Struggling with "Teach your child to read in 100 Easy Lessons"

[annanyc]

I have a 3.5 year old, and I'm not remotely anxious for him to learn to read. But he is. He's showing lots of signs of readiness- asking what every sign says, pointing and sounding out words he sees (whether rightly or wrongly), very comfortable with rhyming and figuring out words that start with the same sound. And he just really wants to do it. He's super-motivated and asks for his reading lessons all the time. 

 

But when they actually start? Another story. He's super fidgety and we can rarely get through a whole lesson- needing to break it up a few times per day. Certain parts are really easy for him. He didn't know many of his phonics before, but has quickly learned those that have come up, and even asks about others to learn them. He does the say it slow/fast well, easily recognizes words said slowly, and aces the rhyming part, which is basically just blending with half the word missing. But we're on lesson 20, and when it comes to reading actual words it's still very hit or miss. He almost never blends until I model it for him after he struggles with it. He says each sound in isolation- so he can't recognize the full word, or he'll guess based on the first sound of the word, or recognize the "at" in "that" and just call it "at" or "rat." Basically, lots of different kinds of errors that I think stem from not blending. Often he gets overwhelmed and just guesses completely randomly. While he continues to ask to do reading lessons, there's often a lot of frustration within one. No tears yet, but some "I can'ts" and "This is too hards" and "I'll never learn to reads." 

 

I'm not really sure what to do here, and I've never taught anyone to read before, so I don't know what's typical. Should I just give up for now? He really is so enthusiastic and wants to be a reader, but I don't want to mess with that enthusiasm by continually ramping up lessons he already finds over-challenging. Should I just continue going through and it will click? Go back to an earlier lesson and start from there? Is there helpful blending-specific practice anyone could point me to? Or is there a better reading program for his age/strengths?

 

Reading is such a powerful thing, and I love that it's one of our favorite things to do together. I separately also adore reading. So I feel really nervous about wrecking this- really? I didn't read till school, and I'm totally fine with just backing off until he's older/taught by people who know what they're doing if that's the way to go :)

Edited July 12, 2017 by annanyc

[desertflower]

This is an early age to start reading.  It sounds like he is not ready to blend just yet.  Blending can take time.  So, I would hold off in going forward with the curriculum for a while and get some readers since he is anxious to read.  Like Bob books.  https://smile.amazon.com/Bob-Books-Set-Beginning-Readers-ebook/dp/B00HDPOY84/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499819180&sr=8-1&keywords=bob+books The first one should do, Beginners or something like that.  It has lots of CVC words like Sam sat on the cat.  I'm okay with reading the words on and the to my children while they read the words, Sam, sat, and cat.  However, if these books are too hard I would back off.  There are also Bob books that are titled Sight Words and pre-reading.  I never bought those, so I don't know what they are like.

 

After this, then I would see if he is ready to move forward.

 

Like you, I'm a little concern when you said that he said that "he'll never read or it's too hard".  This is why I advice to take a break.   Because you are right, there is no hurry. 

 

You can also print out some free CVC readers from a website called Progressive Phonics.  I think there is another free source like the Bob books called Sam or something like that.  Perhaps someone else can chime in on that one. 

 

Of course, continue to read to him.  :)  He is doing fine. 

 

FWIW, my youngest is 4 1/2 and can blend, but doesn't want to.  She does about 2 words a month or 1/2 of one of those Bob beginner books.  LOL  No hurry.....  :) 

[annanyc]

Thanks. My hesitation with readers was worrying that he'd learn things as sight words instead of phonics. Is that something to be concerned about? I learned to read with whole language and it was fine, but I know that's not the case for a lot of other kids, and would hate to set him down the wrong path.

Edited July 12, 2017 by annanyc

[Ravin]

I would drop the book. Focus on teaching letter sounds. Read to him a lot. You don't have to be in a rush, honest.

