Doing phonics with a two year old

[Kidlit]

I thought that thread title might get a few looks!;)

 

I'm new to this whole homeschooling thing, at least as far as anything formal is concerned. We've done a little with BFIAR. However, we started last week learning consonant sounds.

 

While I am not intentionally doing phonics with my two year old, I am including her in what I'm doing with my four year old. We've just always done things this way, and while I'm sure that I could manage to find something to occupy her while big sister's learning sounds, I'm pretty sure it would be a hard sell. My girls are 18 months apart in age, and I'm seeing more and more that it might be a little difficult to separate what they do, especially as they get older.

 

I suppose my real questions are these:

a. Is there something truly better for her age that she should be doing during the short lessons on sounds?

b. What am I going to do with her when it is time for big sister to officially start kindergarten (next year) and she will be four in a few short months?

 

Thanks for answering a newbie's questions. I have lurked here for a while and know what a wealth of information and wisdom you seasoned homeschoolers can share. Thank you!

[Emmy]

My younger kids are usually in the room but not necessarily paying close attention. There is a lot of trickle down effect with homeschooling - when I taught my oldest to read, my 2nd and 3rd sons started sounding out words shortly after. What I do is allow them to sit in if they *want* but don't tell them have to. Most of the time my 4yo sits in on the history I'm doing with my 6yo and 8yo but occasionally he wanders off - I don't make him come back but if he does, I have an extra set of activity sheets ready for him so he can participate.

 

My 2yo is rarely more than an arm's length away so he's pretty much always around for school stuff but I don't expect him to really be taking it in. He does love the storybook and fiar type books we read so I'm sure he's enjoying it on his level. I typically have blocks for him to play with or other quiet stuff. When the bigger kids do workbooks or activity sheets I usually have crayons or do a dot markers and paper ready for my 2yo to do. When he's 3ish I'll probably have alphabet coloring pages and kumon books for him. Then I'll likely get him the "get ready for the code" books and more kumon and dot to dot books and all that as he seems ready. It's a very casual transition and it may be when he's 3 1/2 (like my 3rd son) or it may not be until he's 4 1/2 (like my 2nd son).

 

I guess my advice is - don't push it, but have things available.

[Linda...inOwasso]

I can't think of a single reason why you shouldn't include your 2 year old (unless she's distracting your older child.) One of the best pieces of advice I received was from SWB in TWTM. She wrote that one of our primary goals as homeschooling parents is to "teach our children to read as soon as possible."

 

It never occurred to me to try and teach my older dd so I let the school teach her at the age of 6. When she was 6 1/2 we decided to homeschool so I started teaching my 3 yo dd phonics at that time since she wanted to "do school" too.

 

Well, little sister just turned 5 in July and reads at a 2nd grade level. I'm very pleased. I say GO FOR IT! Reading is wonderful and the sooner the better. :) No reason to wait until some educator (who's probably never taught a child to read) says it's *time.*

 

Enjoy!!

[FO4UR]

Funny story: my dd was 2yo when she learned her letter sounds (thanks LeapFrog;)) Dh was playing with her pointing to her saying "Ella" then to himself saying "Daddy"....he wanted her to say "Ella and Daddy". Well, she pointed to his college t-shirt and said /c/ /o/ /l/ /l/ ....saying the sounds of the letters on his shirt. he was :ohmy:!!! :lol:

 

Let your 2yo pick what he will. My 3yo demands school-time attention, so I oblige as long as she is enjoying it - when her mind begins to wander we put it away for the day.

[Lovedtodeath]

I recommend Montessori Read and Write.

[Kidlit]

Thanks, everyone! That's my gut feeling, and really, since the girls are so close in age, what dd1 does, dd2 thinks she can do, too. Her fine motor skills are not there yet, of course, when it comes to using scissors (supervised) or coloring, etc., but she THINKS she can do it!

[teamturner]

My 2 yo wants to do her school too and it's amazing the trickle down effect of what she picks up. I'm mostly trying to occupy her rather than really teach her since I have 3 olders and lots of subjects to cover. This year I did get her some new markers and Kumon workbooks and tons of puzzle, manipulative things. I do want to be more intentional with her and for now I'm concentrating on her knowing shapes, colors, numbers. She was singing our latin song the other day! It's totally fine to include your 2 yo if she is interested. I would just give her a coloring sheet for the letter you're working on so she could be working on those fine motor skills at the same time.

[Jann in TX]

They were fun to watch and she RETAINED what she learned!

 

When my youngest was 2-3 she watched the Leap Frog videos--her 'school' and then marked up her Kumon workbooks.

[The Governess]

I am a beginning homeschooler too, but for what it's worth, I vote that if your daughter is interested, then go for it! My dd was also interested at age 2 and I just went with her interest. She started reading soon after her 3rd birthday. Sounds like your dd may be an early reader also. I think that the "no-no" with a two year old and phonics is trying to pressure them to learn at that age even if they aren't interested. But as long as she is leading you and having fun, why not?

