Institute of Reading DevelopmentReviews of readingprograms.org

I'm glad I signed up. My 5th grade son wasn't happy at first, but it didn't take long for him to get into it. The Zoom meetings intimidated him, but he had a great instructor who was animated and engaging. The first book, 'Tuck Everlasting', started off slow and wordy, and I began to dread getting into the program. However, by the third chapter, we didn't want to put it down. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was also a great read and my 7th grader sat in on the readings as well. We would read and discuss what or why something happened, which helped my son retain what he read. We were told what the books for the 5th grade program and he's onboard with starting a new class.

The teacher was very engaging and my son looked forward to class every week.

My son was enrolled in the 5th grade reading program. Due to Covid, he did the program online. He enjoyed the sessions and the books they read. We chose to sign him up to help him with his comprehension and also to get a better grasp on his abilities as he is newly home-schooled. He loved the online discussions and it seemed to have sparked more of an interest in him to truly understand what he is reading. If there is any area this program could improve in, it would be the writing component. It focuses mostly on adding details and better verbiage, which is great. However, there is little room for interaction or feedback from the writing coaches as it is suited for short response writing. Maybe this was our experience because the program we signed up for was shorter (about 6 weeks). It just seemed it was condensed into this short time frame. However, I would do it again; maybe this time, sign him up for a longer program (8 weeks). Overall, we enjoyed everything and did appreciate the great feedback our son received from the writing coaches. I just wish the program was a little longer.

My daughter very much enjoyed her summer reading program and the choices of stories. I had trouble getting in at first but was able to get support to get in and they were helpful. My daughter is on an IEP and did find it too be a little fast pace at times, as well as having a larger class made it difficult to focus on students who needed the extra support.

Our child enjoyed the class, and the instructor was great! Very nice and helpful. Our son didn't like the book selected for the class, wish it was more intestesting to engage him moreso. I read the book too and felt the same way. Overall, I felt this class was helpful to prepare him for middle school but it was too expensive for what we received.

Entering first grade review: How you and your child like this program depends on your goals. If your child has an interest in reading or wants to learn to read, this program will teach you and your child how to read using a model and repeat philosophy. You will read 1 line/1page/etc, then the child repeats the line and page. You then read the book for the whole entire week in hopes that your child gets to know the book well enough that they can start reading it independently. There are online homework assignments as well that follow up on phonics skills, such as letter sounds, sight words, and sounding out new words. For one of my kids it was not the right fit as he needs more help with sounding out words than working off memory. However, he still did improve some in reading skills. I really think it depends on the needs and willingness of the child as well. Enter Kindergarten review: My 4 year old found the lessons long but enjoyed being able to participate. He is advanced for his age so the phonics portions were a little easy for him (reviewing letters, sounds they make, and words beginning with that sound). This course is more reading books to the child than the child learning to read. There is one book that they do read with sentences like "I can dig." and some sight words.

It was hard to make my child to sit and get ready for the lessons during summer break. But as soon as she was on it, she was interested in reading and answering text’s quizzes. She got that freedom to write her own opinion about the characters in the stories which benefited her in the end. But I felt like it was not a good value for the money because it was virtual.

Overall great program and concept