advice for early readers?

[ChandlerMom]

I have 3 kids. My oldest dd is 8yo and is ahead across the board by a couple grades (reads 450 wpm and started AoPS preA this year, for example). Her 6yo sister is typical sleeper middle child -- just as sharp and intuitive in math, but would easily be overlooked. Both started in reading/arithmetic right around their 5th birthday and accelerated from there. So I "get" that. Not so much my youngest. :lol:

 

My question is about my 3rd child. DS taught himself his letters and letter sounds before his 2nd birthday, and by 2.5 could identify first and last sounds and which letter made them. I have just lightly been using "Get Ready for the Code A" 1-2 minutes a day (after that he smiles and makes a game of answering exactly wrong, so we stop then) as I hoped he'd get more mature before tackling real "reading".

 

Well, this morning I said, "hi, baby" and he looked thoughtful and replied, "b" /a/ "b" /eh/, then sounded it out as "/b/ /ay/ /b/ /ee/." After a few seconds I realized that he had dealt with the long vowels by reasoning that if "a" says /a/, that /a/ must say "a", and that since "e" says /e/, that /e/ must say "e".

 

I feel like my not-quite 3yo needs to learn the rules before he comes up with his own. But I don't know how to teach such a young child to read.

 

So, for those of you who have btdt, how do you handle the early reader? I'm comfortable with 100EZL (used it with my 2 girls and loved the blending), has anyone used it with a young child? I was thinking of using it (albeit very slowly) with ETC for fun.

 

Suggestions?

 

Also, he loves to count to 20 and can do addition/subtraction in his heads to 10, and I don't really want to start any formal math, but any great games to suggest?

[Dmmetler]

No two kids are alike, but I had a reading toddler-letters and some words well before 2 years of age, read the birthday cards and labels on her toys at her 2nd birthday party. And I can't imagine a reading program that would have worked for her at age 2. At that point, she was too interested in being a toddler and acting like a toddler and exploring the world. It's simply that the world that she could navigate independently included words and books.

 

I can well imagine an early reader who WANTS to be taught-but mine wasn't it!

[Parker Martin]

My son started reading at 14 months. Now he's four, and I still don't think he'd want to do a formal phonics program. He'd ask me to write words he dictated on a Magnadoodle, and I think he learned a lot of the rules that way. We also showed him the Leap Frog videos that include a lot of phonics rules (Talking Words, Code Word Caper, and Learn to Read at the Storybook Factory) since he was so interested in reading.

 

I wouldn't worry about a formal program unless he wants one. His reading will progress fine without it. He'll learn a lot of rules by reading a page as you read aloud, or by your repeating things he's read back to him with correct pronunciation.

[ChandlerMom]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Has anyone successfully taught phonics to a child around the 3yo mark? It's a couple months until his 3rd bday, but he can identify the first and last sounds of words and breezes thru the ETC A (pre)book and enjoys it -- with that typical 2 minute focus of his age.

[matilda]

I used Phonics Pathways with a kid about that age. The nice thing about PP vs. ETC is that there is no writing.

[jennynd]

older ds is early self taught reader, (before 2) I don't think I ever teach him to read. He not interested been taught.

my younger dd who is 3 now was taught by me. . We thought that she is ready to learn to read because When we read, she just like to repeat after us and just started to pick words here and there. So followed how she learn, I start to point a word here there and just teaching her to sound it when we read , she is doing great taught that way. She does not like to learn with book (I tried 100EZ, she hated, HOP, not so much)

[jenbrdsly]

I have a continuum/road map of what to do with early readers on my blog under my Where to Start Page. I hope it helps!

