Reading instruction in most local schools is in a state of crisis. Fully two-thirds of the nation's 4th and 8th graders are NOT proficient readers - this according to the US government publication Nation's Report Card. To rely on your local school to teach your child to read is to risk playing a form of Reading Roulette with your child's future. Don't do it. Parents have been teaching their own children to read for centuries. It's not difficult to do. All you need is a guide to help you perform the task in a manner that coincides with the reading science that has occurred in the last quarter-century. That science points to the use of Synthetic Phonics as the teaching method of choice. This book's Synthetic Phonics program will guide you as you teach your own preschooler how to read. No sight words, no guessing strategies are used. Using Synthetic Phonics, your child will learn how to decode unknown words by "sounding them out" into a full pronunciation. With minor adaptations, this book can also be used to teach older children, home-schooled children, or even illiterate adults. It's the ultimate guide for anyone wanting to bestow the gift of literacy.