[nixpix5]

Bob books are great because the pictures are so silly and simplistic that it is hard to learn to infer from pics and sight read. If you get the basic level with cvc words that is a great way to start. You could do something as simple as sitting down and letting him say the first letter sound of the word.

 

Another great thing to do if he seems ready is use the Montessori materials that are used to prompt reading readiness in the early childhood classes. Get a movable alphabet set and find some small toy items that would be easy to spell with the set. For example...you could find a small cat and dog figure or print out a picture of a rat, bat etc. Then he learns to put his sounds together with the alphabet. It is fun and great for kids who are ready to read but wiggly due to age.

[desertflower]

Thanks. My hesitation with readers was worrying that he'd learn things as sight words instead of phonics. Is that something to be concerned about? I learned to read with whole language and it was fine, but I know that's not the case for a lot of other kids, and would hate to set him down the wrong path.

 

I actually had the same concern with my children.  I'm okay now with certain words like the word from.  They know how to blend for the most part.  I'm sorry, but  I don't have any suggestions.

 

But I definitely get what you are asking.  I would definitely drop the book, but have a discussion with him saying that you want to try a different approach because every kid learns differently and you are discovering how he learns as well as he is learning.  Address that issue because some kids may feel that their moms don't think they can do it if all of a sudden the book disappears without mentioning it.  If this was my child I would also mention that it may take more different types of approaches I'm just trying this one out first. 

 

There's this game on a curriculum called Phonics Pathways (I used most of this with my oldest).  It's called the train game, but I hesitate in going into details about it because I don't want to step on any copyright issues.  It helped them blend. 

 

Now that I think about it, probably games that teaches one to blend would be good for him.  Then the Bob books if he needs the practice. 

 

I'm sure there are other games to teach how to blend out there, but not sure where to look without buying a curriculum.  Perhaps post another question about it? 

 

Hope this helps.

[desertflower]

Btw, if you have another question about what I replied can you please quote me?  I may not know you are asking me a question otherwise. 

 

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your journey! 

[smfmommy]

Teach Your Monster to Read would be fun for this age. He could feel like he is learning but it starts with letter sounds and is a fun game. A way to take a break without him feeling you are giving up on him. It is a free online program.

[Syllieann]

Once the child can tell the sound of the letter with a good deal of automaticity, I like to teach blending by using the sounds that can be drawn out. That would be all the vowels. Also f, l, m, n, r, s, v, z. So I use tiles (or cards, whatever you have) to create CVC words that use these consonants. Have the child practice drawing out each sound as long as he can. So in the word man, you point to the m and he says mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm until he is out of breath. Then you point to a and he says aaaaaaaaaaaaa, etc. When you've done the word like this, tell him to keep making the first sound until you point to the next letter. Tell him to go right from the first sound to the next without letting any quiet sneak in between the sounds. When he can do this, move on to cvc words that contain the consonants that can be drawn out only as the first letter, so "rat," for example.

 

At a different time of day you can play the robot game. Or perhaps you have a puppet that would like to be the robot. Talk like a robot when you tell him it is time to go to /b/ /e/ /d/. Tell him to guess what word you said. Repeat the word, moving the sounds closer together until he is able to figure out the word. Ask him if he wants to have a turn being the robot. While you are practicing these things, continue practicing individual letter sounds to improve his speed on recall.

 

When you are doing reading practice, consider using a cursor and having him blend the initial sound with the vowel before you reveal the final phonogram. So in "that" you would reveal "th" then "a" and ask him to blend it into "tha" before revealing the final phonogram to produce "that."

[Calm37]

Just chiming in to say it was important for my kids that I cover up the picture that goes with the story until after the sentence/story was read. We even used it as a little "reveal" to make it fun. But my visual kids were very distracted by the picture and wanted to guess the words from the picture clue. Just a regular sheet of copy paper did the trick.

 

We also never read it all twice, but had the kids "show Dad" their lesson and read him the words and story to show off in the evening. :) Really loved that book! I'm sure I was "off script" though by the third and fourth kids.