[Ritsumei]

My 5yo was like that - knew his letters at 2, ready to go. Not quite figuring out the sounds like that, but I think it's mostly because he likes numbers better than letters. I combine Happy Phonics, which is games, with OPGTR, which is a lot like 100EZ. What I do is take the rule & explain/demo it, then either use a game from HP or use a file folder board game & we read a card with each turn. Anyway, OPGTR has the rules that I need, since I was taught with heavy sight words, and the HP games kept it age appropriate. We did a game for 10-20 minutes 2-3 times a week and made good progress. When I was previewing phonics programs OPGTR & 100EZ looked very similar, so I'd guess that it would work the same with that program that you already have.

[SKL]

I used to alternate good read-alouds with limited-vocabulary baby books. The baby books, I'd read by running my finger under the words, and once in a while I might point out a particular word (phonetic or sight) and give it a little extra attention.

 

My daughter picked up her first words from the environment in the most random manner. Zoo, fox, red, look, etc. I'd let her call them out when encountered in our reading. Eventually she recognized enough that she could read the occasional sentence here and there. Finally she became the primary reader of many books and I was/am there for backup on the tough words.

 

Although she's been exposed to letter sounds at preschool and we've touched on them randomly at home, she's never been taught in a formal manner. I mostly point out phonics rules when she struggles with a new word.

[3Blessings]

I'll never forget the day that my newly 3yo said to me on the way to preschool, "Mom, I know how to spell tire- t-i-r-e." What??

 

I knew he was advanced, but I didn't know what to think about that.

 

So, I talked to a friend that homeschools her kids and she suggested 100EZ lessons. I got it and sat down with him one day shortly after that. It was easy for him, but I stuck with it because he enjoyed it and I felt that I was giving him a structure on which to hang the language he already knew. It was painless, fun, and, though he didn't NEED it, it certainly gave me some point of reference when we talked about reading. I never introduced a phonics program, but he was decoding quickly and accurately.

 

My middle daughter and my youngest knew all their sounds quite early, so I worked with them on EZ lessons without specific phonics from me. My two big kids did a phonics program through school, but I wouldn't say they needed it to read. They were already decoding and had good comprehension skills.

 

My point to all this rambling is: I know that some people hate 100 EZ lessons, but we like and and I think the op said she did, too. I think phonics could be used WITH 100 EZ lessons if you felt that they need extra work. DD4 is reading Bob Books to me along side 100 EZ lessons. It may be just enough to give you a starting place for your advanced kiddo. You can always add in or change the pace if it doesn't work alone or you want to ramp it up for dc. :)

[acurtis75]

My daughter was also an early reader. At 2 we watched the Leap Frog letter factory. By the time she was 3 we were already doing ETC for 5 to 15 minutes a day. Originally I bought Before the Code but quickly realized she was already past that. She also loved the Leap Frog Word Factory, Complex Word Factory & Storybook Factory. We didn't allow much TV for her but she did watch those DVD's. Because she was such a fast learner we finished at least 3 ETC books in about 1 year. Book 4 was a bit of a challenge because she was not interested in the concept of syllables but by that time she was already reading well.

 

I didn't discover OPGTR until after we were past the point of needing it but looking at that material I could have started with her right when she turned 2. She already knew most of her letters and sounds but would have struggled with ETC at that time because of a lack of writing ability. Even at 3 that slowed us down a bit until we discovered HWOT for handwriting.

[The Governess]

Yes. I used Hooked on Phonics. It doesn't teach phonics in an explicit manner, but it was enough to get her reading and decoding. We used AAS later and she filled in all the phonics rules that HOP doesn't fully cover.

 

We finished the K-2 program in 8 months and she was reading Little House books by her 4th birthday. From the moment she could decode, she has been a voracious reader.

 

I like HOP for a very early reader because there is no rule memorization, no writing, you just open the books and start reading. 10 minutes a day is plenty.

[cmarango]

When my dd was about 2.5-3 years old, we used Phonics Pathways and a little bit of MCP Plaid Phonics as my dd did not care for ETC. I also threw in some BOB books and other easy readers.

