Because I have a masters degree in early childhood {reading/curriculum development} people often assume that I have all the answers to homeschooling. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I struggle just like you do to make excellent selections for my kids. There are so many great options out there and the best choice for a family isn’t always black-and-white. Homeschool curriculum is not one-size-fits-all. We need to be careful about making assumptions when we listen to the advice of others in this area.
But, we all want guidance. We want to hear how curriculum has worked or not worked for others. We want to hear how effective a particular method has been in training a child. Talking to others can help us make great choices for our kids. So, if you promise to remember that I’m just one person with one set of ideas that MIGHT be a great fit for you… I will humbly share my methods with you.
How do you teach a child to read?
It starts early. Very early. But it’s not rocket science. You don’t need flash cards, expensive tutoring, or sign language. (Of course, none of those things is necessarily bad.) You simply need books. Lots of them. When baby is little and getting lots of gifts, why not ask for books? Choose picture books with beautiful illustrations and rich text. Not LOTS of text, but excellent text. Rhyming and rhythm are wonderful. Seek books that flow beautifully. Then put baby in your lap and read, everyday, as often as you can.
The idea? To demonstrate and foster a love for books, language and learning. For more ideas on ways to encourage the love of reading, check out Growing Readers.
Teaching a two or three year old
This is often the point when parents want to sit their child down and teach them to read. Maybe this is a good idea, but chances are- it’s not. Resist the urge to push right now. If your child has an interest, great. If not, leave it alone. If there is an interest, play games, read more books, and use computer programs such as the one listed below. You might also buy some apps for your ipads or iphones. These can be great tools. {See my favorite Apps for Reading.}
Teaching a four or five year old
Usually, there comes a point in late preschool, early kindergarten when your child is reading for reading instruction. Chances are, if you had lots of natural reading exposure in your home, your child knows how to handle books, can tell stories, and even knows his/her letters…all without you directly teaching a thing. But for most, learning to blend the letter sounds into words doesn’t happen on accident. So, what can you do?
I’ve done many different things: Teach your child to read in 20 easy lessons, Bob book readers, and a few boxed curriculums. I’ve really found that these things are not necessary. At this stage of the game, I like to use technology. Yep, I know it gets a bad rap sometimes, but I have found one program that absolutely rocks: ReadingEggs.com
When I was first introduced to it, I thought it was just a silly game that would be a good way to use time, but have only minimal benefits. Wrong. This program TEACHES your child to read. It’s systematic, repetitive, and based on cutting-edge research. Nathan started using this program and within a few months, I was shocked that he was reading well, at 5 years old.
In fact, I was so impressed that I started using the program with my 2nd and 3rd graders, too. They love how the lessons earn them eggs that they can use in the “mall.” The program is fun and engaging and it works on those skills that can be hard to develop like comprehension, summarizing, vocabulary and standardized testing skills.
ReadingEggs.com isn’t free, but it’s well worth the investment. If you homeschool, think of it as the curriculum that never runs out and always adjusts to your child’s level. Isn’t that priceless?
Not a homeschooler? That’s ok. Reading eggs is still an excellent choice for helping a struggling reader or preparing your child for school.
Once they are feeling confident, the next step is much more simple than we make it out to be: READ. Read lots of books, all the time. Visit the library often. Practice reading the Bible, the menu, street signs. A new reader will enjoy the success and the praise!
If you are hoping for something a little more systematic, my sweet friend Becky has developed wonderful reading resources at her blog, This Reading Mama.
6 years old and beyond
If your child isn’t reading yet…your focus now is to get there. Science, social studies and other extras will wait. They should wait. There is no need to spend money on other curriculums. If your child is an excellent reader, they can learn anything. Anything! Focus all effort on that. Of course, if he/she likes to read about science, don’t hinder that!
Trust me, there is plenty of time for all the other great stuff out there. A great reader will enjoy them all!
Your turn….what do you use to teach your child how to read?
This post contains affiliate links. Our family is thankful for your support, as each time you purchase through my links, it helps us greatly!
Kim Sorgius
Kim is just a girl, crazy in love with Jesus. She's a single mother of 4, a passionate homeschooler and life-long student. After teaching 8 years in public school, she traded her M.A. in Early Childhood for sippy cups and homeschool co-ops. Kim is the owner and editor of The Homeschool Village and Not Consumed where she encourages others to rest victoriously in the hands of God, rather than allowing life's difficult circumstances to consume.
Follow Me:
Last updated by at .
Great advice! as mom of one little one found the article very informative!
Thanks for sharing!
Visiting from the Better Mom!
Wishing you and your family a blessed 2013!
My twin boys are in a public school at home. They offer reading eggs and my struggling twin loves it. I love that you mentioned technology it is not always bad.
With my first son I used Veritas Press phonics museum. My son learned easily and reads wonderfully. My second son who is now 4 is, well, a bit of a challenge. BUT, I to have discovered reading eggs and he loves it. He doesn’t read yet, but has learned all of his letter sounds and is progressing really well. I sometimes feel guilty for putting him in front of a screen, but he IS learning!
