Reading 101

I remember being overwhelmed by what I originally considered the most daunting homeschool task: teaching my children to read. "After all, I've never been trained." Reading is a mysterious process. Although various schools defend their methods, no one really fully understands how a child learns to read or at what age it is best taught. However, you can be certain that God has created your child with the intelligence and an innate ability to learn language.

Before the teaching of reading became "big business," children learned naturally without formal curricula to teach them.  In a more literate time, they would grow up immersed in language and books. Reading was learned by reading not by memorizing reading "skills". The best reading curriculum you can give your child is to fill your home with language.  Let them explore books with you, talk with them often. Tell them what you are writing. READ ALOUD EVERYDAY.  Some might think, "I would love to read to my child, if he would only sit still long enough." Don't burden your child with sitting still while you read-then reading will not be fun for the active child.  Instead set up stations. I typically set up four stations consisting of any combination of puzzles, string and beads, coloring, legos, and give them the following rules. While I am reading there is 1. No talking and 2. You may move between stations as long as no one is already there ( my kids start to talk instead of listen if they are all at the same station.) This activates both the right brain and left brain increasing their comprehension. Always ask your children to narrate the story back to you. If they are having trouble narrating back ask "who, what, where, when, why, and how" questions. If they are still struggling to recall, read a shorter portion then stop and ask questions gradually working up to whole chapters.
Read books that are intriguing and stimulating. My Kids 5 and under LOVE The Wind and the Willows, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Original Winnie the Pooh, The original Beatrix Potter Series, Old Yeller, Charlotte's Web, The Original Mary Poppins, Black Beauty and many more.  Kids are more than capable of listening to books without pictures and there is no better way to stimulate the imagination. Do Not Get the abridged versions your kids were created in God's image...they are intelligent enough to hear the original which teaches better vocabulary and life lessons.  Don't be afraid to read the same books over and over or to let your child who has learned to read, read the same book over and over. This is natural for children when they discover a book they like. Repetitive reading reinforces reading development and should be encouraged, not discouraged. Your child's confidence grows as he "masters" a book through repetitive readings just as he would master getting a basketball in the hoop by repeatedly shooting the ball.


"In concentrating exclusively on teaching the child how to read, we have forgotten to teach him to want to read...Somehow we lost sight of the teaching precept: What you make a child love and desire is more important than what you make him learn." (Jim Trelease, The Read-Aloud Handbook, Penguin 1985) Instill in your child a love for language and he will want to learn to read.