How old was your child when you started teaching him/her to read?

[Susie in MS]

And is your child a boy or girl? I ask cuz I hear that girls usually start before boys.

[angela in ohio]

Not here. My dc start younger each time, and my boy is last.

 

My boy also wrote earlier than one of my girls.

[Laura Corin]

He had known his letter sounds for a long time before, but wasn't ready to blend. Hobbes asked to learn to read when he was 4 1/2 and picked it up quickly at that stage. Each of them went from reading individual words to reading Harry Potter in around eighteen months.

 

Laura

[Susie in MS]

I do agree that this is not always the case as I have an older son who learned right along his older sister. He was 3 and she was 4.

Do you remember the ages your children were when they started to read?

[Plaid Dad]

My dd was 2 years and 9 months when we started phonics, and she was reading fluently by three and a half. For reference, I was four when I learned (with no instruction, I just sorted it out) and my dw was three and a half (with parental phonics instruction). I don't know the details of when or how my older brother learned, but I'm pretty sure it was before he started kindergarten.

 

I do remember being the only kid in my K class who could read, and the same was true for my dw.

[ABQmom]

I started my oldest dd at age 6. I wish I would have started her earlier because she needed lots of time to digest what she was learning. I started my other dc earlier--4.5-- boy and girl.

 

None of my dc have picked up reading super fast or anything. By starting them at around 4.5, I realized they had more time to digest what they were learning, and still be reading a little by the end of 1st grade. My oldest 2 dd's finished with phonics by the time 2nd grade ended, and were at the stage of reading for fluency which happened around the end of 3rd grade. My ds is on the same track now. I will start my last dd in the fall--she will be 4.5.

 

I think every family/child is different. Some start out good and pick up reading fast--others don't. I always have it in my mind that I will start them out in the phonics book, stop when they are getting too frustrated, and start again when they seem ready.

[Ellie]

I started WRTR with her, did it for about 6 weeks and put it away. The next year I did it for about 6 weeks and put it away.

 

She did eventually learn to read, lol.

[Jennefer@SSA]

started to read when he was 4 1/2. I held him back from reading any earlier b/c at that time we weren't positive we would be homeschooling. I didn't want him to enter ps already reading. I was afraid he would be bored. He was ready, though, and there was no stopping him! :)

[Tess in the Burbs]

first was 4.5 and second was just turned 4...and I had to hold her off for a few months !

[Lori D.]

The older "learned" at private kindergarten/first grade at age 6-7.

 

The younger one learned letter sounds in the private kindergarten at age 5/6. But reading did not "click" for him until most of the way through first grade at home, at age 7. Reading was not a smooth, natural process for him until he was between 8-9.

 

We just took it gently, working with words, making our own little books, and using very early phonics-based reader books, until the younger one "made the leap". We've done a lot of aloud together "popcorn" reading ("you read a page, I read a page") with both, even now at ages 14 and almost 16 -- it's enjoyable; it encourages great discussion; it teaches vocabulary immediately and in context; and it practices those oral skills they will use as adults.

 

Just our experience! Warm regards, Lori D.

[KristineIN]

I tried to start early, but none of my kids were ready. Dh read when he was 3 1/2-4, I read late (my 2nd grade teacher wanted to flunk me and I had to be tutored. Dd read around 8, she's 10 now and is reading at an 8-9th grade level. Ds was 8 in Nov. and just started picking the pace up a bit, he's at 4-5th grade level. Ds will be 7 in July and is just now starting to get it, he's reading cvc well and some long vowel words. I'm really trying to get him going more than I did the other two. It's like walking and potty training for most kids, it will eventually happen. I think dh is finally realizing that.

 

Kristine

[Alana in Canada]

Wow. We're a family of turtle readers.

 

I didn't learn until I was about 8 or 9. (My mother was shocked to discover I couldn't read one day and plunked me down in a chair with a Richard Scarry book and a picture book dictionary and wouldn't let me out of it until I could read something! I remember it well. Then the television "broke" and wasn't fixed for two years.)

