When my son finished second grade he still couldn’t read most words. The whole thing was heartbreaking. He didn’t know how to read, and I didn’t know how to help him.
He was going to school, he had good teachers, and he’d grown up in a house full of picture books and readalouds since he’d been a baby. And everyone told me he just needed more practice. “He needs to be reading to you for thirty minutes a day,” they all said.
I figured they were probably right so I dutifully followed their advice… until the results stopped me in my tracks.
His struggles didn’t go away. But his excitement for reading did.
The very thing that was meant to help him learn how to read was robbing him of his desire to become a reader. The worst part… reading wasn’t getting any easier.
The Long Road of Trying Everything — and Still Getting Nowhere
I spent five long, hard years floundering and failing, buying more and more beginning reader books, giving one on one attention through homeschooling, investing in expensive curriculum, signing up for computer programs, receiving special ed services through the school district, and enlisting tutors to the cause. We made a little progress but not nearly enough, and I felt totally and completely defeated.
The moment I accepted the hard truth that I had not one but two struggling readers on my hands was the moment I set out to learn how to teach my kids to read for real.
Not to become a certified reading tutor (although eventually I did).
Not to create a reading program for our older struggling readers (although eventually I did that too).
I simply wanted to solve this heartbreaking puzzle for my two kiddos at last. My son was 12 and my daughter was 8.
The One Sentence That Changed Everything I Believed About Reading
I was sitting in one of my reading intervention trainings. And honestly, it was a complete firehose moment. You know those? When so much is coming at you, it’s all brand new and all unfamiliar, and you can’t possibly take it all in. Until she said: A child doesn’t learn how to read by reading books.
There it was. Years of frustration explained in a single sentence.
I was trying so hard to raise confident readers. (I had the shelves upon shelves of books to prove it.)
I just had no idea that there was, in fact, a far better way to help him get there.
Our kids aren’t struggling because they aren’t capable. They’re struggling because they’re missing the critical reading skills they need. And because, despite our best intentions, what we’re doing isn’t actually helping them.
Which, of course, changes everything.
What Struggling Readers Actually Need (It’s Simpler Than You Think)
As I dove into reading intervention, I discovered something surprising. It turns out, helping struggling readers isn’t about doing hundreds of complicated things.
It actually boiled down to a few mercifully simple things done consistently, day after day:
- Short explicit instruction
- Lots of practice with single words
- Regular experiences with readalouds
Simple.
But learning the ins and outs of how to teach reading? Well, that turned out to not be quite so simple.
It was quite the undertaking, actually. And when I finished I could imagine all the amazing parents, like you, who were already doing everything they could. And certainly didn’t have the time to become a reading specialist.
And so I created the Truly Reading Club so you wouldn’t have to.
The Truly Reading Club is a plan (and all the pieces needed) to give your struggling reader those three essential things they need to become the reader you know they can be. I created this program to help my kids stop struggling. My hope is it will help yours too.
An At-Home Reading Program Built for Families Like Yours (and Like Mine)
Everything inside Truly Reading Club was intentionally designed around one question: How can I help parents give their kids what they actually need and make it simple enough to stick with (plus engaging enough to enjoy)?
Here’s where it led me.
Lessons That Don’t Make Big Kids Feel Like Beginners
Big kids have a unique set of challenges. They’re already expected to read big words in big passages. They’ve learned ways to get by that make it extra tricky for us parents to know how much of a struggle reading really is. And, of course, by the time they’ve spent years struggling, they’ve lost a lot of self confidence (and joy around reading) along the way.
And so inside the Truly Reading Club I keep lessons focused and to-the-point and teach kids how to break apart big words from the very start, in every single lesson, with every single new reading rule.
Kids immediately feel empowered to start tackling big words and don’t feel like they’re making their way through another beginning reading program for little kids.
And alongside all the reading skills I weave in a generous helping of confidence boosters and useful nuggets they can use everywhere. Kids aren’t just learning how to read. They’re learning about their brain and how to make learning something hard easier, and I’m constantly helping them notice their progress.
Fun, Screen-Free Reading Practice (Yes, Even for Big Kids)
My kids were in 4th and 8th grade when I created this program… and still very much struggling readers. You might think they were too old to be interested in games for practice. Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, they weren’t. Big kids aren’t.
In fact, most struggling readers are more than happy for a reading game in place of 30 minutes with a book. Especially when it involves a parent who’s willing to sit side by side and do the work right along with them.
Many, many afternoons were spent playing these practice games with my two kiddos. At first, it all felt like a big experiment. Introduce the game, brace myself for resistance, try to play it cool when they not only enjoyed it but asked to play again, then sneak away to my notebook to add it to my “big kid” arsenal.
Everything I’d learned in my training told me games weren’t only fun, but were one of the most effective ways to practice. Games create repetition without resistance. They keep it low-stress. Five to ten minutes of reading practice has never been easier.
I just hadn’t anticipated it working so well with big kids too. Go figure.
Make learning fun and you make learning easy.
Real Progress in Weeks, Not Years
There are a lot of reading programs out there. Before I dove into the world of reading intervention I accumulated quite a collection of them, myself. And they all assume our kids have years to make their way through them. Beginning readers do. But for our big kids? Those years have come and gone and they need those missing reading skills now.
It’s true our kids won’t become strong, confident readers overnight. But it doesn’t need to take years of struggle either.
Small daily consistent action can build the foundation your struggling reader needs. And it can happen in a matter of weeks.
Momentum is built by small, consistent efforts that compound over time. Not solely with the weekly deep dives of a tutor, or random one on one time with a teacher, but with the relatively unglamorous tiny steps taken in between… day by day.
Truly Reading Club is designed around short daily action that builds momentum.
Just 20–30 minutes a day. Four or five days a week.
Tiny steps. True progress.
Ready for Reading to Finally Click for Your Struggling Reader?
Friend, I don’t know where you’re at.
Maybe you’re just now realizing your child isn’t reading as well as you thought or maybe you’ve noticed certain reading issues refuse to resolve. Maybe you’re not sure where to start, or maybe you’ve tried it all and still not seeing the progress you’d expect.
But here’s the truth: your child is capable. They just need a different path forward. And so do you.
If you’re tired of feeling stuck and just want to see your child light up with progress (with less stress and more confidence), you’re in the right place.
Together, you and I can help your child go from struggling to truly reading.
I created Truly Reading for families like mine and like yours — because your child deserves reading help that works… and you deserve a simple path forward that gets them there.
You’re not behind. You’re already on the path.
And your confident reader? They’re closer than you think.
Start with an easy first step: Grab the Starter Pass for $37 and your child can start real lessons this week.
Ready to go all in? Enroll in the Truly Reading Club
Whatever you and your child’s reading journey has looked like, and wherever you decide to go from here, I hope it’s filled to the brim with progress, delight and books you both love.
Truly,
Anne