Posted in Reading
When my oldest son was three years old he started asking me to teach him to read. Hmmm.....not having a clue what to do (he already knew his ABC's), I told him to wait until he turns four. I then started trying to learn how to teach a child to read. I came across some wonderful little booklets by Ruth Beechick -- now sold as one book titled The Three R's -- that ended up teaching me about teaching reading, writing and arithmetic! I highly recommend this book for anyone with young children!
I then discovered Bob Books -- some very simple little phonics readers. Nothing fancy or eye-catching.....but the first time we started reading them, my son read his first book! (Of course, the book may only have four to six words used differently to make up different sentences....but he was reading!) This was very, very motivating to him and we went through the Bob Books. (Back when I got these, there were only three boxes of them to go through. They have improved upon these readers since then). By the time my son finished reading all of the Bob Books he was able to start reading a 2nd grade reader. He has been an avid reader ever since.
I used this same approach with all of my kids because it worked so well the first time around. It was a very relaxed approach -- sit on the couch and read together! Very low-key but very effective. By the time I was teaching the third son, we struggled a bit more and I could see that I needed something in addition to the Bob Books. I came across a wonderful reading curriculum that went right along with this same approach. It is called Reading Made Easy by Valerie Bendt. I didn't do everything exactly like it says in the book (I try to make everything as easy on me as possible so if I was supposed to make something for a lesson, I think I just covered things up in the book and had him look at the example in the book instead of actually making it). Anyway, I used a combination of Valerie's book and Bob Books and my son learned to read and is a great reader today!
I think the other important thing to make note of here is that we always had a quiet reading time after lunch each day. You could nap or you could read. (When you were a child, which would you choose???) Sometimes they would choose to read and then fall asleep and take a nap. To raise kids that love to read, you have to allow them the time to do lots of reading for their own enjoyment. (That doesn't mean don't help them choose wholesome character-building books to read). Reading has always been a part of our lives that we thoroughly enjoy!
Note: Something I should add here....Although my oldest son was an early reader and I used the same approach with all of my kids, they all learned to read at various ages and at their own pace. I really followed their leading and interest level in this area. We had times when they wanted to read Bob Books daily and there were times when we might go several weeks without even looking at one. I really think we should not rush our kids or pressure them into learning to read. Make the learning process enjoyable and they will probably become lifelong readers. Just my opinion.