 

My son learned late as well--probably eight.

My daughter is just starting on junior chapter books and she's 7.

[Beth in Central TX]

My oldest was 6-years old when he learned to read. He was in the 1st grade at public school. I didn't really realize I could teach him on my own at home. My middle son was 4 years old when I taught him to read at home. I tried to teach my youngest at 4 to read. Then I tried again at 4 1/2. Then I tried again at 5; third time was the charm.

[Hoggirl]

3 years, 3 months and finished all of it in six months.

[St. Theophan Academy]

My son was 5 - and was reading by early spring of K - my daughter I waited until she was 6, and she is just now beginning to read fluently as we are 2/3 of the way through first grade, so for me it depended on the child - he was ready, she was not. I think personality and development play a bigger role than gender.

[Donna T.]

My boys learned the letter sounds, the short vowel sounds, and some blends starting at three years old. Both of them learned this quickly but both of them also stalled out around age five and a half. One day they could sound out short words easily, seemingly effortlessly, but the next day, they wouldn't even try. Beyond this initial jump, I didn't do anything additional with my oldest son until he was in first grade. Then, we used a program that is pretty fast in pace and he was reading fluently by Christmas of that year. I'm following the same pattern with my youngest. My youngest is doing a great deal of sight reading and reads silently a good bit. I'm not exactly sure how much he can read, but it's more than he lets on.

 

So, they started early, but didn't finish for awhile.

[Luanne]

basically taught herself to read at the age of 4 1/2. By the time she started Kindergarten (she was older .. a late Sept. birthday), she was already reading on a third grade level.

[Friederike in Persia]

We want our children to be reintegratable into the UK school system, which meant they "had" to start the year they turned 5. To begin with I though that was very early, but there are so many great and fun phonics programms out there, that it turned out much easier than I had anticipated.

That way one dd and ds started at four and a half and read short story books when they turned 5. The other dd had just turned 4 and it took her nearly up to her fifth birthday to read those same books.

[WTMindy]

at 3.5. We actually started ds a little earlier because he seemed ready and we knew dd had learned easily at 3. He could sound at 3 and 4 letter words as an old 2 year old and was reading fluently at 3. Looking back now, I can't imagine what we were thinking teaching such little people to read (I just watched a video of him reading at age 3 last night and was shocked) but at the time they seemed so old and ready to learn. And they were, but I always hesitate to talk about it because I never want people to think I am boasting about it or anything. They both loved letters and words and reading and books since they were babies and were ready to learn.

 

But, I still can't help but wonder what we were thinking teaching those tiny people to read. :-)

[AngieW in Texas]

My oldest dd demanded that I teach her to read "TODAY" two weeks before her 3rd birthday. She was reading all c-v-c words in two weeks and was a fluent reader by 5yo.

 

My middle dd was diagnosed with an auditory processing delay at 4yo. When I posted on all my hsing boards about it, the overwhelming recommendation was to try to teach her to read using Reading Reflex. So I started teaching her at 4yo. Her speech improved from a 2yo level to a 4yo level in just 6 months. She was a fluent reader at 6.5yo.

 

I knew my youngest dd had vision issues, even though I couldn't get any of the eye doctors we visited to take me seriously. If there wasn't something wrong with her vision, why did my dd crash into every door frame she tried to pass through and clip the corner of every table/bookshelf/chair/... she went near. I finally got an eye doctor to take me seriously when she was 6yo and was covering one eye when she tried to read. I got a referral to vision therapy and after 6 months, my dd no longer had double vision or eye suppression and she had regained her depth perception. She still had tremendous difficulty with reading though.

 

The VT told me that she thought my dd was dyslexic as well. Testing confirmed it. She was reading semi-fluently at 8.5yo. At 9.5yo, she is capable of reading at grade level and even a little beyond, but her reading is much slower than you'd expect at her age.

