Frequently Asked Questions

Can I really teach my child to read?

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Can I teach just one child with this game?

With this game we have taught from one to eight children at a time. Four characters come with the game, and we encourage family involvement. Older children often love helping their younger siblings learn to read, and younger children feel validated by such.

We have taught one child at a time, and I have personally taught as many as eight at a time by adding some characters. One can even teach children at different levels by using different letter spaces for different needs such as Spanish for older children, letter recognition for the tiny ones and phonic sounds for the beginners.

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How To Help Children Who Are Having Trouble Blending The Phonic Sounds To Form Words

I find the most common cause of this problem is the child has learned to enunciate the phonic sounds in a way that makes it difficult for them to blend the sounds for forming words. So if your child knows their phonic sounds, but cannot form words adequately, I recommend doing the following before you purchase anything:

· First make sure they are enunciating the phonic sounds in such a way that enables them to hear the normal blending of words. One can learn more about this on our three free videos page ("Hear Phonic Sounds"). In most cases that is all that is needed to solve the problem, and the child takes off reading with flying colors.

· However sometimes children need more. For example I had a group of kids who were pronouncing the sounds incorrectly. I instructed them to the correct way, and most began reading except for one little girl. So, with her, I used the board to teach blends by placing them on the board (example: sm, sma, small), and playing the game as usual.

She soon began reading the books in the game, but when she came to large words she still struggled. So I then put that word on the board. On the board she would sound it out easily, and I would immediately return her to the book. Apparently she had the mind set that she could not read books as well as the other kids, but she was confident with the board game. I gradually weaned her from the board.

This child not only caught up with her class, she became one of the top readers. The teacher reported that it even improved her spelling, and she graduated with her class. You can read some of what the teacher had to say about this child by clicking HERE, and going to the very bottom of the page.

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Children older have learned from using the game. However we find that some feel like asking them to read the enclosed early reader books is treating them like a "baby" even if they are unable to read them. In those cases we like to have them help us teach a younger child. That works very well because one learns more in the role of a teacher. The old one room country schools were very successful using this technique.

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(1) The order in which the letters are taught makes it possible for the children to read the books within the game, and the books are in an order of progressive difficulty.

(2) Some programs require a child to learn all the phonic sounds before reading. However it is important for the student to relate phonic sounds with reading as quickly as possible. So in this game children will read their first book after learning the first eight sounds, and will continue to read as they are learning.

(3) the order in which you are guided to teach the letters also coincides with the public school system's order, and the order of "Bob Books". Thus books are interchangeable, and the game works harmoniously with children who are home schooled and children who are in the public school system, making it a great tutoring tool or professionals and parents.

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In the Florida public school system teachers normally decide right after the Holidays who will likely fail, and an inability to read is predominantly the reason this happens.

In the seventies I was working as a para-professional in a government funded program called Follow Through, and those of us in that program were trained by psychologists on how to work with the children. During that time I was given my first eight kids who were picked to fail. No one told these eight children they were going to fail. But they, and the whole class were well aware they were not reading like most of their peers. They were at the bottom of the totem pole, and were often called "dummies". It was heart breaking watching them trying to gain some sort of self esteem by climbing over each other, calling one another "dummies".

After the teacher told me I was to teach these children to read, I went home feeling over whelmed. I knew these kids were smart, and I just could not give up on them. One can just imagine what I was feeling. So, what did I do? I prayed. That night the whole concept came to me in one dream.

I returned to the class, and began teaching them as the dream had instructed. As a result, seven of the children caught up with their class, passed the end of the year reading exam, and graduated on time. I wish you could have been there to see the excitement as all eight kids read their first book, and found out they could read. This curriculum/ game has since made a big difference in many children's lives (both in the public schools and home school environments), and it is exciting. However I cannot honestly take credit for what came to me in that dream.

In 2004 my daughter, DeeDee Laux, who is a veteran home school mom added some exciting features like the rings of knowledge. She also helped me develop the early reader books. Thanks also goes to DeeDee along with her home school group, light House, who all helped to develop the instructions. Dan Becker, a college English professor, edited the books. Kim Becker, a professional game designer did the art work, and created our logo (The Code Man). Kim also was a great blessing when she managed the production. I recommend Kim if ever you wish to manufacture a game. It was manufactured here in the U.S. by FRV making it available to you and your child.

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