[HomeAgain]

I like 100 EZ lessons as a *tool*.  It is part of a curriculum here.  The rest, and more important parts include:

-a tray or cookie sheet with the arrow sharpied on it.

-magnetic or moveable alphabet.  Ours was tactile so he traced the shape as he made the sound before moving to a standard red/blue alphabet.

-sound cards/word cards

-a copy machine.

 

With my kid, I had the book, he had the hands on tools to use.  They were always left on the table so he could practice whenever he wanted.  When we got to the stories, I copied them and cut off the pictures.  We played Gwain's Word for blending with the tray (look it up on youtube, it's from Between The Lions).  We had similar tools when I was in school and did a full DISTAR program as a kid.

 

If you look at the book, I believe the beginning has a caveat about lesson 20.  Some kids are just not ready to get over that blending hump.  It's okay.  One day it just clicks.  The rest of the book feels like smooth sailing after that, with minor hiccups around 50 and 70 (as it transitions to regular text)

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Blending seems to be a developmental thing.  And while you can work at it, there will just come a day when it clicks.  My kids have clicked (so far) as early as 3.5 and as late as 5.  

 

I found 100 Easy Lessons to be *ok* up to a point.  With my first, we got through maybe 50 lessons or so before I switched to Phonics Pathways.  All my other kids have just done Phonics Pathways plus McGuffey Readers.  Phonics Pathways is nice because it's not broken down into lessons.  There is just a progression through the book, and you can do just a few words or a whole page in a day, depending on what the child wants.  You can also copy a part of each page onto a whiteboard, which is a really fun way to do a lesson.  

 

 

[wendyroo]

Blending seems to be a developmental thing.  And while you can work at it, there will just come a day when it clicks.  My kids have clicked (so far) as early as 3.5 and as late as 5.  

 

I agree completely.  My kids tend to learn their letter sounds when they are 2ish, but not be developmentally ready to blend until they are 4ish.

 

We spend that time working on phonemic awareness: beginning, ending, middle sounds, rhyming, "blending" compound words like mail + box = mailbox, games like "I'm thinking of an animal whose name starts with tie and ends with ger".

 

Once blending clicks, they go from laboriously sounding out CVC words to being able to read most short vowel words in a matter of days or weeks.

 

Wendy

[fralala]

It really doesn't hurt-- if it's building his self-confidence and he's begging for reading lessons-- to practice what he already knows over, and over, and over, and be enthusiastic about it.

 

I also don't think it hurts to build up some simple books in his repertoire that you've read so many times together that he's memorized them, without worrying too much about sight words, whatever his favorites might be, if he is itching to really 'read'. No need to tell him he's not really reading.)

 

[KarenNC]

My daughter was similar at that age. I tried 100EZ Lessons, as it was recommended and my friend had great success with it, but she quickly began crying every time she saw the book so that was out. She still wanted desperately to learn to read, so I tried Phonics Pathways (another WTM recommendation at the time), same result, but she still badgered me to teach her to read. She had always enjoyed drawing, and I stumbled across Explode the Code which incorporated writing and was a hit.

 

What finally worked for us was a combination of things and doing it at her pace, which could mean 5 minutes one day, 30 minutes another, or nothing at all for days or weeks at a time.  We stopped lessons if things were showing signs of getting frustrating, and continued to read, read, read to her, listen to audiobooks, etc.