[Tutor]

I started focused teaching of my oldest dd when she was 4.5. Her 3yo sister would sit on my lap while we did lessons and learned to read before her older sister just by listening. (I waslked past her bedroom one night and heard her sound out her first word... Ichthyosaurus! I almost fell over!) Big sister figured it out soon after since she didn't want to be outdone by little sis'.

 

My ds7 just had reading click for him. We've tried official teaching off and on since he was four, but he had a minor speech problem that inhibited him sounding out certain letter combinations properly, so we had to work on that before he could really learn to read properly. Four months ago, I bought Hooked On Phonics (I had used a borrowed copy to teach my girls), and he finished the fifth box three weeks ago, and now he's reading Beatrix Potter books out loud to me! (Although he prefers Superman and Calvin & Hobbes comics.) His reading just took off.

 

I just started with ds4 because I had to work with sitting and talking issues with him first. We just had to practice having him sit still and not yack-yack-yack while he had me all to himself. :)

 

There's a long answer to a simple question, huh?

[Karenciavo]

Ds14 & ds13 were both 4, almost 5. Ds5 was 3 when he started on his own, was reading Bob books at 4.

[mktkcb]

Mine got consecutively younger, and my last is a boy. Oldest dd learned between age 5 and 6. Middle dd learned between age 4 and 5, and ds learned between age 3 and 4. When I say learned, I mean that they got to the point of being fairly fluent readers.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

Your theory has proven true at our house so far. Dd knew all her letters by sight by the time she was two. She was 4 1/2 when she started Phonics Pathways, and finished it a week before her sixth birthday.

 

Ds, OTOH, had no interest whatsoever in letters until he was six. He started PP at 6 1/2, and finished it at about 7 1/2. He reads beautifully now, at age 10.

 

Little dd is 2 1/2 now, and already knows most of her letters by sight, and "gets" that those letters make words. She'll proabably read early, like her sister.

[Guest Lorna]

My daughter started to read of her own accord at the age of two. She blended the letters of 'smoking' to read a 'no smoking' sign on the train. It was a bit creepy really! She learnt, probably, from the Dr Seuss ABC book which she loved and looking over my shoulder when I read to her.

My son learnt when he was three but then was really put off when he went to school. They told him off for sounding out his letters with a new word and using letter sounds rather than names. He was unlucky that he went to school so young and unfortunately I hadn't been able to give him the consistency his sister had. Ironically the British education system has switched back to using phonics since. It took a good while to get him to love books again.

[Bee]

Oldest dd learned to read when she 4 going on to 5.Youngest dd had just turned 6.I found that older child was ready for sit-down schoolwork at age 4 so we did math and learning the letter sounds then.She probably would have done quite well in my local school district's kindergarten.My school district prides itself on it's "academic" kindergarten.It is an all day kindergarten,nap time is over by November,and they expect most of the children willl be reading and writing by the end of the school year.Younger dd was not ready to sit down and do schoolwork at age 5 and I was very glad I did not have to send her to school.

[Closeacademy]

I started working with my oldest when she was 4 and finally able to have a conversation. After four years of working with her on phonics she is capable of reading anything.

 

My youngest knew her letter sounds at 2, I have been working with her formally since she was 4 and we are still waiting for phonics, tracking and such to kick in.

 

Lots of kids don't learn to read until they are 7, 8, etc.

[Chris in VA]

Ds 18 went to private K, then 1st at Montessori school. He turned 7 in Sept of his 1st grade year. He had been reading some sight words in K, but was totally stressed out by the whole school experience in K, and, even tho they did a slow, letter-of-the-week program, he still didn't read. The first month or two after entering Montessori, he brought home the first Bob Book, and read it to me. In fact, he slept with it that night! He took off from there, really cementing his reading (and totally enjoying it) by 3rd grade.

 

Ds 16 learned by whole language in K (public). He basically figured it out himself, with support. At that point, I was still reading aloud to them, esp. in the summer. He never really liked it, though, and to this day is a fluent but reluctant reader, without a great vocabulary.

