Teach Your Child to Read

Each Tuesday I am sharing resources that I recommend for PreK-K, and last week I discussed a Handwriting curriculum.  In the Three R’s (reading, writing, and arithmetic), one goal is to get your child on the right track as far as reading goes.

I have personally used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with both of my children starting roughly around 4 years of age.  I learned some things with my first and incorporated those with my second for even better results!  Let me share some of my tips about using this book and teaching reading in general:

• Do not incorporate the handwriting exercises – it can be very frustrating for most children.  See the Handwriting post for other resources.
• Only do what your child can handle in one sitting – it is more important to do a little each day than it is to complete a whole lesson each day
• Don’t expect 100 EASY lessons – each child has her own struggles, so don’t get frustrated
• Be consistent – you want to develop a love of learning, but this love is only developed by exploring something every day
• Make flashcards or purchase the flashcards for the sounds, and use them as a game – this can be done in place of a lesson when your student seems frustrated
• When you have completed the lessons, don’t forget to use the reading list in the back of the book to introduce your children to REAL books

There are many wonderful reading resources out there, and I chose this reading resource as my first option mainly due to the low cost.  My thought was that if it worked, then I saved lots of money!  Most of the other reading programs involve hundreds of dollars, especially if you purchase all the manipulatives, books, and supplemental materials.  I did use A Beka’s Handbook for Reading as a followup with my first child, and their early phonics program is highly recommended by even public school teachers.  Another resource that is recommended is The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading which gives more phonics structure and involves more lessons.

If you want FREE resources for teaching reading, you will want to check out Starfall, an online phonics course.  Also, you can visit my Delicious page here for links to other FREE online resources and phonics courses.

After establishing a student’s phonics foundation, I encourage the reading of REAL books.  As they start reading library books, they begin to feel confident in reading in every day life.  There are so many wonderful stories and things to explore!

Once a child can read, they have the ability to learn anything.  You have given them the tool to interact with and discover the world around them.  If you never get to teach him science or history or economics or chemistry, he now has the ability to learn independently.  So, don’t give up and hang in there as you develop and deliver this wonderful gift to your child!