How do you teach a child to read? Is there a all telling book or something that tells you how and what foundation to layout for them? This is a scary thing, because if I mess up on his foundation then he won't be a strong reader. I so need some help and advice here. Thank you.
There are two common books used: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. I didn't use either. I started with basic phonics a la Leap Frog then let him lead the way through actually reading.
I'm so nervous about the same thing. My oldest has no interest in reading- I keep reminding my self that is she is just about to turn 4 and I shouldn't be pushing her. She does love to write though so I've been working on that.
I am a big fan of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, but I admit it seems people either love it or really hate it. However, I have to say that when you finish, if you finish it (we gave it up at about Lesson 80, because she was just reading everything she could at that point and books were much more interesting) your child will be solidly reading at a 2nd grade level. It is a very exciting transformation! I had a friend whose child had been using a fancy phonics program, but even half way though the child just could not read. She used this book and by Lesson 20, it was obvious that the child was getting it then.
I used a hooked on phonics game with both my girls they loved it, it came with a VHS lesson for them to watch then card games for them to play after the lesson and books to read, they loved it. The other day I told them I think I was going to sell the set, they said wow they will miss it they loved it. But, I said wouldn't it be nice to give to someone else to learn and they agree. It is a good program. I also let them record themself reading they loved that then they listen back to the story they read.
Seekingmylord~ about what all does a child need to know before they start 100 EZ ? Do they need to know the whole alphabet and such? Or is that covered in the book?
I started with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 EAsy lessons, we lasted maybe 25 lessons in. Then moved onto Scaredy Cat Readying, again gave up after short a! Then found www.starfall.com, and within 2 lessons in level "Learning to Read", she was reading. My son used starfall and taught HIMSELF how to read. Came to me reading REALLY READING just after his 5th birthday. I love starfall...LOVE IT. And it's free.
This is how I taught my kids to read. It is ONE way, but not the ONLY way! They need to know their letters, and also have the idea of letter/sound. Then I make lots of books. "Johnny's B Book". I print all kinds of clip-art pictures of B pictures...ball, bat, banana, bike, etc. The child cuts them out and then glues one on each page of the book, and writes the word on the page (write, trace, or you can do it, whatever!). When Daddy comes home, he proudly "reads" this to him. Then I also go to the library and get books like "Jump Frog Jump" or "Where's the Bear?" where there's a phrase repeated again and again and again. We read the book together again and again and again, and the child gets to "read" the key phrase. We also make flashcards on the Dolche words. There's a place on-line where you can do this. Just work with a few words until they are learned, then add more. The Dolche words will include your sight words. Go to the VERY easy readers at the library...ask your librarian about this. My favorites are called "Real Kid Readers" (I think!) Cute story, easy vocabulary, rhyming, good pictures. Pretty soon, your child will "read" them by himself, because of the rhyme. Once he gets a few words down, be sure to point them out as you read to him, or pause and let him read them as you come to them. The Letter Books, btw, can eventually grow into word family books. "Johnny's -at Book", with a mat, cat, hat, rat, etc. You can do all this IN ADDITION to a formal curriculum, or you can do it without a formal curriculum.
A child does not need to know anything at all! My daughter did know the alphabet, but she did not need to know it to start with 100 EZ. Unfortunately, we found out about Starfall.com after she already could read, but it did help with phonics rules which we use more for spelling when we found it.
JoAnna, I think Saxon phonics would be great. I found it sometimes supported her spelling this year, as well. You learn things like the 3 sounds of 'ch', the sounds of 'ea', and how to spell the /k/ sound, depending on how it's used. I loved that program, and I'm sorry they only go up to grade 2.
Another good program is www.readingatoz.com . It is 79.00 per year for an individual account, but they are an excellent program. You get leveled readers, lesson plans, and access to everything on their site, which means plenty of advice and teaching strategies. There is also assessment tools so you know exactly where your child is and how they are doing. I used it three years now, from k-2. I believe they go up to 6th grade.
Free @ Reading A-Z & Sister Sites FYI: The Reading A to Z website and their sister sites: RAZ-Kids, Reading-Tutors.com, VocabularyA-Z.com, WritingA-Z.com & Sciencea-z.com opened their websites, (1 per day) during Teacher Appreciation Week and then on the following Monday to allow FREE access to all of their stuff. I made no major plans that week and downloaded everything I could. I got 7 cd's full. YIPPEE! I believe they do this every May but I am not 100% sure. It would definitely be something to check into (set a reminder on your computer or cell phone). Just thought I would share that for those that might be interested.
I would suggest getting the entire reading program including all student materials, parent/teacher materials, reading books and flash cards (blend and phonics cards). When we first started I thought we could get away with not getting some of the material but found out the material was necessary and really made it easier to learn. My boys were reading the first day. It really is a wonderful program and the reading books are just awesome! My boys LOVE to read and are very good readers and have very good reading comp. IMHO, Abeka really encourages reading by the way their program works. I have nothing negative to say about it. My boys did Abeka from K to graduation. 9-12 they did Abeka Academy.
Best advice as someone who has been working with her son for a year.........RELAX!!!! I was so nervous too because my girls learned at their Dept of Defense school (with my help in the evenings for AR books) and I was doing it SOLO...plus my son didn't seem interested all that much. Fast forward.....he's finished HOP level 1 & 2 and is working thru level 3 plus he's finished ETC 1 and half of 2. He surprises me all the time reading street signs, etc. Now I will add that he is VERY phonetic....and still struggles with new sight words but seems to be doing better there. I have the Ord. Parents guide but haven't used it at all because he wanted to do HOP (which I owned from my oldest but hadn't used really). HOP is great fit for him because it's organized like he thinks (word families c-at, s-at, ma-at.........just the opposite of some programs like Abeka that do ca-t, sa-t, ra-t.) So you might get just feel out how your kiddo seems "wired" for reading and go from there. Most of all, RELAX........it will happen!!!
I'm nervous about this too. I know Grace is ready and she does read sight words very well but phonics does not click with her at all. We are going to try ETC and see how that goes. For some reason she hates starfall and just refuses to do anything with it.
My son hates starfall too......won't go near it!!! My girls loved it in their old school and my 8 year old still goes there from time to time even though she reads above it...she likes it. Sadly, both girls learned to read mostly with sight words and very little phonics (although I've tried to add it in here and there without making them feel bad.....the way they learned wasn't wrong just not the way I'm teaching their brother and they often don't decode words as well as they should if they'd learned differently).
We also used Hooked on Phonics but we used the old (classic) edition. It worked really well, my son reads above grade level. We also did most of Hooked on Phonics Master Reader until my CD drive quit working. I am going to get a new CD drive and finish it up.
