Teaching Our Kids To Read
This school year, Alex and Olivia will be doing a combination of preschool and kindergarten work together. At 10 1/2 months apart, they are close enough for me to school them at the same grade level. So we'll be starting with preschool level work and moving on to kindergarten as the year goes on.
One of the top things on their curriculum list for the year is learning how to read. They are excited about this. I am excited about it too, but also a little hesitant.
Isabelle learned to read fairly painlessly. We used a combination of Christian Liberty Press readers and Bob Books
I would love to have a repeat of that experience, minus the first week of crying of course. But I'm not getting my hopes up. I have heard many times that teaching a boy to read is a much different process than teaching a girl to read. So, I'm just trying to be realistic. I want to be optimistic, but I'm also prepared for a possible struggle.
We do have one thing going for us though - our kids love books! They love being read to and they all can sit with a pile of books and look through them for hours without complaint. Alex already claims that he can read. He can't, but he does recognize a word or two every now and then. I am counting on this love of books to really boost the learning process.
My plan for now is to start with simple letter recognition and printing, move on to simple word and letter combination recognition and printing, and then slowly introduce the early readers. I haven't decided which early readers to use yet though. I would love some suggestions if you have any. And I am more than open to any other tips or ideas you may have for me. Is teaching a boy to read really that different from teaching a girl to read?
Stop by Five J's for Joy's awesome series, Thirsty Thursday.
7 comments:
I used the BOB books for my younger son and loved them.
My son didn't start reading until he was 5. He really loves books, but reading just didn't click until them. He did not like the BOB books, but love the hooked on phonics program.
Every child is different, as I've discovered five times now. And in terms of reading, early isn't necessarily better--feel free to drop the reading and teach other things they are interested in. Reading will come, but it's not worth wasting time and tears on it when there is so much else to do.
Annie Kate,
mom to 4 bright kids who read too much but started late, and one bright kid who is not ready to read although she is almost 7
I saw some BOB books selling at Sam's Club. Thanks for sharing.
I am doing home preschool with my four year old. I just want her to have the basics before kindergarten ( I am not going to freak out if she can't fully read at end of this school year) but ordered a few books to put me on the right path to teaching her. I dont want to confuse her or make it hard. I have heard lots of good things about BOB books. I am definetly interested to hear more about how you teach reading.
My youngest didn't take to reading (more a problem with not wanting to sit still long enough to do it) we ended doing an intensive 10 week course with her in conjuction with the school - they did half an hour with her every day during school and we had a course that we had to do everyday of the week for the 10 weeks - and boy does it work - absolutely brilliant
I look forward to hearing more about this process with your little guy. My son is 4 and is going to preschool 5 mornings a week. They will not be teaching him how to read but I would like to try to help him into it.
:)
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