Learning to read is the most important thing for an education. It is how you learn almost everything else, including math. Schooling for my younger kids is focused almost solely on learning how to read and to understand what they are reading.
How do I teach my children how to read?
First we foster an atmosphere of reading:
♥ We read books to them starting when they are babies. We have loads of board books so the babies can actually handle and touch the books without destroying them.
♥ I point to words when I read to them. This has helped some more than others but they all enjoy it especially when I use their own little fingers to point to the words.
♥ We take turns during our family scripture study to read verses. I’ll work with the one who is learning to read earlier in the day going through the verse they will read over and over helping with harder words until they can read that verse by themselves.
♥ We talk about what we read. I ask them questions and we discuss what we read. This is especially helpful during our family read-alouds.
♥ We keep and continue to build a family library so there is easy access to good books for all ages, The Very Hungry Caterpillar to Virgil, Dr. Seuss to Dante, Paddington Bear to Plutarch.
Second we look for cues that they are ready to learn to read. I wrote a blog post about that over a year ago, Signs of Reading Readiness. Reading is so important it should not be forced upon your child until they are ready to learn – much like potty training. Don’t start at too early an age or else you will become frustrated and so will your child.
Our Curriculum Journey
Believe it or not the first program I used with my oldest two girls was Hooked on Phonics. I know, I know, it is an expensive program that isn’t the best one out there by a long shot. Those poor girls are the guinea pigs. I didn’t know any better so when I heard an advertisement for Hooked on Phonics {HOP} on the radio I ordered it. I got a discount for mentioning Rush Limbaugh’s name. He was sponsoring a program to increase literacy among school aged children. What I didn’t know was one person who ordered from each state would get the program for free. Guess who got the lucky draw for Nevada? Yup. We got HOP for free courtesy of Rush Limbaugh.
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| Cookie at age 5 doing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. |
While my kids enjoy the games and books from HOP it is not the main program I use in teaching them to read. Starting with Brownie {child #3} I have used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
After completing Teach Your Child to Read we move on to the games from HOP and simple easy reader books for phonetic practice. I like God is Good readers and Pathway Readers. We also read straight from the scriptures.
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| Cookie and Bon Bon caught reading one afternoon two years ago. |
After my children learn to read it is practice, practice, practice! They have required reading for school {complete with book reports} and other books they read for leisure. Grammar and spelling also become part of the curriculum {covered in the next homeschooling post} as well as language roots to decode the meaning of words.
I know most want a guide of some sort to help in teaching their children. Here are some wonderful resources and websites to aid you.
FREE RESOURCES:
Letter of the Week – as the name implies one letter of the alphabet is introduced each week. There are books to read, finger plays, science studies, art and music suggestions to go along with every letter.
Ambleside Online Year 0 – A HUGE list of wonderful books to read with your child.
Bry-Back Manor – Lots of printables to supplement any learning you do.
Starfall – Online games teaching children phonics
Language Arts Games from Shepphard Software – a good variety of engaging games
PURCHASED (or check your library)
Five in a Row – You read the same book every day for a whole week doing activities to go along with that book each day. Really a fun program!
Happy Phonics – Developed by a homeschooling mother of seven this is a game based phonics program ideal for those children who like to wiggle!
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons – I have used this program with success for the last five of my children. I didn’t know it existed with my first two.
What are some of your favorite children books? My boys will be 3 and 4 soon and it’s time to start building their library with new books. I’m exhausted by the same ol’ regulars…although they can now “read” them without my help.
Too many to post here in a comment. I’ll write a post with a BIG list. ☺
I am a firm believer in using the scriptures to help my children read. My son has gone from a picture-looker only to a chapter book reader over the past year, and I have done very little to push that along aside from expect him to read out loud from the scriptures each day. My five year old is coming along nicely and sounding out the short words from the scriptures already. It is a great blessing!
Reading the Book of Mormon daily helped my second daughter overcome her reading problems. Reading them daily is a must at our house! The blessings are too good. 🙂
I loved “Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons” and Letter of the week curriculum. I’m excited to start Five in a row with my soon to be 5 year old along with the 100 easy lessons that I used with his 3 other siblings. I too am a firm believer in using the scriptures. It really is a great blessing!
