As homeschoolers, there are so many skills we teach our children, but none is more important than how to read. The ability to read and do it well often determines how your child will progress through his education. Reading for most children is not a challenge. Then at times, there are children who experience reading difficulty due to struggles with conditions like dyslexia or are just new readers who are learning how to put the patterns of language together as rapidly as the average reader. Those students may excel in other academic subjects, but their inability to read well slows them down and eventually leaves them far behind their peers. Parents of those children are often left at a loss as to how to help their child make the connection. Unless the student hones the skill, they will not continue to advance as an at-grade-level reader.

Author Sarah K. Blodgett was one of those parents who watched her own child struggle with reading. If you have ever been in that position, you understand the helplessness that may ensue.  Rather than giving up, Blodgett relied on her background in research. The result is Noah Text, which is one of those, “Now, why didn’t I think of that?” ideas.

The concept behind Noah Text is quite simple. Noting the complexity of the English language, Blodgett focuses on the “code” or patterns used in teaching reading. The recognition of syllables and vowel sounds in words is further defined by highlighting and bolding those areas in the sentences students read. Learning the language patterns of words is easier with visual reminders as students move through the words in each sentence. Students navigate through text that notes the patterns in the words, which helps them improve their reading fluency and comprehension.

Blodgett has created three reading levels for Noah Text.

1. Example of Noah Text highlighting syllables and long vowels - For maximum benefit.

Abigail is too busy taking instructions from her uncle to pay any attention to Frank.

2. Example of Noah Text highlighting syllables - For slightly more skilled readers.

Abigail is too busy taking instructions from her uncle to pay any attention to Frank.

3.  Example of Noah Text with plain text - For proficient readers.

Abigail is too busy taking instructions from her uncle to pay any attention to Frank.

Using all three levels of text presentation, Blodgett has written a chapter book series, The Mystical Years of Franklin Noah Peterson, which includes three volumes. Blodgett uses the same specific text in all three volumes of each level of the books in the series. It is that consistency that helps build a level of comfort in the struggling reader. As the student grows in his confidence with reading, the Noah Text graduates with him allowing the student to move from the visual support to eventually reading plain text without the coding of the words. Whether the student needs to rely on the Noah Text patterns throughout all three books in the series, he will still be able to feel a sense of accomplishment as he turns and reads the last page of the chapter book.

Blodgett’s use of Noah Text in the books she writes helps the struggling reader jump aboard with his peers, while reading a chapter book, and ends the cycle of him being left behind. I am extremely pleased with how Noah Text helps the struggling reader come into his own as a proficient reader. My son was quite pleased being able to read through a chapter book series on his own. He also enjoyed the story. I only hope Blodgett continues to author more books using Noah Text or can translate some pre-existing titles, so more children may enjoy the stories.

If you have a new reader who you would like to get off to a good start before they tackle chapter books, Blodgett has also written early readers that note the rimes* and long vowels and rimes only in the text to promote reading fluency. The goal is for a child to graduate from a Noah Text reader and become a plan text reader. Until then, Noah Text books will help your child, who is of chapter book reading age, become one of the group.

*Note: The word “rime” is a linguistic term and refers to the pattern of letters starting with the vowel and going to the end of the syllable.

-Product review by Jennifer Smeltser, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, June, 2017