Writing or Reading? My 3 year old has been begging me to teach him to read. He wants a library card for Christmas, memorizes books quickly, knows a sight word or two (but that realy bores him), and is always in a book. DH scoured the internet last night for "Teach you Child to Read in 100 EZ lessons." He found one in great condition for $8, and bought it. I'm not expecting miracles at all, believe me, I just want to give him some "formal" instruction. It seems Starfall, and Reading Eggs just doesn't do it for him. He doesn't like it for some reason and doesn't learn anything. He is a "sit down teach me formal" kind of kid I guess. Anyway... He is TERRIBLE at his hand coordination. He can hold a pencil/pen/marker the right way, but hasn't wrote down any letters, and can't draw anything (stick people, basic animals, basic shapes) yet. I mean, he really just scribbles, still. Can I still teach him to read if he can't write yet? It seems most of the books I've looked at the child has to do worksheets and write things in them which absolutally wont work. I know 100 ez lessons is no different, but I thought I would ask. What did your child do first? Write or read? Do you think Bo is behind as far as "writing" goes?
I think reading is more important than writing, and I also think that writing will come in time with practice. There is no reason that he has to do the writing part of the book, I skipped that part when we used it because we were using a different program and it called for teaching writing differently. I don't think he's behind, but if he's interested in learning to write there are some great resources for that, and I'd be happy to suggest a few.
I agree with Birbitt I say reading first. myabe do both alittle of this and alittle of that... he might be a doctor when he grows up and they have bad handwriting who knows.
I learned to read with that book when I was 4. I didn't even finish all 100 lessons before I was reading real books. Great book from what I can remember! I regret not using it with my son so that he could have learned to read earlier than he did.
I honestly think it depends on the child. I use to nanny for a family and both older boys could read before they turned 4, but they could barely write anything. Then their sister came along and she would copy all words down and was drawing and writing well by 4, but had no interest in reading. That's the beauty of homeschooling, you can teach him what he is ready for and hold off on what he is not.
I hear it's a really great, book and I'm truely excited to try it! Birbitt- Yes, please give me some suggestions for handwriting! I know he's only 3, but I still want to look around for resources. Thank you for responding! I think reading is extremely important, I know I'm starting him early, but he's ready to go for it, you know!? lol.
Well, Peterson Directed handwriting K is a great program for littles who are non writers. I made the mistake of buying it for my boys as a K writing program but they could already form most letters and they were bored with it. Also Kumon has a workbook for preschoolers all about tracing, once he can trace lines successfully he will be able to learn to write, it's about having control of the pencil/crayon/whatever. If you prefer free (I Do) you can try this site - http://www.lilbunnyhops.com/beginners_tracing_free_activities.html for some printable line pages he can trace. Start simple with just tracing straight lines up and down, then side to side, then diagonal lines, from there make them more complicated like zig zag lines, curly cue lines, criss crossing lines, etc. Once he can trace lines well let him trace alphabet letters (start with the letters in his name), and write them. When he starts writing on his own focus on writing the letters properly on UNLINED paper, then once he can form the letter well, move on to primary lined paper and let him practice getting them just right on the lines. Once he is able to trace then you can use things like dltk-kids.com and first-school.ws and print alphabet worksheets for him to trace and then write, dollar store workbooks for writing work well for this also.
I would work with simple shapes like circles, lines, or an X shape before attempting letters. You can try having him copy the shapes on fun surfaces like sand or shaving cream to make it more interesting. I would also introduce simple mazes and do things like PlayDoh, pushing buttons on a computer, lacing activites, simple dot to dots, and coloring to help improve his fine motor skills before I started teaching him to write letters. If he wants to learn to read you can adapt the writing portion by having him do it orally, on the computer, with letter stamps, etc. As for my kids, I had one child that was a writer long before he started reading and one child who developed writing and reading pretty much together.
Typically speaking, language is usually developed in the order of listening, speaking, reading, writing... but of course there are always exceptions!! lol
Definitely reading! I know my son is the exception because his motor skills are delayed anyway, but up until about 6 months ago, he wasn't even able to hold a pencil. He's almost 5, but he still can't color in the lines (his OT said he should be about 70% in the lines by now... he just scribbles on the whole thing), and he still writes large capital letters, even though he's been working on lower case letters in therapy. He reads GREAT, though. Reading has opened another world to him. If he wants to learn about something, he can pick up a book. Writing doesn't really matter yet. No girlfriends to write love notes to. No legal forms to sign. I do most of the school writing for him because his endurance just isn't there yet. It'll come in time. Not being able to write doesn't keep him from life or learning. Not being able to read would hinder his ability to learn, because he's the type who reads everything he gets his hands on (including this reply... nosy!!! I hate it when he reads over my shoulder!).
Reading! I taught DD (now 9) to read when she was 3 1/2. She was not at all ready for writing, we skipped that part in 100 Lessons. I look back on her writing, and even in K she struggled with writing. This year she is in 4th grade and her writing is finally (mostly) legible.
I don't really think it matters. Last year we focused on reading. This year we are focusing on handwriting and hopefully adding some spelling in using all about spelling. We have 2 more lessons and we are finished with 100ez lessons!! We had a love/hate relationship with the book.. Both dd6 and I loved the fact that she was learning to read, but she HATED ,and I mean HATED ,to read the stories. We finally worked it where we made it fit us. We never used the writing portion because I felt it would cause an overload effect for dd. And we stopped doing the picture study and rereading the stories because that's the parts that she hated. After a while she didn't need to reread them. I felt that was ok because she could tell me what she was reading about. I'm REALLY glad we chose this book even though it was hard at times to get dd to do her lesson. She did it and is SO close to being done. Every lesson she screams out "I'm on lesson #such and such. Look how much I did and I only have this much left!!". She's feeling the accomplishment of completing the book too. I'm SO proud of her.
Mommix3 that is how we did it too, with my ds6. We would only read the story the first time, and he would look at the pictures but we wouldn't discuss them. With my dd4 we do the first part of the lesson on day 1, then read the story twice and discuss it on day 2. We are only on lesson 60 so that might change as we progress. My ds finished the book last summer and read his first chapter book yesterday. It is a 3.3 grade leveled book!!!
Reading so far has come first with my kids. However my 5yo that can read a few sight words can also write all her letters. I don't worry about what comes first. I think each kid learns the way they need to learn.
My kids all learned reading before writing. My son is in third and learning cursive this year. He actually likes it better than printing! Wah hoo! His printing was terrible! With my youngest she started writing on her own because I set up the easle in the dining room and tacked a letter chart from the dollar store right next to it. She spent lots of time on her own looking at those letters and trying to recreate them on the chalk board. She can write almost the whole alphabet now and she just started kindergarten! That set up was great for her! Edie