From the scientific point of view Teach your child to read is literally THE BEST, developmentally appropriate material you can use that I’ve seen. Another program that is absolutely phenomenal is Phonemic Awareness in Children found here
http://www.amazon.com/Phonemic-Awareness-Young-Children-Curriculum/dp/1557663211/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1340482680&sr=8-2&keywords=phonemic+awareness
I teach both programs side by side BUT NOT TOGETHER. Like I’ll teach one program in the morning then the other one in the afternoon.
Looking at how children develop their reading abilities these two programs side by side will teach the skills needed for easy AND sustained reading (meaning skills that will not disappear in the 3rd grade). The absolute best part? Both programs have a list of daily activities of what to do. Meaning Day 1 do this, day 2 do this…. EASY Peasy lemon squeezy!!!
OK for brain science geeks like me. There was a study performed to look at how people read. Results? The average reading level for an adult who is deaf is 3rd grade, for the blind? College level. Weird huh? Scientists wanted to find out why. It all comes down to sound and being able to manipulate phonemes (the smallest units of sound like mmmmm and bbbbb). The better a child, or adult is able to manipulate sound the better they read. That is why the blind end up on average reading better. Anyway in looking at the studies the developers of Phonemic Awareness in Children took the steps in learning phonemic awareness and put it together in a cohesive methodology that teaches and strengthens these skills in children. It literally is a PHENOMENAL PROGRAM.
Oh yeah just for fun when teaching a child to read/sound of letters a few easy tips
the bbbbbb sound is NOT pronounces buuuuu but biii. When pronouncing consonants at a i to the end of the letter instead of uuuu it makes the blending of letters easier for the kids.
Anyway my 2 cents. 😀
OH yeah I’ve taught 62 kids and counting how to read.
On my last sentence I meant add an “i” to the end of a consonant vs. an “uuuu”. It makes the blending of sounds easier for the kids when it comes to that.
Thanks for the scientific viewpoint. My geekiness loves it!
that’s awesome!!!! i never thought about how that can change things. i know adding the sounds together to make a word is something my niece has a hard time with. i may have to try this out with her. 🙂 thanks!
I’ve been using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with my oldest. We just finished Lesson 70, and I have been so impressed with it. Like you said, it teaches how to blend the sounds so well and also how to read silently and fluently. I’ve also been thinking about doing Five in a Row with him in the fall (he’ll be four in July). What age do you think it’s most appropriate for? I love the way it uses literature as a springboard for learning. Thanks for the additional resources!
Four is the perfect time to start, especially if they already know how to read.
Is there a certain curriculum you use for your older kids that already read well or do they pick books they like and write reports? How do you structure reading with your 7-8 year olds on up? I thought I had read you use Sonlight- do you use it with your older kids? Do you follow their reading curriculum? I am in the midst of wondering if I should find a curriculum or continue putting it together myself ( with the kids input)
I appreciate and value any thoughts! thanks!
I use Sonlight on up until high school {we do something else for that, which I’ll talk about in another post}. I use their reading curriculum and LOVE it! I don’t require book reports for every book that is read but enough that they learn to write well and articulate their thoughts and opinions about the books they read.
I am from the “read to them all the time” school. When our oldest was in the NICU, I didn’t know what else to do all day while sitting beside his incubator. I read to him – books, poetry, newspaper articles. I also sang – go figure 🙂 The others were read to also. I have really enjoyed watching them read to one another! I used HOP with our third mainly because someone gave it to us. She did learn a bit faster than the others. I would like to try the 100 Step system with Irish Jig. I will say I continue to be challenged with finding appropriate and interesting books for them at their different levels. The 14 year old boy, especially. He’s a non-fiction buff, so lots of poly-sci and biographies, but it isn’t all written for his maturation level, you know?
I can’t shout loud enough about Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I love it. I don’t follow the script to the ‘t’ but it’s so fantastic, and super effective. Love it.
I will have to check out the teach your child to read. Teaching my children to read has been the hardest thing next to potty training. My 6 year old is really struggling now. My 12 year old really struggled too. Even though I have always done your first steps. I have only had one child that just picked up and started reading young. And my kids are so close together I get one reading and it is time to start the whole process again. I will begin the alphabet and sounds with my next two kids in line very soon. For now it is a daily struggle having my 6 year old read to me. It is cerainly hard for both of us.