How to Improve Reading Skills in Just 5 Minutes a Day… for Anyone!
December 4th, 2023
One homeschool mom discovers a fun and easy activity to improve reading and comprehension skills in 5 minutes a day.
This is a guest post from Celena Marie. Celena Marie is a historical fiction writer and graduate school student majoring in Elementary Education. She has been homeschooling her four kids for six years and absolutely loves it!
When I first heard of Bonnie Terry’s 5 Minutes to Better Reading Skills program, I assumed it was only for beginning readers. Not so! It’s for everyone! My kids from 3rd to 6th grade are already benefiting from it and we’ve only been using it for a week. Their reading speed, confidence, and comprehension are going up by leaps and bounds!
Is it really only 5 minutes a day?
Is definitely is! For 3 to 4 minutes, your student practices the words they’ll be drilling. Next, they do the drill and see how many words they can read with 4 or fewer errors in one minute. My kids look forward to it, begging to be first or to do the drill a second or third time, trying to beat their score. I drilled myself and it was definitely fun!
After the drill, the student colors in their word count for that day on a bar graph chart. There are three different charts to choose from based on how high they’re aiming for. Every day, they love seeing how much they’ve improved… and if they haven’t improved much, they always ask me if they can drill again and laugh as they speed read their words.
Check out how much fun they have and just how simple it is in our video.
How it works
The program is set up to incorporate every vowel and consonant combination in the English language with lots of review built-in. The way the words are printed helps students pull the words together and even helps their eye muscles work in a way that lends to faster, more accurate reading habits.
The students continually work towards reading more words per minute, not only on the workbook pages but in real life. A handy chart shows their progress with a bar graph so they can see and record their improvement every day.
Who’s it for?
It really is for everyone! After all, did you know that 64 percent of American 4th graders can’t read grade-level text? And 67% of eighth-graders can’t. It’s a common problem but it’s easily fixed by devoting just a couple of minutes at least twice a week. We use 5 Minutes to Better Reading in a homeschool setting and it’s perfect because of that very reason. Likewise, it’s perfect for a private or public school setting. So simple to use that students can even drill each other!
Why you need it
My kids are all incredible readers… but they’re not fast readers. Most people aren’t. My hubby is super slow and wishes he wasn’t. I’m fast — I got 175 wpm when I drilled myself; the goal speed for an adult is 170… but most of my kids seemed to be following in my hubby’s footsteps. Enter Bonnie Terry’s 5 Minutes to Better Reading Skills and they’re on their way to being fast readers who will be able to digest more whether they’re reading for academics or pleasure!
Why I love this specific curriculum
Besides all of the benefits faster reading brings, I love this specific curriculum for many reasons. First, it’s so easy. I read the short intro in a couple of minutes and was ready to start it with my kids. The charts included in the curriculum make it simple to see where your children are and where they need to be at a glance. Everything is straight forward and is set up in the most convenient way imaginable for the best results possible. I’m so glad to have found this program! Now let’s see if I can get my hubby to let me drill him…
