Phyllis Schlafly wrote of her successful phonics training system:
“My book First Reader was published in 1994 and has been used to teach tens of thousands o f children to read. The hundreds of testimonials I received from parents who used First Reader have been so heartwarming. The greatest gift you can give a child is the skill of reading.
“First Reader is the perfect phonics reader to teach a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-year-old — and it’s so important to teach a child by a good phonics book before the school teaches the bad habits of guessing at words instead of sounding them out.
“However, many parents don’t realize that their child is not learning how to read — even though he is getting A’s on his report card. So after First Reader, I published a different version of my phonics reader in 2001 for the child who needs tutoring in the 3rd and higher grades. It’s called Turbo Reader, and the principal difference is that the pictures are more suitable for the older child.
“Of all the issues I work on, teaching children to read is the closest to my heart. Those who are skillful readers have the whole world open to them. Those who can’t read are closed off from our world of beauty and inspiration and idealism and creativity. Their understanding o f American history, religion, science, and politics will be limited to 20-second soundbites on television.
“I don’t believe America can survive as a free and independent country if half our population is only semi-literate, unable to read our United States Constitution. I urge all Americans to join with me in helping to make America a nation of readers.”
First Reader Workbook is made to work with First Reader to teach young children to write at home.
