May. 30, 2009 - How to teach a child to read 101
One comment I've heard over the years from moms who would love to homeschool, but aren't yet is, "I don't think I could ever teach my child to read." Let me assure you that if you can read, you can teach your child to read! Some parents freak out at the thought of teaching their kids kindergarten, when actually it is just an extension of what you have already been doing. You taught that child to talk...by them listening to you....they aren't speaking Chinese afterall. You teach them coutning by counting toes and everything else, you teach them to go on the potty, what animal sounds are, the shapes, colors. Honestly, kindergarten is just a continuation of that.
To build a solid foundation to reading, a child must be read to. What child doesn't enjoy being read to? As much as you can, read read read to those tiny blessings! From picture books, from the Bible, from picture encyclopedias, anything they love. My 2yr LOVES any Dr Seuss book. (Hello, hello, do you like my hat? I do not like your hat. Good by again, Good bye!)
She has also got the whole family crazy about all the funny little Boynton books. (Red Hat Blue Hat, Snuggle Puppy, my favorite Barnyard Dance, Cows etc)
Anyway, I wanted to share how I teach a child to read. You must know that there are as many different ways to teach as there are homeschoolers...and no method is probably better than any other, though I personally think Phonics is the best way to go...there are thousands of ways to do that.
Here is what has worked for me...who is teaching #5 to read right now.
Read a lot to them the first few years. When they are about 18+ mos, have them begin watching LEAP FROG LETTER FACTORY a few times every week. This 30 minute DVD has taught 2 of my kids letter sounds painlessly without me. And it helps when I put it on when I'm doing school with the older ones and need it quiet for 30 min so we can dig deep into Student of the Word or History. The next one in the series is great too once they are about 2. TALKING WORDS FACTORY. It shows them how 3 letters get put together to make a word.
I also work with 2-4 yr olds in making their very own Alphabet Notebook. I have done this 2 ways and they are both fun. For the 2-3 yr olds, I print out a coloring page of each letter and they color it and we talk about the letter sounds. I find the pages here on LEARNING PLANET.
For the older 3 and 4 yr olds, I get a 3 ringed notebook with 26 pages of cardstock, punch holes and write the big and little letter of each letter on one page near the top about 3" tall. Then I get out some old magazines and they cut out pictures and put the picture on the page that the letter starts with. So if they cut out a dog, it does on the "D" page. A toothbrush goes on the "T' page. They think it's great and it helps them start to hear the beginning letter sounds.
Usually around their 4th birthday, I will have them go through the Explode the Code Primer books.
Once a child knows all their letter sounds, I grab the first set of Bob Books. This is a little box with 12 tiny books in them. The first book, called "Mat" has 8 pages. It goes something like this:
Mat
Sam
Mat sat
Sam sat
Mat sat on Sam
Sam sat on Mat
Mat sat
Sam sat
The End.
Most of my kids have been able to read these around 4. Some as young as 3, but those were the first few when I had more time to work on "school" with them.
They feel so proud that they read a whole book!
Once they start to read the first few Bob Books, I jump into Explode the Code book 1 and have them continue to read Bob books to me each day as they get progressively harder.
Another set of readers that I'm using right now with Jubilee is Christian Liberty Press Kindergarten Readers. She has really been enjoying this. We just work on reading for about 10 minutes, do a page of Explode the Code and she is really taking off in her reading at 4 yrs 10 mos.
That is really all their is to it. She understands the concept of reading and sounding out words. We just plug along with Explode the Code, and spend 10 minutes a day reading the Bob Books or her readers and that is really all a 4 yr old needs and can handle at a time. She BEGS to do school with me, so it's not a chore either. SLowly the readers get harder, introduce new sound combinations, new blends, new sight words and long vowels and before you know it, they are grabbing books off the shelf and reading themselves.
Also, with my first 4 children, I did most of the above, but once they were reading Bob books, I did the Explode the Code and also used Learning Language Arts Through Literature Blue and Red books for 2 years. That was very easy to teach them reading, but the new approach above seems to be working just as well with Jubilee and is much less work for both of us.
Like I said, there are many ways, and mine isn't the best, but it's worked with 5 children. I just thought if you wanted to teach your child to read but had no idea how to start that this would be helpful.
Comments
May. 30, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by HSBCompanyBlog
Great post! With two of my children we were working on phonics and then they were looking at Green Eggs and Ham and the next thing I knew, and to their total excitement, they were reading! Not sure why that book unlocked things for them. It wasn't planned, that's just how it happened. Still I keep the book handy for the rest of my children, you never know!
May. 31, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by momanna98
We love Bob books and Leap Factory! We use those! I also used Abeka reading for my first 2. I worked a little with my 4 yo last year, but she wasn't quite ready. I should try again. She is almost 5 now. My first two started reading at 3. But, like you said, the more kids you have, the less time there is. :-) Of course, now that I think about it, my fourth child is 3 now. I better get cracking!
May. 31, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by 4sweetums
We use many of those books too. I am teaching the last two to read right now.
Blessings,
Dawn