 

You've had a number of good suggestions for games for blending, so I'll mention our overall path. We used ETC for the phonics basis along with Bob Books but she quickly became frustrated that it wasn't "real reading" because it didn't sound like the stories she was used to having read to her (very artificial sentence structure). At that point, I added in Dolch sight word cards as a game, so that we could incorporate words like the, said, from, mother, father, her name, names of pets and friends, etc without waiting until they came up in her phonics lessons, which then gave her access to more natural sounding writing. To my mind, this approach is very different than the "whole language" method that was popular at one time. This doesn't mean we never addressed these in phonics lessons as they came up, but I didn't see any point in needlessly frustrating her in the learning process for the sake of staying only pure phonics. At this point, we added in leveled readers from the library. As she progressed, Dick and Jane books from the library gave her the confidence to read aloud to someone other than me, which was a big breakthrough. For fun, I would write a sentence and she got to illustrate it if she could read it. I also took a "magnetic" photo album from the thrift store and used it as a tool and storybook, where we could change the pictures and words at will. I wrote little short stories for her using the names of our friends and pets, which she enjoyed. Once she was reading well, we continued with ETC for phonics-based spelling until we completed the series.

 

She is now almost 17, a voracious reader, has consistently scored at the top in English and reading on her yearly assessments (34 and 35 out of 36 on the ACT college entrance exam), and has has earned a regional honorable mention in the high school Scholastic Art and Writing Awards competition. She's aced her college writing classes in dual enrollment at the community college, so mixing in some sight words with phonics did not hamper her reading or spelling. My godson, who was initially taught using 100 EZ lessons, is a writer and majored in English in college, so that works, too. I don't think there are many absolutes in education. :) Trust your gut, be willing to mix things up a bit, teach the kid in front of you rather than the stage he "should" be at, and take things at your child's pace and interest. Good luck!

[annanyc]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. I'll take them to heart and appreciate knowing about so many different blending-specific games and additional practice. What was confusing me is that he seemed to have so many blending skills- easily doing the "rhyme mmmmm with at" without a problem, etc. 

 

Someone above suggested just focusing on the first blend and covering up the rest of the word, and another poster suggested using a different phonics program that spent more time on two-letter blends. That was totally it! I realized the rhyming is actually just one blend at a time, while most of the words jump to two, and today we did a reading lesson and I covered up the second half of the word, and had him blend the first part first, before adding on the second blend separately. And it totally clicked, and he did amazingly. He would occasionally say the sounds with a pause, but could then go in and self-correct to blend them. So gratifying (for both of us :) I think we'll probably continue with this amount of scaffolding at the moment. Hopefully with more practice in breaking the word down, he'll slowly become more confident about doing it more than once per word. But again, so appreciate the other resources for if we get stuck. And thanks for pointing out something obvious, that wasn't remotely obvious to me...

[KarenNC]

That is so young! I really wouldn't use anything (even bob books) at that age. Just play and read a lot and maybe keep working on letters that's it. I haven't read anywhere that reading early is that beneficial in the long run so don't worry! I have a 3.5 year old too and he is also very interested in the same things but I know hes not ready (he's my 4th) and even if he were i would still wait to teach him, I think maturity makes a huge difference! What could take a week to teach now might only take a day if he were older.  

 

This struck me probably harder than it should have because I was accused over and over when my daughter was very young of "pushing" her academically for my own goals when I asked a question about how to best teach her "x" that she wanted to learn. I was just trying to keep her thirst satisfied. Some kids can be *very* determined about this sort of thing! Being able to follow her pace--fast, slow, alternating between both, or even backing up occasionally--is a large part of why we homeschooled. Now I will admit to eventually having to do a bit of pushing in math later on, as she otherwise would have been quite happy to stop with addition and subtraction. ;)

 

I think that artificially blocking and frustrating a child's progress in learning to read by withholding instruction solely because of age when he desperately wants more is likely to do as much harm as artificially pushing him to try to learn too early for him. Neither respects the child's pacing. I agree that you have to know your own child, and I don't know the OP's child. In our case, I wasn't surprised at my daughter's early passionate interest in reading as both my husband and my father taught themselves to read by 4 and I don't remember a time when I didn't know how to read. That's why I said,"Teach the child in front of you," whether he's ready to try to progress to the next step in reading now or 3 years from now, which is some wisdom I learned on these boards. Follow his lead and level of interest in both content and pacing, especially at this age, and it will work out. 

