I think the best gift I ever got was the gift of reading – just as my Mom was taught to read at age 3, she taught me to also read at a very early age (not quite 3 but pretty close), passing along a great love of books and opening up whole worlds and vistas to my mind and soul, letting me share in other people’s lives, real and imaginary, albeit vicariously, through their writing. Being able to read provides me with a way to entertain myself and others, learn new skills, have a laugh, keep current with what’s going on around me, stay safer by being able to understand the precautions on warning labels, and so much, much more. Who wouldn’t want the people they love to have those abilities?

Developing a passion for reading, though, begins with being able to actually read. Teaching reading to others, though, is hard for most people. For most of us, it’s been a LOT of years since we originally learned, and we know how to read, but probably don’t remember how we actually learned to do it. (I know I don’t remember the steps – only that I couldn’t live without reading since I learned!)

If you’re not sure where to start in your teaching efforts, however, there are some great inexpensive programs/eBooks you can use at home to help you and whomever you’re trying to teach, whether it’s your kids or someone else who wants or needs to get better at it:

Uncle Rogers Reader: Teach Your Child To Read With Uncle Rogers Multi-sensory Phonics Learning System — Guaranteed! Download This Program Immediately And Begin Teaching Your Child How To Read With Linguistic, Multi-sensory And Phonics Methods No Matter What Their Skill Level

Phonogram Secrets Revealed! & Phonogram Flash Cards: Sensationally Boost Your Child’s Spelling, Reading And Writing Quickly And Easily With Only 45 Phonic Sounds. Research Based Instantly Printable Phonogram Flash Cards. Step By Step Lessons, Audio/video Lessons, Phonics List, Resources, & Printable Sheets.

Robot Reader Reading Games And Phonics Games: Reading Games And Phonics Games For School Or Homeschool Education – Full Color Professional Games To Print Directly From Your Computer – Print Board Games, Card Games, Bingo Games, Domino Games And More.

Frontline Phonics: A complete beginning reading program for parents to teach their child to read at home.

Learn to Read Kindergarten System by Hooked on Phonics
Phonics from A to Z (2nd Edition)
Month-by-Month Phonics for Upper Grades: A Second Chance for Struggling Readers and Students Learning English

And while the titles are a tad insulting ;), these are really great books to use, too:

Teaching Kids to Read for Dummies by Tracey Wood
Phonics for Dummies by Susan Greve

If you want to give a gift to your child or anyone else that will last a lifetime, teach him or her to love reading and to do it well. Remember, the earlier a person learns, the easier school will usually be, and the easier reading is, the more it will become a lifetime passion, helping out pretty much in all aspects of life….

(If you already know how to read well, but need to be able to do so faster, either for fun or for work, don’t forget to check out the 16-Minute Speed Reading Audio Program. It’s The Fastest Speed Reading Course That Doubles Your Reading Speed In Just 16-Minutes! As they say, “Double your pleasure, double your fun”…)