[nitascool]

I used Phonics Pathways with all four of my children. My oldest was 1.5 when I taught him letters and sounds A-Z. Then we did blends and diphthongs at age 2. It was very informal, just a lot of "What's this letter ,mummy." "Oh, that's an Aa it says A and aaa as in I Ate the ants." I thought that every parent did that. Now I know otherwise. I had one who waited until he was 3 to learn the letters, but he has vision problems.

[LittleIzumi]

The Drama was like that, right down to the giving wrong answers on purpose when she got bored with ETC Primers. She loved them until they got too easy. I tried to delay her a bit with cheap phonics workbooks, but she already knew the starting sound, etc, in those. I got Happy Phonics and she liked that, but it wasn't really a curriculum. I tried 100 EZ Lessons but I hate those type of books :lol: so in the end, I started her in MFW K, which has blending practice, and that worked very well while we did it. Dd was able to do much more than the lessons required once it clicked (she wanted to make them all end in "at" for a bit, lol) and when I pulled The Sponge out of PS and started schooling the two girls together, I switched to ETC 1. She just turned 4 last week and is a fair chunk into ETC 1. We also do AAS 1 sometimes.

[ChandlerMom]

Thanks for the insights and ideas. I think I'll try to use materials I have (ETC primers and 100EZ) with him as long as he's willing and interested and see how it goes. :)

[2smartones]

My reader also made up wrong answers when he was bored. Back then, I didn't know any better. I was pulling my hair out wondering how he could know the answer one day and forget it the next. I think you should step it up a notch.

 

My reader was sounding out CVC words before age 2. He completed the entire ETC series before age 4 (by himself! for fun!). He was on an adult reading level by 5.

 

I finally threw up my hands when he turned 4 and let him run away with reading. I knew he was just going to teach himself the wrong way if I didn't throw him a bone and give him some guidance (the ETC workbooks), so I let him eat through the series by himself (no writing... just reading and occasionally circling answers) at 3, and then provided tons of books when he was 4. His idea of playtime was taking apart wooden letter puzzles to spell words like "pharmacy" and "attendance", or sitting on his bed surrounded by books. (Too bad video games later crept in and took away some of his zeal for reading. :glare:) I've never really had to teach spelling, either. I've taught both reading and spelling by correcting as we go, and the corrections don't happen very often (usually with very unfamiliar vocabulary or confusing word types).

 

These days, I don't even blink when I see the vast difference between his language arts abilities and math abilities. He's only 2 years above level for math, but he's blown me away in all language sub-subjects. In all honesty, it's made my life EASIER, not harder! The only real challenge we've had is finding enough high quality, wholesome, age-appropriate books for him to read that don't insult his intelligence... which mostly means classics.

Edited September 27, 2011 by 2smartones

[Amie]

I bought OPGTR with the magnet set after my son knew all the letters and sounds they made. He was more of a self-taught reader (I'm told my dh was the same), but I liked having OPG around as a guide to show me a complete progression of phonics (because I was worried he would miss something or pick up some bad habit like strictly sight reading).

 

Be prepared! Nothing like sitting in your car at a stoplight and hearing your just-turned 3yo behind you saying, "Hoooo-ters. Look Mom, that sign says Hooters!". :001_huh:

[StartingOver]

Both of my little ones started reading at 2 ish, my son completed OPGTR at 4, and my daughter is well on her way.

 

We also have all of the Leap Frog video's, although the Letter Factory is the only one I asked them to watch over and over again. ;-)

 

OPGTR isn't fun, but it is awesome, I wish it had been out many years ago with my older children.

[Dmmetler]

 

Be prepared! Nothing like sitting in your car at a stoplight and hearing your just-turned 3yo behind you saying, "Hoooo-ters. Look Mom, that sign says Hooters!". :001_huh:

 

LOL-Mine was (at a local pizza place that was showing sports on the TV with captioning on and sound off) "Mommy, what's "e-rec-tile dys-fun-c-tion??" In one of those very carrying little kid voices.

