How to Teach Your Child to Read Made Easy
Teaching your child to read may seem scary, but really, it’s not. After having taught first grade in small private schools, and now that I have taught two of my own children to read, I feel confident about teaching my children to read.
I want you to feel the same so here is what I feel is the best way to teach children to read.
You Can Teach Your Child.
Sometimes I fear we are losing sight of what learning is all about. It wouldn’t surprise me if parents started figuring they needed help teaching their children to walk.
But we teach our young children all the time by having them with us and by teaching them in small steps what they need to learn.
I think reading is similar. Just like you can’t make your child crawl, walk, or talk before they are ready, learning to read works sort of like that too.
Just as you likely taught your child to recognize his colors and count to 10, you can teach them to read.
Hindrances and Outside Help
I do want to put in a disclaimer here saying that there are different situations that won’t work out the way I put the information out here. Some children do have special needs that might require more expert help.
Here is a simple example. One of my babies didn’t walk till they were sixteen months old. Seeing many babies walking much younger, I could have tried looking for every expert around to help him walk.
He didn’t need that though. He just needed more time and wasn’t ready for it yet. I asked a doctor once and she said that I don’t need to check things out before he is one and a half years old.
That said, we took him to a chiropractor to make sure he was adjusted correctly. It just didn’t require being all worried about it.
It’s the same with children learning to read. Many times, people get worried that their children don’t enjoy letters and such when they are four years old.
Sure, make sure their eyesight doesn’t have issues, but otherwise, just take it with patience. I don’t think we need to really worry about our children not learning to read if it is hard for them till they are at least 8 years old. (Some people would say to wait even longer.)
Don’t Push Too Young
I am not saying “Don’t try to teach them before they are eight.” Just don’t push too hard or worry about it before that.
The reality is that most “learning disabilities” are just from starting too young, or pushing your children too young. Of course, there are actual cases of dyslexia and issues like that, but many times we just need to wait.
I sometimes read about parents who are so worried because their child isn’t reading at five. They wonder what curriculum to try next. I say just wait.
Sure I do start teaching my children their letter sounds at four or so. And I often start first grade at six years old. But if it is too hard for them or they don’t easily pick things up, we either quit or just go at it slowly at their pace with short learning sessions.
I don’t have all the studies or the science of reading under my belt, but you can find them online. Pushing children too young can actually hinder them.
Go ahead and start young if they are interested. But don’t pressure them to complete certain milestones too young.
So How do I Teach my Child to Read?
Give Them the Love of Reading
The start of every reading journey and becoming good readers should be being read to. Read to your children. Lots of books. Often.
Read their favorite books over and over. Read bedtime stories. Read, read, read!
I get it. As a busy mom, I don’t do it nearly as often as I should. But as it is one of the most important things we can do for our children. I try to do it regularly.
Model reading books in front of them too. If they see you love reading, chances are they will grow to love it too.
Reading also has many benefits such as teaching new words and expanding vocabulary in all of us.
Introduce Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic Awareness simply means to be aware of sounds. It’s teaching our children to recognize the separate sound in a word.
In my house this often starts around 2 years old. I start showing them the letters and their different sounds.
It doesn’t have to start that young though, it’s just that I and my children enjoy it. My mom didn’t really teach me any letters of the alphabet before first grade, and I learned to read well and was at the top of my class.
Just whenever you start, start with letter sounds. This is a foundational skill for learning to read. Don’t teach them the alphabet names first. That has confused many children.
Help them to hear what the first letter in a word is. It takes lots of practice, but just be patient!
Use the actual sounds for the letters, what we would say when reading them, and each short vowel sound/ instead of the long sound.
It can just be done in play, and never make a young child sit through school sessions. If they want to, of course you can do some.
Once the individual sounds are learned you can put two or three combinations of letters together or start with simple words (like CVC words, which are consonant-vowel-consonant words.) If your child sounds them all out, they are starting to read their first words!
Use a Curriculum or More Structured Reading Program (+ my Favorite Curriculum)
Some people manage to teach their children without any structured reading program, but that is not me.
Once my children are six or seven and they are ready to start the first-grade level, I use Christian Light Education’s Learning to Read program. In all my years of teaching children to read, I have never found another curriculum that is as thorough and complete for learning to read.
In fact, it is so complete that it is hard for this busy mom to get it all done with her child in one year. I sometimes use the first third of the curriculum or so for a kindergarten program, just taking it easy and at my child’s own pace.
Every child and every mom is different so you would have to check things out yourself. But I think Learning to Read is so thorough in teaching everything.
It starts with the letter sounds, and starts teaching a few sight words from the start (because we all know English is a crazy language to learn to read!). Then it progresses into the long vowel sounds and all the letter combinations and sounds.
It also includes Language Arts and Reading to Learn later in first grade.
The teacher’s manual tells you exactly what to say if you need the guidance. Check out my YouTube video on teaching your children to read for more of a look at the curriculum.
True, it is a bit pricey starting out, but once you have everything for the first student, you can reuse most of it for future students. I have the privilege of having an older homeschool family hand down the teacher’s manuals and things like that as their youngest child is done with them.
You might have some other curriculum that works fine for you and that is totally fine too!
Save it for Later:
The Summary
You can teach your child to read!
In most cases just giving them time will be enough, but if you ever need more experienced help for situations like dyslexia or other learning disability, don’t hesitate to do your research and find help. (I don’t really know how to point you in the right direction as I haven’t needed help yet, but I have had dyslexic students and had to take the time and adjust expectations.)
Don’t push them too young.
Give your children the love of reading first.
Teach them the letter sounds, not the letter names first.
Find some structured program (like CLE’s Learning to Read).
Relax and find the joy of reading with your children!
If you want to learn more, you can read about how I do preschool and all my first-grade curriculum picks. Be sure to check out all my homeschool information.
Do you have any reading tips to share with others? Drop them in the comments below. I am happy to keep learning too.
