Finding a dedicated reading program

When Sean’s daughter, Molly, was 2.5 years old, he noticed her increasing interest in trying to read. As an engineer, he wanted to find the most efficient and effective way to support her. He diligently researched various methods, starting with letter flashcards, which helped Molly learn all the letter sounds. However, Sean struggled to find tools optimized for the next step of reading. “The greater ed establishment seems to hate rigor, efficiency, and automation,” he remarked.

Sean spent almost a year looking for a solution appropriate for Molly’s young age. He even wrote his own web app that adapted existing phonics curriculum into a web app. But existing curriculums, while rigorous, don’t solve the challenge of holding preschoolers’ attention. By the time Molly was almost 3.5, Sean still hadn’t found a curriculum that would engage her. So he began looking for alternatives and discovered Mentava on Twitter. 

Adopting Mentava’s method

Sean quickly realized that Mentava “completely removes the need for curriculum planning.” He can rely on Mentava to build Molly’s skills. The engaging activities made it much easier to keep Molly on task, during which “she was perfectly capable of comprehending and following the instructions.”

Sean’s confidence in his new tool was reinforced a few days in, “when [Molly] got to the first new material that wasn’t super easy for her and seeing it held her attention pretty well. I could tell [Mentava] was going to be an effective way to make steady progress.”

Although challenging, Mentava’s structure helped Sean and Molly stay on track. “The linear structure greatly reduces the burden of lesson planning and remembering what to review. You just sit down each day, pick up where you left off, and knock out some more activities, confident that review of what has already been taught will be smoothly integrated with the new material. Mentava gets this very important facet of the experience 100% right.”

Seeing results

In just four months, after dedicating 30-45 minutes each day, Sean and Molly completed Mentava’s reading curriculum. “She can now read 70-90% of the words in intermediate children’s books using the phonetic rules she has learned through Mentava,” Sean proudly shared.

Reflecting on his decision to commit to Mentava, Sean emphasized the value it brought: “Since the value of efficiently teaching a child to read early is more than the price of Mentava, and I couldn't find any other decent options, I was happy to pay and would do so again.”