[Pamela H in Texas]

I'm soooooooooooooooo not a video person but bought the leapfrog video Letter Factory for my home daycare a few years ago and within NO time, had 2-4yr olds that knew their letter sounds!

 

Anyway, that would definitely be a resource I'd use if I had young'uns myself.

 

With my own daughter, I just answered her questions, played sound games, made her some simple construction paper games, etc. She loved it (though she was exhausting me!).

 

DS had several sight words and letter sounds early on but didn't learn to read til much later.

[Kidlit]

Thanks again, everyone! I am so tickled to be here and participating in such a great forum.

 

I am definitely not forcing her to do anything; she just expects to do what big sis is doing. I do need to help her more with her fine motor skill development, though. One of my problems is that she is left handed and I am most definitely right handed, so things like using scissors (which she wants to do) is difficult.

[JFSinIL]

In reading,m as in any subject, if the younger kids can do it and keep up, let her do so. In the long run you are not pulling down the older one if they both end up in the same grade, doing the same work - you are pulling UP the younger.

[TracyR]

What I will be doing with my two year old? I will let her color , she loves to color and draw like her sisters.

She loves the Leap Pad videos. Listening to mommy read big sisters their stories even though they are WAY over her head at the moment. She just loves to be on mommy's lap.

If your two year old likes to color or draw you could find some fun workbooks like the Kumon workbooks , they have a few for two year olds.

[dawn of ns]

She wrote that one of our primary goals as homeschooling parents is to "teach our children to read as soon as possible."

 

 

I had to smile at that because one of my goals with homeschooling is to leave aside the process of learning to read until the kids were interested. My daughter finally became a fluent reader at nine but it was the classic situation where she went from not reading to reading adult novels.

[Lovedtodeath]

I had to smile at that because one of my goals with homeschooling is to leave aside the process of learning to read until the kids were interested. My daughter finally became a fluent reader at nine but it was the classic situation where she went from not reading to reading adult novels.

 

My DD was interested at 3 years old. She then lost interest at 4 1/2 to 5, but she already knew how by then. She is now between 3-4th grade level. I think very young ones are interested and we just seize the opportunity when it arises. And of course, as the OP stated her DD is interested.

 

I think we all agree that forcing a 2-6 year old to learn to read when they do not want to is not going to work well. IMO the under 4 group are usually very open to it.

[Parrothead]

In reading,m as in any subject, if the younger kids can do it and keep up, let her do so. In the long run you are not pulling down the older one if they both end up in the same grade, doing the same work - you are pulling UP the younger.

:iagree:

 

With them so very close in age, I'd let the younger absorb all that she wants to. Next year when your oldest starts K, I think being prepared for the younger one to fall in line too.

 

When we were doing K it only took half an hour a day (two fifteen-minute sessions), and dd was 3 years 11 months when we began formal school. She was very ready. That is how we fell into homeschooling. I couldn't find a pre-school that would put her in a K-4 because of her birthday.

[Jenn in Mo]

With my boys, I let the younger sit in with the older, but kept focus on older bro's schoolwork. This was just for math and phonics. The rest was reading and fun, which they both joined whole-heartedly. The younger surprised us all by learning to read in just 2 weeks - we didn't think he'd been paying much attention at ALL to big bro's stuff.

 

We started our history rotation with the ancients, but made it last 2 years (we procrastinate 'round these parts.) It wasn't intentional, but it worked well for us. By the time we got to year 2, They were both fully able to grasp the history and science lessons together. The only thing we separate are grammar and math. Everything else is done together. I LOVE this. In fact, I have a 4yo and 2yo girls who will join us in a few years. I'm beginning preschool/Kind work with 4yo, but will not throw her into the boys rotation until she is 6. The boys are on year 3 right now and will continue on to year 4. I may pause for a year and not go on to the ancients until the girls are ready to join together. I really want the whole family in the same century at the same time! Our couch-time, reading great books and history lessons, is our favorite family time. The girls don't necessarily grasp much of what's going on right now, but they still love to join us.

 

If I have to take a year off of our history rotation, I'm strongly considering My Father's World because their year 1 is focused on World Geography rather than history.

[lwilliams1922]

I don't 'teach' my 3 and 1 year olds. Their time is all the stories we read to them during the day. Each of them will bring books they want read all during the day and night.

 

When the 12 year old is doing school the 3 year old will hang around. It's funny because she is not really in the lessons but she will repeat facts and concepts at a later date. it freaks us out someimes. :)

[Mommy22alyns]

Sylvia "picks up" a lot of what we're teaching Becca. I consider anything she learns or wants to do a bonus, and when she's ready for "kindergarten," I'll meet her where she's at then. :001_smile:

 

And I also heartily recommend the Leap Frog videos!

[Kidlit]

Thanks, everyone! I'm loving the discussion. Especially thanks to Parrothead for the advice of letting little sis fall in line with big sis since they're so close in age. I kind of thought as much since because the way their birthdays fall, dd1 would start public kindergarten when she's barely five and dd2 would start it when she's almost six. I think it makes more sense to have them only a year apart, but we'll see what things look like when the time comes.