[acurtis75]

I was so excited my daughter was reading early...and quickly realized it opened up a series of challenges for us. After a hurricane in our area the local waterpark was shut down for an extended period of time which allowed me to tell her after being asked a million times that we couldn't go because it was closed down. Several months later we were driving on the freeway and she said "Mommy, that sign back there said that Schlitterbahn had a grand re-opening in May and it is June so I think we can go tomorrow"

[SKL]

LOL-Mine was (at a local pizza place that was showing sports on the TV with captioning on and sound off) "Mommy, what's "e-rec-tile dys-fun-c-tion??" In one of those very carrying little kid voices.

 

Ha ha! Not as fun, but my kids are always asking about the signs in public restrooms that tell you where to put your used sanitary products. Did you ever notice how much kid voices echo in public restrooms?

[LittleIzumi]

Ha ha! Not as fun, but my kids are always asking about the signs in public restrooms that tell you where to put your used sanitary products. Did you ever notice how much kid voices echo in public restrooms?

 

Yes. :glare::tongue_smilie:

[homeschoolkitty]

My reader also made up wrong answers when he was bored. Back then, I didn't know any better. I was pulling my hair out wondering how he could know the answer one day and forget it the next. I think you should step it up a notch.

 

My reader was sounding out CVC words before age 2. He completed the entire ETC series before age 4 (by himself! for fun!). He was on an adult reading level by 5.

 

I finally threw up my hands when he turned 4 and let him run away with reading. I knew he was just going to teach himself the wrong way if I didn't throw him a bone and give him some guidance (the ETC workbooks), so I let him eat through the series by himself (no writing... just reading and occasionally circling answers) at 3, and then provided tons of books when he was 4. His idea of playtime was taking apart wooden letter puzzles to spell words like "pharmacy" and "attendance", or sitting on his bed surrounded by books. (Too bad video games later crept in and took away some of his zeal for reading. :glare:) I've never really had to teach spelling, either. I've taught both reading and spelling by correcting as we go, and the corrections don't happen very often (usually with very unfamiliar vocabulary or confusing word types).

 

These days, I don't even blink when I see the vast difference between his language arts abilities and math abilities. He's only 2 years above level for math, but he's blown me away in all language sub-subjects. In all honesty, it's made my life EASIER, not harder! The only real challenge we've had is finding enough high quality, wholesome, age-appropriate books for him to read that don't insult his intelligence... which mostly means classics.

 

I am begining that path. my 4yr old can read at 1st grade level. I am no help. English is my 2nd language. would love some titles lists

[lizbusby]

His idea of playtime was taking apart wooden letter puzzles to spell words like "pharmacy" and "attendance", or sitting on his bed surrounded by books.

 

Thank goodness! I thought I was the only one. The worst part is cleaning up--sorting 5 intermingled sets of letters can take forever!

 

Another hazard is accidentally expecting other preschoolers you're around to read. At playgroup, several four-year-olds have looked at me like I'm crazy when I ask them what a sign says. "I don't know how to read." Oh yes, that's right, not all preschoolers read.

 

My in-laws have suggested holding back on teaching him more reading by going broader and enrolling him in a foreign language preschool or intense music lessons. The idea is to prevent him from getting too ahead in one language to be school-able. (I'm not quite on the homeschool bandwagon, just curious and looking for materials to supplement DS's voracious appetite for learning. And my husband is flat out against the idea. But that's another story, which we'll deal with when we hit Kindergarten, no doubt.) Has anyone tried such distraction techniques? I don't like the idea of purposefully holding him back for reasons obvious to anyone here, but perhaps throwing in a tough challenge would make things more manageable. Thoughts?

[LittleIzumi]

Thank goodness! I thought I was the only one. The worst part is cleaning up--sorting 5 intermingled sets of letters can take forever!