The Leap Frog videos have worked well for all three of my kids.
http://highhillhomeschool.blogspot.com/2012/03/educational-videos.html
I’m not sure why you dismissed sign language as being helpful for early literacy, but I wholeheartedly believe it’s the reason why my daughter started reading at age 3. Yes, we’ve read to her from birth and she is surrounded by a print-rich environment and her mommy LOVES books! She’s 4.5 now and reading chapter books with fluency and comprehension.
I have a BA in Elementary Education with a specialization in reading, so I didn’t sit down to teach her ASL with the expectation that she would be an early reader, but it happened anyway! I will continue to sign with all my children, hearing or not, because ASL is a beautiful language that helps ALL types of learners: auditory, visual, tactile, kinesthetic.
You can read more here: http://www.signingtime.com/resources/sign-language-research/
Nothing wrong with sign-language…in fact, it’s great. I didn’t dismiss it. I’m simply pointing out that teaching a child to read isn’t rocket science and doesn’t require a bunch of extra steps. Children learn to read without sign language everyday. It might be a nice addition, but it’s not mandatory. As parents, we have a habit of loading our kids up with lots of must-do things, when in reality…so much is not needed. If you can teach sign language and desire to- go for it. If not, don’t beat yourself up over it.
I have never heard of Reading Eggs but am going to check it out. My daughter is 4 and has been wanting to learn how to read for a while now. We read all the time together but need something structured. I’m just not sure where to go. Curriculum can be so expensive. She loves being on the computer, so I think we will try to free trial of Reading Eggs. Thanks so much for the suggestion!
Visiting from The Better Mom.
We LOVE reading eggs!! We are doing all about reading and the lessons in reading eggs and that match up really well. So we do a lesson and he gets to “play” but he doesn’t realize that he is doing the same thing as his lesson:-) My son is very tactile so for us all about reading is great because it gives him things to manipulate as he learns.
It’s funny my girls would sit for hours and read with me when they were as little as 1 year old, my son however just throws the books across the room
I’m teaching my 4 year old right now, I plan on going slowly and making things as fun as possible. I’ll need to try reading eggs.
I’ve heard wonderful things about Reading Eggs, but we haven’t had the opportunity to use it yet. It’s on my ever-growing list of things to definitely try! Right now, we use Funnix for a strong foundation in phonics, and add in Reading Kingdom and Samson’s Classroom for some sight words and fun.
I like how you said that you simple need books. Yes I agree a good curriculum will guide us in teaching the necessary phonics, but with my slowest reader it really came down to practice. Lots of reading time together finally helped him master and build a site vocabulary too! Because all the exceptions to the rules really drove him crazy.
We love reading eggs! Another free website with absolutely excellent phonics instruction is http://www.abcthekey.com. Older kids would not appreciate it as its geared for the younger ages but we use reading eggs, HOP and the videos from abc the key with my 4 year old. He loves it all!
We use the Riggs Institute. It’s not “fun” but my daughter enjoys it. We picked it because their method, which expands on the Orton Gillingham method, is an explicit phonics program and it helps prevent learning disorders.
When my daughter was a baby, we read to her daily and every night before bed. She LOVED books. We had board books, picture books, magazines, large print books…. As she got older we discovered she has dyslexia, CAPD, and ADHD which all made reading very difficult and frustrating for her.
We tried Click ‘N Kids which did help, but not nearly enough. We also used BOB books and similar. We finally used Time4Learning because of the visual format (she is a right-brained learner) and it clicked for her. It took a very long time for her to read successfully on her own, but she loves it now. I am a very thankful Mom!
Joyfully,
Jackie
Thanks for these suggestions! I don’t homeschool but I am trying to prepare my son for kindergarten next year. I know the school uses the Reading Eggs program.
My daughter is in first grade and doing pretty well at reading. At first I was sort of annoyed with the teachers’ (in both kindergarten and first grade) requests to read two books every day after school with her, but it really works wonders.
Thanks for sharing what you use with your kids! I always love hearing how other people do things. I just used The Writing Road to Reading. I just taught the letter sounds and a few rules and found that my son was able to pick up reading well. Now, he doesn’t LOVE reading, but does do it well, so maybe we need to implement a little more fun to get him to the LOVE stage =) Thanks for sharing this at Trivium Tuesdays!
Thank you for sharing! I was fortunate to have a child that seemed to naturally have a love of reading. We read to her every night, from before she was born, and by the time she was 2 she “read” stories to her stuffed animals( memorized and mimicked the tone we read the story to her in.) She actually did read early, and we think part of that was that we showed her that reading was important to her and to us from a very early age. She spent a year and a half in public school, which seemed to undo a lot of the love of reading and learning we had seen prior to school. Fortunately, when we pulled her home to school we offered her Time4Learning. She absolutely loved the characters within the program, and those characters made reading and learning fun for her again. While she could already read by then, she relearned how to love reading and learning. I know that the mechanics of reading is important, but the joy that reading brings helps kids so much to keep them interested!
I use a variety of resources, but one of the best things I have found is Starfall.com This is a fabulous website for teaching children to read! A small portion of the website is free, but paying the $35.00 a year for the full content is WELL worth it. There are so many language activities and stories as well as many activities for learning match concepts. It’s absolutely fabulous. My 4 year old daughter loves it!