 

We're having a great time with learning time. You can read more about what we're doing on my blog here--http://hopeistheword.wordpress.com

 

 

I hope to eventually have that in my signature line!:tongue_smilie:

[Aloha2U]

Funny story: my dd was 2yo when she learned her letter sounds (thanks LeapFrog;)) Dh was playing with her pointing to her saying "Ella" then to himself saying "Daddy"....he wanted her to say "Ella and Daddy". Well, she pointed to his college t-shirt and said /c/ /o/ /l/ /l/ ....saying the sounds of the letters on his shirt. he was :ohmy:!!! :lol:

 

Let your 2yo pick what he will. My 3yo demands school-time attention, so I oblige as long as she is enjoying it - when her mind begins to wander we put it away for the day.

 

:iagree:

 

Here's an example from our experience already. I plan on using SWR with my one and only ds (just turned 4 in July). When my SWR materials arrived in April I started learning the phonograms for myself. I would turn on the CD w/the flash cards and go. My ds was always in the same room with me and would just chime in from time to time. Sometimes I involved him w/the flash cards as well. I signed up to attend an SWR basic seminar in mid-July and I decided to hold off on teaching him anything formally until after that. However, a week or two before the seminar I decided that I should at least begin the phonograms with him. So I got out the flash cards and CD... and come to find out he already knew most of them and said them before the speaker did. Needless to say (but I will anyways), I was in absolute shock... blown away in fact! That was a proud mommy moment. It confirmed for me that it wasn't too soon... he can do it. That same night when his daddy got home from work, I decided to try to have him sound out a simple word. My husband is a police officer so the very first word we had him sound out was /c/ /o/ /p/. After a few moments and without any help, he blew me away again as well as his daddy. That was a proud mommy and daddy moment. We continued with /d/ /o/ /g/, /c/ /a/ /t/, /h/ /a/ /t/ and a few more... then stopped for the night.

 

That was just what my ds learned from me teaching myself... I can only imagine what your little one will pick up while paying attention with her sister. I wished I would have started sooner. I wouldn't discourage anyone from teaching their dc, formally or not. Only, you know what your dc can do and it sounds like your doing great!

 

Have fun!

 

Melissa

[Linda...inOwasso]

Dawn,

 

I don't doubt that when your dd9 learned to read she soared. It makes perfect sense to me that when a child

*wants* to do something they will excel at a higher rate than if they don't want to do it.

 

I praise your maturity and confidence! I am too much of a chicken to allow anything to happen naturally. LOL! I usually apply a gentle nudge to both of my dd's and would probably relieve myself of much frustration if I could just relax and let things happen when they're ready to.

 

Kudos to you! And, P.S.: I haven't read TWTM in a few months, so my quote wasn't verbatum. But, I remembered in general SWB writing that teaching a child to read ASAP was a top priority.

[Kidlit]

:D:D:D:D:D

[WTMindy]

I thought that thread title might get a few looks!;)

 

I'm new to this whole homeschooling thing, at least as far as anything formal is concerned. We've done a little with BFIAR. However, we started last week learning consonant sounds.

 

While I am not intentionally doing phonics with my two year old, I am including her in what I'm doing with my four year old. We've just always done things this way, and while I'm sure that I could manage to find something to occupy her while big sister's learning sounds, I'm pretty sure it would be a hard sell. My girls are 18 months apart in age, and I'm seeing more and more that it might be a little difficult to separate what they do, especially as they get older.

 

I suppose my real questions are these:

a. Is there something truly better for her age that she should be doing during the short lessons on sounds?

b. What am I going to do with her when it is time for big sister to officially start kindergarten (next year) and she will be four in a few short months?

 

Thanks for answering a newbie's questions. I have lurked here for a while and know what a wealth of information and wisdom you seasoned homeschoolers can share. Thank you!

 

Well, first of all, my kids are also 18 months apart and it is wonderful because we do almost everything together and have since the beginning. They don't really know anything else. My dd was reading at 3 and my ds was sounding out words at age 2 because he wanted to learn the letter sounds like his sister. We didn't push, they were just ready, so if your 2 year old is learning sounds, then I say go for it.

[dawn of ns]

My DD was interested at 3 years old. She then lost interest at 4 1/2 to 5, but she already knew how by then. She is now between 3-4th grade level. I think very young ones are interested and we just seize the opportunity when it arises. And of course, as the OP stated her DD is interested.

 

I think we all agree that forcing a 2-6 year old to learn to read when they do not want to is not going to work well. IMO the under 4 group are usually very open to it.

 

Yup. Sometimes I wondered if I missed an opportunity when she was younger. Oh well, she's now staying up late with Harry Potter so we got there in the end. Regardless, my smile was only because I thought it was neat we could both be part of the same community but have such different approaches. One of those, "This could never happen in a school", moments of appreciation. :D