Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
Struggling Readers
Do you have a struggling reader? I do and for the sake of his privacy, I am not going to share many details about him. He has struggled with reading since he was very small. I tried so many reading programs to teach him to read and he still struggled. Yes, some things helped, but he still struggles.
When I had the opportunity to try The Pride Reading Program, I jumped at the opportunity. However, since I have tried many reading programs, I was only cautiously optimistic. Although he was never formally tested, I suspect my son has mild to moderate dyslexia.
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Looking back on our “learning to read” journey, I had a lot of guilt over this child’s inability to read. I blamed myself for not being able to teach him how to read. I remember telling him out of frustration that he was not trying hard enough. When in reality, he just shut down to the learning methods that he could not understand.
My son also blamed himself, saying he was stupid and that he will never learn how to read. It broke my heart because this child is bright and very smart. He can fix just about anything. When I break something, I take it to this child to fix and usually, he can fix it. He also is very intuitive. He is able to observe farm animal behavior and predict what they will do next, assess their health, and provide care for them.
Enter PRIDE Reading Program
I had come to the point of frustration where I concluded I would try to get him to a functional reading level and hope for the best. But through a series of events which included the opportunity to try this PRIDE Reading program and my son realizing the importance of reading through an embarrassing experience we both had renewed motivation to improve his reading skills and ability.
If you have a struggling reading, please read on. The PRIDE Reading program did wonders for my son and I saw an improvement from the beginning. It can help your struggling reader too!
On-Line Student Assessment
Before ordering the curriculum, I gave my son an assessment. It consisted of long lists of spelling words that increased in difficulty. My son who struggles with spelling so I knew it would be difficult for him.
As far as the assessment, I wish the instructions were more detailed. I was confused about whether passing was less than 3 words or actually 3 words. However, I contacted customer service and they were so responsive to my questions. It was suggested that my son take a comprehensive reading assessment, but due to his frustration with spelling, I decided to go with the results of the online assessment.
Ordering Materials was super simple
Once I evaluated my son’s reading level results the order placement was extremely simple. The response from the customer service was quick. I received confirmation and download instructions were helpful.
Teacher Training
Once my order was complete, I was given a link that took me to a 3-hour training. My heart sank a little, thinking about having to go through 3 hours of training to teach my son how to read. I reluctantly signed in to my training. I was pleasantly surprised that the training consisted of many bite-size short videos with helpful instruction and real-life teaching examples. The training took me less than an hour and it was extremely helpful. I have even referred back to it when I had a teaching question.
What is Orton Gillingham?
PRIDE Reading Program uses the Orton Gillingham teaching method. I am going to be really honest. I had no idea what Orton Gillingham was before I started this program. You can read a helpful article, What is Orton-Gillingham? at Pride Reading Program Website. There are 6 elements to the Orton Gillingham Method
- Structured
- Sequential
- Cumulative
- Explicit
- Multi-Sensory
- Systematic Phonics
Here is a helpful graphic to explain each element of this structured literacy reading program.
PRIDE Reading Program Materials
I was very impressed with the materials included in the program. I received the student workbook, whiteboard, dry erase markers, eraser, sound cards, sound tiles, sound poster, 3 separate carrying cases for organization and online teacher instructions.
Teaching Pride Reading
My son’s test results placed him with the PRIDE Orange Book Program Kit – Level 2. I presented this program to my son as a tool to improve his reading. Since he is a hands-on type of child, he was excited to use the new tools in the toolbox of literacy.
My son responded positively to the variety of teaching activities. I was surprised at how much he enjoyed the kinesthetic activities. I thought he would think they were childish, but he really enjoyed them. However, I believe these activities also helped him retain the information he was learning. There is a spelling activity that you tap each letter down your arm. His spelling improved after doing this activity several times.
PRIDE Reading Program Results
The most surprising result of using the PRIDE reading program was my son’s new-found enthusiasm for reading. Every school day he would ask me if he could read first. This has never happened before. He asked me if we could read chapter books together. I noticed he was stumbling over fewer and fewer words. Then one day, just two weeks after starting the PRIDE Reading Program, I couldn’t find him. I finally located him reading independently in the hallway. Something, I had never seen before. I could have cried tears of joy.
My struggling reader was becoming an independent reader. This was a priceless homeschool mom moment for me. After years of struggling, he wanted to read. You cannot put a price on that. I attribute this change in my son to the PRIDE Reading program cracking the code to his reading puzzle. There was a reader locked inside my son. We just hadn’t found the key yet.
I was so impressed by the PRIDE Reading Program, I started using it with my younger, emerging reader. However, the Orange Level 2 Book was too difficult for him. I contacted PRIDE customer service and they sent me the PRIDE Yellow Level 1.
After using the Yellow Program with my younger son, I saw pretty immediate results with him too. Since he is younger, I do not complete a whole session’s worth of activities. I break it down into 2-3 days. However, he also was asking to read and partner reading with me after only a couple of weeks after using PRIDE Reading Program.
Overall Impression of PRIDE Reading Program
I was extremely impressed with the results I saw with both of my sons’ reading progress. Especially my older son. I could not be more pleased with his change in attitude towards reading. It has always been a frustrating struggle to get him to read. Now he asks me to read. I still cannot believe it.
The materials were wonderful. I loved that I didn’t need to provide my own dry erase board or markers. The teacher manual was online which reduced the need for those huge, cumbersome teacher manuals. However, if you don’t have a good internet service, I don’t know if this would be a problem. I really appreciated the online teacher training videos, even though, at first, I thought I would not like them.
The letter tiles and the activities that they are used for were wonderful. My sons enjoyed the games at the end of the workbooks. I was very happy with the storage bags that were included. Without them, I would have lost tiles, for sure.
I have very few concerns about the program. The only one is that the units are quite long and I usually split them up over a few days. I could tell when my son was getting fatigued with all the brain work, so I stopped because I did not want him to get frustrated with the program.
The number of sound tiles was a little overwhelming. I just further organized them into ziplock bags to curve the overwhelm. Problem solved!
Do you have a struggling reader?
If you have a struggling reader with whom you have tried numerous methods and programs, the PRIDE Reading Program may be for you. As I said earlier, it was the key that unlocked the reader within my son. I am forever grateful.
Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions about the PRIDE reading program. Check out some other PRIDE Reading Program reviews from more homeschool families.
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