When people make the decision to homeschool, the number one hesitation is usually teaching their child to read. It’s reasonable to be concerned as reading is probably the most important skill and will lay the foundation for the rest of their academic career. Once a child can read well, they can learn pretty much anything. How do we face the challenge of teaching our young kids to read? The good news is, it is not as difficult as you may think. Thousands of parent have gone before you carrying all of the same doubts and concerns, yet they’ve successfully taught their children to read.
Even though I sent my oldest to a charter school for kindergarten, I still take credit for actually teaching him to read. He had a teacher who just didn’t want to teach; she just kind of expected the kids to perform and didn’t want to invest the time to really instruct them. When he would come home from school, I would sit down with him and work with him on reading. This really boosted my confidence and I started realizing it’s not hard to teach a child to read. Don’t get me wrong, it takes work, but it’s straight forward work. I have successfully taught both of my children to read without any special skills or certifications and you can too!
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Teach Your Kids to Read by Reading Aloud
Reading aloud starting from birth is the best reading foundation you can give your kids. Much of homeschooling is teaching our kids to have the right relationship with the subject they are tackling, and for reading this relationship starts early.
I started reading to my kids when they were infants, and my oldest quickly developed a love for books. As he became a toddler his favorite thing to do was sit on the couch with me and read book, after book, after book. Rinse. Repeat. What I didn’t realize back then was that I was sowing into his future and building a motivated reading student.
This is such an important step, so don’t skip reading to your kids. If you are starting to kick yourself thinking that this is something you overlooked, have no fear. It’s never too late to start. My oldest is now a teenager and still likes our read aloud time. Start building that foundation from whatever point you are at now, your kids will benefit!
Don’t Push Reading Before Your Child is Ready
There’s an old anecdote that I heard at the beginning of our homeschool adventure. When somebody wants to know what the best curriculum for learning to read, the answer is the third one. Most people end up trying three reading programs before they start to see progress and it actually ‘clicks’ with their child. I don’t think this is just a case of third time’s the charm. Usually the reason that you start seeing progress when you land on the third program is time. Usually enough time has passed and the child is actually ready to learn to read.
There is no arbitrary age that a person needs to learn to read. Even if they show signs of readiness, we don’t need to jump in there and start right away. The opportunity to teach a child to read will not suddenly pass if we decide to delay formal instruction a little bit. It’s great to point out letters and sounds and watch our kids start to make connections, but don’t overdo it. There is a time to just let them play and enjoy being kids without an academic agenda behind it. They will learn a lot by just making connections for themselves.
Homeschool is the Ideal Setting for Teaching Your Kids to Read
The one on one setting available to homeschoolers is hands down the best way to teach a child to read. There are some subjects that are great in a group setting, but learning to read is not one of them. Since every child learns at their own pace, reading really shouldn’t be taught as a group subject. If a child is stuck on a step in the reading process, they should be allowed to camp out on that step and not be forced ahead. Learning to read should not be an experience with deadlines and added pressure of needing to meet testing requirements. Homeschooling allows this process to happen naturally and is the best setting for learning to read.
How to Choose the Right Reading Curriculum
If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time , you know that I will pretty much always say to use what fits your child. This can be easier said than done, especially when you have young kids that haven’t really begun formal education yet. Here’s the thing, you are the parent and you know your child better than anyone else. As you start researching different learn to read options, always keep your child in mind. You might find a beautiful curriculum that comes highly recommended, but if it seems like it won’t be a good fit, just move along.
If you do get caught up in the shiny curriculum that turns out to be a bad fit, don’t be afraid to try something else. I’m talking about a curriculum that is truly a bad fit, like your child is learning but you both dread reading time. That is when it is time to try something different.
What I Used to Teach Reading
For my oldest, I loved All About Reading. The stories in the reader were high interest and some of them he read over and over. He did kindergarten in a charter school where they used The Writing Road to Reading, which combines spelling and reading instruction. I didn’t like combining the subjects because his spelling was behind his reading and I didn’t want his spelling skills to hold back his reading. One of the first articles I read from All About Reading addressed this very issue and stated that exact reason for separating reading and spelling. From that first article, I was sold and it turned out to be a great reading program.
For my youngest, we started All About Reading and he loved the stories in the reader, but the program just moved a little too slow for him. He was eager and ready, but got bogged down in their fluency pages. It actually got to the point where he wouldn’t read the words on those pages. I actually think the fluency sheets are an excellent tool, but he needed something that would get him reading a variety of stories quicker. He also does better when there is a written
component, which there isn’t with All About Reading (and it’s why it worked so well for my oldest). We ended up using Christian Light Education Learning to Read. This is more of a traditional phonics program with workbooks and flash cards. The readers weren’t as interesting as All About Reading, and he still read the stories from his AAR reader.
Overall, both of these programs accomplished what they said they would and both of my kids can read. If I had to choose one over the other, I would choose All About Reading because of its multi-sensory approach and high interest stories. The downside is that this program can be a little bit pricey to start as you need to purchase the letter tiles and a magnetic white board for the lessons, but I felt it was worth the price.
Be a Confident Homeschooler
Teaching reading is truly not as scary as it seems. With so many resources available, you will find the right tools that will work for you and your student. Even children with learning differences will benefit from the one on one instruction that homeschooling allows. You are capable of doing this! Proceed forward with confidence, or at least fake it until you see everything fall into place!
