Weekend Edition ~ Teaching Your Child to Read

I think teaching a child to read is the skill that parents are the most scared and concerned about their ability to teach. It can be very scary. It's one of the most important skills in our ability to learn about Jehovah, by reading his word, the Bible. As well as living in a society that tells us that you need to be a teacher in a school to teach, parents can't do that! But, it's not true! Many parents have been successful in teaching their children to read.

John Holt speaks about this in many of his books. It seems like How Children Fail touches on this a bit, although the main theme of How Children Fail is his journal of teaching 4th grade math... so it just touches on reading a bit. But, still it's very encouraging that most children can learn to read at home, with out a school teacher.

The most important part of teaching a child to read is being a reader yourself. Make sure the child sees you reading! Children love to imitate their parents. If you are not a reader, they likely will not be interested in it either.

Make sure to try to read to your children daily. Going back to what I always tell my readers, and friends, remember age development appropriateness too! Toddlers, and children under 6, may not want to curl up in your lap while you read for hours at a time. Yes, I know it's what we all dream about while pregnant. But, the reality may be very different when the baby becomes a toddler, or up to 6 years old. I had all those dreams of Lela (my oldest), being blissfully curled up in my lap daily while I read and read fun, engaging stories to her. HA! She was not that child! She hated it, would tear up and rip the books out of my hands. Would fight and cry and scream! So I gave up. I would revisit it every so often but til she was 6 years old she just was not having it! At about 6 years old (maybe late 5 years old), she started sitting and listening to me read, and quickly began to enjoy it.

Since then, I have read so many more books and heard so many more workshops on how to homeschool and teach children, that I have learned children do NOT have to sit still in your lap (or any where else) to listen to you read. I have learned children can play with blocks, or match box cars, etc on the floor while you are reading. I do ask them to play quietly. But, they can move around and play while I read. I have tested this many times with Belle, and RJ, and we are doing this with Sofia as well, but she is not old enough for me to "test". But, how I test if this is working, I read a small/short story (maybe a Bible Story), while they are playing quietly close to me, and then I ask them the questions about what I read, and every single time they can answer them with out problems! They are listening even when it seems like they are not paying a lick of attention to you. They look like they are so into their playing with their blocks, or cars or what have you, and they just may be playing very intently with them, but they are also listening. Again, I do have the rule of they need to be quiet while I am reading, but they can move and play all they want.

When I feel the child is ready, usually around 7 or older, I start with Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. We move on to Pathway Readers, Pathway Readers Workbooks, Climbing to Good English workbooks, as they seem to meld together so well. And also McGuffey Readers. Mott's sells a Teacher/Parent guide for the McGuffey Readers written by one of my favorite worldly authors, Ruth Beechick. If you choose to use her guide, make sure to get the Mott's McGuffey Readers as well, as there are MANY versions of McGuffey readers out there, as they were revised many times in the 1800's. The lessons will not match up if you get a different version of them from the ones that Ruth made her Parent/Teacher guide for. Ruth also wrote a very good 3 book series on teaching children to read. I will have to review for my blog soon. The Watchtower Bible and Track Society used to publish a workbook entitled Learn to Read and Write. It is currently out of print, but your Kingdom Hall may have a booklet or two left, or maybe a older brother or sister in your congregation may have one in their library you could ask if you could have. It's based on the DISTAR reading method. It's a good place to start if you have one available to you to see if the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons would be a good fit for your child.

However, remember, just because a child doesn't respond to it, may not mean it's not a good fit for your child. It may mean your child is NOT ready to learn to read yet. And it may work later on. Most girls naturally learn to read between 7 and 9 years old, sometimes up to 12 years old. And most boys learn naturally learn to read (with out pushing and just by being in a reading family) between 9 and 12 years old, and sometimes up to 14 years old.

I strongly always suggest listening to Andrew Pudewa's Podcast Teaching Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day. He added in the "Other Children" because, while this podcast mainly focuses on teaching boys, much of it can also pertain to many girls as well. Andrew has 7 children. I know one of his children, a son, he refers to in this Podcast did not learn to read til he was 14 years old. Just this year, Andrew was at my local homeschool conference again. And I love his workshops so much, I went to every single one he gave. And there was follow up to his son. I do not have my notes, as I am writing this right now, so I can not remember the exact career his son chose in life (he's now a grown adult man) but it's suffice to say he is a successful grown man, and has a career that more than adequately provides for himself. I found a good article written by Andrew Pudewa, as I was trying to remember what career his son went into. Another awesome reminder for parents about ALL children learning to read in their own good time. I actually heard him give this workshop in person years ago. Andrew's article on his son's learning to read at a much later age of 14 years old - The Work of a Child.

Remember in my previous blog posts, Beverly Cleary, who became a very famous, and acclaimed children's book author did not learn to read til 9 years old. It was when SHE was ready to learn. Teachers and parents were so concerned when she didn't learn earlier, but she was not ready before then. As you can see today it did not hinder her long term reading or success.

Another good author who speaks on many children not learning to read til later, but still being successful reader is Raymond Moore, particularly his book Better Late Than Early.