 

Dd7's journey, well, I've detailed that here many times. She's gone to preschool but been homeschooled after that. Around 3yo, she asked for me to write things for her, and we just fooled around with writing family names and dog and such in an old notebook. For about a year, we just played with language, and, of course, I read to her constantly. Even as a very young baby, she'd pay attention to board books. She sounded out her first words around 4 yo, and we used Phonics Pathways and homemade books to teach her. It took about another 2 years, then she went from reading Dr. Seuss' Early Readers (Go, Dog, Go! etc.) during the summer before 1st grade to reading Little House in the Big Woods in December of 1st grade. She just made this big leap in about 3 months. Now there's no stopping her. She can easily read anything she wants (currently she's going thru the Nancy Drew's, and re-reading Secret Garden and other books like it on our shelves).

 

I guess my point is, the range is wide, and often a kid will make a big leap instead of going little by little. But I teach the "precept upon precept" way, and let them make their own leaps.

[BusyBee]

My oldest son was 4 and my youngest son 5.

[Laurie in VA]

My oldest started reading completely on her own at 3y, 5m. I started phonics with her then, as I wanted her to have a solid understanding of phonics. We went through 100EZ and the 1st two sets of Bob Books, and she was turned loose!

 

My youngest began to read - again, totally self-taught - at 2y, 11m. We started phonics with her as well at that point, but in all honesty it's been slower than with DD#1 because I haven't focused on it as much. We use 100EL, Bob Books, and ETC with #2.

[Susie in MS]

Wow. We're a family of turtle readers.

 

I didn't learn until I was about 8 or 9. (My mother was shocked to discover I couldn't read one day and plunked me down in a chair with a Richard Scarry book and a picture book dictionary and wouldn't let me out of it until I could read something! I remember it well. Then the television "broke" and wasn't fixed for two years.)

 

My son learned late as well--probably eight.

My daughter is just starting on junior chapter books and she's 7.

 

LOL!!!!!!!

I have considered *breaking* our TV and we don't even have reception, just dvds. Dd LOVES tv toooo much. However I let her watch Leap Frog and Richard Scarry which is teaching her.

I can just see your mom sitting you down with Richard Scarry books!!! No food, no water, no potty till at least one word is read! LOL!!!

[Susie in MS]

Thanks everyone!! This is really helpful to see the wide range of ability and readiness.

[LadyR]

Dd started a phonics program at 5 years old. She was not ready before 5. Ds started reading and writing three-letter words at 3 years old. He learned from refrigerator magnets.

[SandraDumas]

Both my kids started reading before I taught them.

 

My oldest had just been 4 for 2 days when he looked at a light switch and said:

 

"oooon" and "ooffff"

 

He had watched Leapfrog Letter Factory a lot.

 

My second just turned four three months ago and last week she wrote a shaky

 

P A T and said, "pat" and then did the same thing with "cat" and a few other words. She uses Leapster Letter Factory, Word Factory, and Letters on the Loose and watched Letter Factory a lot when she was younger.

 

With my older son I got excited and put him right into ETC Primers and Phonics pathways at just-turned-four and Adventures in Phonics at 4.5. With my second child I am going to do a little phonics but not really push for or expect reading for another year, at 6.

 

That's our story!

[Tonia]

My oldest dd demanded that I teach her to read "TODAY" two weeks before her 3rd birthday. She was reading all c-v-c words in two weeks

 

My dd was the same - at about the same time - right around her third birthday she demanded to be taught how to read and would sound out everything she could get her hands on. She started blending right away. If anything, I slow her down :rolleyes: - we are taking our time through OPG and I'm not rushing her, but she seems to 'know' the next lesson before we do it, lately. I consider her a fluent reader (in Dr. Seuss and P. D. Eastman books, anyway :D ). BTW, she is a young four - bday in January.

[Cathy in TX]

My older two were both four~one boy, one girl. My youngest, a girl, wasn't ready until almost six.