Twaddle Free in a Twaddle Era

Charlotte Mason was vehemently opposed to what she labeled "twaddle". She said, "They must grow up upon the best. There must never be a period in their lives when they are allowed to read or listen to twaddle or reading-made-easy. There is never a time when they are unequal to worthy thoughts, well put; inspiring tales, well told" (Vol. 2, p. 263).

I agree. However, the writers of early readers do not agree. Have you read those books? In my efforts to find books my barely readers can read, I have paged through many an early reader. They take a while to get through because I fall asleep by the 3rd page.
(ok, so that isn't a good judge of a book. I fall asleep every time I read a book, just ask my kids) but emotionally I fall asleep on these books.

After scouring two full libraries I finally stumbled upon the answer. Baby books! That's right, take a step backward. Early readers are created based on number and type of words. The "story line" is about 10th in priority level. Those colorful board books were designed to delight brilliant babies. And many were designed to delight bored moms. They are clever, funny, and short w/ a lot of repeat and a lot of rhyming. Only about every 12th book in the baby section fits my criteria but we have found some gems.

Lists of Rhyming Words aka Word Families

On several occasions I have made up lists of rhyming words (or word families as they are apparently called). Then I stumbled on THIS wonderful site that had them all listed including a few fun ideas for using them.

-ab

cab dab gab jab tab crab drab

-ack

back hack Jack lack pack quack rack sack tack black clack crack knack shack slack smack snack stack track whack

-ad

bad tad glad fad clad dad brad had lad mad pad sad

-ag

bag gag hag jag lag nag sag tag rag wag brag drag snag flag

-ail

bail fail frail Gail hail jail mail nail quail rail sail snail tail trail wail

-ain

brain chain drain gain grain lain main pain plain rain Spain sprain stain strain train vain

-ake

bake brake cake drake fake flake Jake lake make rake shake snake stake take wake

-ale

bale Dale female gale inhale male pale sale scale stale tale whale

-all

ball call fall gall hall mall small stall tall wall

-am

am ham jam Pam Sam yam

-ame

became blame came dame fame flame frame game
lame name nickname same shame tame

-an

ban bran can clan Dan fan flan Fran man pan plan ran span tan than van

-and

and band bland brand grand hand land sand

-ank

bank blank clank crank dank drank flank Frank Hank lank prank plank rank sank shrank spank tank thank yank

-ap

apple cap chap clap flap gap happy lap map nap pap rap sap slap scrap snap strap trap wrap tap yap

-ar

are bar car far jar star

-ash

ash bash cash clash crash dash eyelash flash gash hash mash rash smash splash trash

-at

acrobat at bat brat cat chat doormat fat flat hat mat pat rat sat splat that

-ate

crate date gate grate hate Kate late locate Nate plate rate skate slate state

-aw

awful claw crawl draw drawing flaw gnaw jaw law paw raw saw straw strawberry thaw

-ay

bay clay day gray hay pay play say spray stay stray sway today tray way

-eat

beat cheat eating heat heater meat meatball neat repeat seat treat wheat

-ed

bed Ed fed Fred led Ned red shed sled Ted wed

-ell

bell cell fell seashell sell shell smell spell tell well yell yellow

-en

Ben den hen Jen men pen ten then when yen

-est

best chest contest crest forest jest nest pest rest test vest west

-et

bet get jet let met net pet set wet yet

-ice

dice ice mice nice price rice slice spice twice
-ick

brick chick click kick lick pick sick slick stick trick

-ide

bride glide hide pride ride side slide stride tide wide

-ig

big dig fig gig jig pig rig twig wig

-ight

bright fight flight fright knight might night light right sight tight tonight

-ill

bill chill dill drill fill grill hill Jill mill pill quill shrill sill spill still thrill will

-in

bin chin fin grin in into kin pin shin skin spin thin tin twin

-ine

dine fine line mine nine pine vine shine spine whine

-ing

bing bring cling ding king ping ring sing spring sting swing thing wing zing

-ink

blink drink ink kink link rink sink stink think wink

-ip

chip clip dip drip flip grip hip lip nip rip ship sip skip snip strip tip trip whip zip

-it

bit fit hit it kit knit lit pit quit sit slit

-ock

block clock dock flock hock knock lock mock rock shock sock smock stock

-oke

broke Coke joke poke smoke spoke stroke woke yoke

-og

bog clog dog fog frog hog jog log smog

-old

bold cold fold gold hold mold sold told

-op

chop crop drop flop gumdrop hop mop pop shop stop top

-ore

bore chore core lore more pore score shore snore tore wore

-ot

cot dot got hot knot lot not pot shot spot

-uck

buck Chuck cluck duck luck pluck stuck struck truck

-ug

bug chug dug hug mug rug slug snug tug

-um

chum drum glum gum hum plum strum sum swum yum

-ump

bump clump dump grump jump lump mump pump stump thump

-unk

bunk chunk dunk junk skunk stunk sunk trunk

Beginning Reader book idea

Tackler is reading books because I FINALLY found books on his level. There exists an entire industry of "easy readers" for teaching reading but they are ALL at the level beyond learning to read. If you can read level 1 books, you can read any book in the children's room. It's ridiculous. They completely missed the middle step. The only exception I found is the Bob Books that most people use and rave about but they are small, black and white and BORRRRRIng and I am not subjecting my kids to them.

I FINALLY had a lightbulb. Books made for infants are colorful, engaging and simple. I went through the infant shelves looking for books with simple rhyming words and found a huge stack he can read. Yesterday he read one that totally cracked him up. He read it a dozen times stopping repeatedly to laugh and say "This book is so FUNny." I wish I had it on video. It was hilarious to watch him enjoy a book so much.

The first page is the hardest. Most of the books I found have one sentence that changes slightly on every page so he has to struggle with the first page and feels overwhelmed but so excited when he realizes he can read the whole book. He is working his way through the stack and gaining confidence that he really can read.

Reading

I made up a reading flash card. It has all the common beginning and ending sounds and the vowels in the middle.
Every day I have the boys go through two cycles - first with beginning sounds (ball, fall, hall, small) , then with ending sounds (bad, ball, ban, bath, bat). We randomly pick which letters to use for each cycle.

It has really improved their confidence with reading. They have been reluctant to admit they know how to read and this has shown them they know more than they think. And of course, taught them too.