 

Another hazard is accidentally expecting other preschoolers you're around to read. At playgroup, several four-year-olds have looked at me like I'm crazy when I ask them what a sign says. "I don't know how to read." Oh yes, that's right, not all preschoolers read.

 

My in-laws have suggested holding back on teaching him more reading by going broader and enrolling him in a foreign language preschool or intense music lessons. The idea is to prevent him from getting too ahead in one language to be school-able. (I'm not quite on the homeschool bandwagon, just curious and looking for materials to supplement DS's voracious appetite for learning. And my husband is flat out against the idea. But that's another story, which we'll deal with when we hit Kindergarten, no doubt.) Has anyone tried such distraction techniques? I don't like the idea of purposefully holding him back for reasons obvious to anyone here, but perhaps throwing in a tough challenge would make things more manageable. Thoughts?

 

I do like to throw in new things to keep dd thinking but not going flat-out in one area until she hits a developmental wall and goes crazy with frustration (BTDT). This week I taught her to play chess for a new mental challenge. I'm not actively holding her back, just giving her brain other things to process.

[SKL]

My in-laws have suggested holding back on teaching him more reading by going broader and enrolling him in a foreign language preschool or intense music lessons. The idea is to prevent him from getting too ahead in one language to be school-able. (I'm not quite on the homeschool bandwagon, just curious and looking for materials to supplement DS's voracious appetite for learning. And my husband is flat out against the idea. But that's another story, which we'll deal with when we hit Kindergarten, no doubt.) Has anyone tried such distraction techniques? I don't like the idea of purposefully holding him back for reasons obvious to anyone here, but perhaps throwing in a tough challenge would make things more manageable. Thoughts?

 

Giving him more to think about will probably help keep his frustration levels down. But I don't think it will stop him from excelling in the usual academic areas. My 4yo dd is in a variety of arts (4), foreign language (2), and sports (5) programs that would individually challenge most children. We also visit museums, etc. weekly and read a lot about geography, history, and science. If anything, these accelerate her basic academics even more. She gobbles books up. I don't really teach her reading, just occasionally point out a phonics rule or help with a difficult word while she's reading to me. I don't see how you slow down a child who can and wants to read, other than taking away all reading materials.

 

But yeah, I've gotten that warning from friends. "Don't teach her too much, she'll be bored in school." She's already bored in school. She was destined to be bored in school.

[Dmmetler]

Well, we started Spanish at about age 2, Latin at age 5, and Greek a few months later (because DD wanted to do it). Can't say it's held her back at all as far as reading level in English, since she hit post-high school before she officially should have started kindergarten based on age, but it does help keep her brain busy, which is a good thing. She just plain likes words and languages. As a toddler, she'd drag out those "100 first words in X" books at the local library and sit there, reading them and trying to pronounce the words-which often got disbelieving people looking at me like I'd created her in my basement lab.

[poetic license]

 

But yeah, I've gotten that warning from friends. "Don't teach her too much, she'll be bored in school." She's already bored in school. She was destined to be bored in school.

 

 

Argh, what an idiotic concept....

 

And aforesaid friends don't realize that we teach them much less than they think we do! Love dmmetler's bit about creating her DD in the basement... :lol:

[ChandlerMom]

Just wanted to thank everyone for the input, and give an update. I am still using ETC workbooks, which work ok, and 100EL (which worked great with his sisters) is just too much dry seat work for him. But I have found Funnix to be awesome for him!

 

He's watched his 6yo sis do some Funnix 2, so I decided to try Funnix 1 with him, and so far it is going really well. We just do a couple sections, so a lesson may take 3 days. I sit with him "doing it" (sometimes one of his sisters joins in) and he seems to really enjoy it -- even does the workbook pages at the end, even tries writing the letters.

 

I initially balked at Funnix since I don't think it teaches blending as naturally as 100EL and feels like I'm "clicker training" my kids, but both my younger kids seem to enjoy it a lot and it worked well with my 6yo, so we'll keep at it and see how it goes!