach Your Child To Read - Volume Two

I was sent Teach Your Child to Read, volume 2 by The Parent Bloggers.  I was skeptical about this dvd set.  I'm not a big proponet of teaching your kids skills early - reading, swimming, that type of stuff for babies is always a big turn off to me.  I really prefer to let my kids develop at their own pace.  I also really like the intimacy of sitting down with my kids, pencil, paper and a beginner phonics book.  I've had good success with this technique with my four kids who can read thus far.  In fact, they all love to read, and it's one of the few things that I can pat myself on the back about, with regards to raising my kids.

Ahem. Sorry - that was all about me.

So I was unsure if I'd like this set.  To begin with, when I opened the package, I was caught off guard with Volume Two.  I'd apparently missed Volume One, and I wonder if I'd have had more success if I'd started at the beginning.  There were also no directions in the package.  So I decided just to wing it.  There were two sets of cards - one larger stack of two sided cards, and a second, smaller set that featured a slide out section.  The second slide out card that I tried ripped.  The third card I tried stuck, and I wasn't able to get it back together.  Strike one for this set.  My husband thought that the slide out cards were created to save money, but it really backfired.  The two sided cards were preferred.

I started the dvd with my two non readers.  My youngest daughter has a mild form of autism, and she really liked the songs that were featured, as they are ones that she used in therapy, and we still sing them when we are doing therapy activities at home.  She liked seeing the other children, but didn't like when the words were shown on the screen.  It interrupted the flow for her. I struggled with trying to find the correct card from the stacks in time to catch up to the word on the screen.  It might have been easier if the cards were in order, but I didn't know that was necessary.  To be honest, I have no desire to try to keep a stack of cards in order all the time.

Ten minutes after I started the dvd, my 5 year old left the room, claiming that she was "bored" and it as too much work.  Two minutes later, my three year old left.  No amount of cajoling could bring them back in the room.  I tried twice more, with no more success. 

I wanted to like the set, but it was too much work for us, and too impersonal for my enjoyment.  Reading is a great activity to cuddle up on the couch with your child, not to sit in front of the television with flash cards.  I spend a lot of time chauffering my family around, and reading is the time for us to reconnect.  I'm sorry, I just didn't like this and wouldn't recommend it.  It smacked of "trying to make my kids better/smarter/faster", and I think that there is enough of that pressure out there without adding to it in the form of competetive reading.  Let babies be babies.