If I could go back and sit next to that little girl at Greenfield Elementary School, the one in the learning disabilities class (LD) who dreaded being called on to read out loud, I'd tell her this:

Honey, it's not because you aren't smart. Your brain just learns a different way, and one day that will be your superpower.

You're going to teach all four of your own kids to read. You're going to spend many years helping kids who feel exactly like you do right now, and you're going to watch them light up when the words finally click.

And one day, you're not going to just read a book. You're going to write an entire reading program for kids.

That day came. I have dyslexia and an auditory processing disorder. I know what it feels like to stare at a page that won't make sense and feel like everyone else got a secret you missed.

When I became a mom, my biggest fear was that my children would struggle the way I did. I was so worried they wouldn't be able to read and would grow up feeling stupid, like I did. So I taught all four of them to read at home, one sound at a time. One was reading at age two, and the other three by age four. My youngest son has dyslexia, ADHD and an auditory processing disorder, and he was reading by age four too. I volunteered in my sons' first- and second-grade classrooms to help the kids who were "behind" in reading, and then I became a private reading tutor for kids who find reading hard. I see that same worry on parents' faces every day, and I know how much it means when the words finally click.

Pulling Together Reading is everything I learned, written down so you can do it at your own kitchen table.

Simple on purpose. No teaching theories to study, no intimidating terms to learn, and no 20-plus pages of directions to read before you can start. Every page tells you exactly what to say and do, in plain words. All you need is a tablet or the book, you, and your kiddo. That's it. And if reading was hard for you too, you'll learn right alongside your child.

Why horses? Because horses tell you the truth. Rush, skip a step or lose your patience, and a horse lets you know right away. Young children are the same. They don't read your intentions; they read your energy, your consistency and your clarity. They just tell you more quietly, by guessing, shutting down or crying. Training horses taught me to slow down and break every big step into small ones, and that's exactly how every lesson in these books works.

Every lesson is built around small wins, because a confident reader keeps reading. Nothing beats the look on a child's face when sounds become words, words become sentences, and sentences become their own stories. Good reading help can cost $60 to $100 an hour, and many families can't pay that. I want every parent to have a clear, step-by-step way to teach reading at home, at a price they can afford, so no child has to grow up feeling the way I did.

Not sure where your child should start? Try the free placement readers below. The first one that feels hard tells you which book to begin with.

Karyn C. Potts