 

In case it was misinterpreted, I didn't share info on my daughter's academic success to try to push early reading as a goal for everyone but rather to say that mixing phonics with some sight words to ease frustration did not negatively impact her long-term ability to read or spell at all.

 

Edited July 13, 2017 by KarenNC

[annanyc]

This struck me probably harder than it should have because I was accused over and over when my daughter was very young of "pushing" her academically for my own goals when I asked a question about how to best teach her "x" that she wanted to learn. I was just trying to keep her thirst satisfied. Some kids can be *very* determined about this sort of thing! Being able to follow her pace--fast, slow, alternating between both, or even backing up occasionally--is a large part of why we homeschooled. Now I will admit to eventually having to do a bit of pushing in math later on, as she otherwise would have been quite happy to stop with addition and subtraction. ;)

 

I think that artificially blocking and frustrating a child's progress in learning to read by withholding instruction solely because of age when he desperately wants more is likely to do as much harm as artificially pushing him to try to learn too early for him. Neither respects the child's pacing. I agree that you have to know your own child, and I don't know the OP's child. In our case, I wasn't surprised at my daughter's early passionate interest in reading as both my husband and my father taught themselves to read by 4 and I don't remember a time when I didn't know how to read. That's why I said,"Teach the child in front of you," whether he's ready to try to progress to the next step in reading now or 3 years from now, which is some wisdom I learned on these boards. Follow his lead and level of interest in both content and pacing, especially at this age, and it will work out. 

 

In case it was misinterpreted, I didn't share info on my daughter's academic success to try to push early reading as a goal for everyone but rather to say that mixing phonics with some sight words to ease frustration did not negatively impact her long-term ability to read or spell at all.

 

Thanks, Karen. That's exactly how I interpreted your statements. And I sympathize very much with your honoring your daughter as a learner. My son is obsessed with reading. It's not pressure that's coming from me. As mentioned, I didn't learn to read until in school, and did just fine. But he wakes up every morning and the first thing he asks is " can we do another reading lesson?" Three weeks in, my options for addressing it are a) struggle through my fumbling and figure out a way to teach him that works for him b) redirect him, and tell him reading is for when he's older but we can do "x" if he's truly not ready. I'm open to b being the case, but I saw some signs that there was probably more I could try, and I also want to respect his passion- learning's so much easier when you're motivated. It's why I don't care that he still has no motivation to write, or draw representationally, why it's fine with me that he has no special interest in learning numbers or manipulating them. There's so much time, and why fight upstream? But it's also why when he became enamored of dinosaurs and sharks, I supported it, checked out the books and bought museum passes, and now he's *that* kid, who can identify more than 50 dinosaurs and 30 sharks by name and tell you all about them. He doesn't even know all his letters yet, but I'm sure he'll get there, because I see the same light. If I stopped trying to teach him how to read, he'd be disappointed. We, neither of us, may be ready, but I hope so, and am not ready to throw in the towel yet.

 

Doesn't mean I have any idea about what I'm doing. He's my first, and I'm no teacher, so I'm really glad I stumbled onto this forum :)

Edited July 13, 2017 by annanyc

[MerryAtHope]

 

Someone above suggested just focusing on the first blend and covering up the rest of the word, and another poster suggested using a different phonics program that spent more time on two-letter blends. That was totally it! I realized the rhyming is actually just one blend at a time, while most of the words jump to two, and today we did a reading lesson and I covered up the second half of the word, and had him blend the first part first, before adding on the second blend separately. And it totally clicked, and he did amazingly. He would occasionally say the sounds with a pause, but could then go in and self-correct to blend them. So gratifying (for both of us :) I think we'll probably continue with this amount of scaffolding at the moment. Hopefully with more practice in breaking the word down, he'll slowly become more confident about doing it more than once per word. But again, so appreciate the other resources for if we get stuck. And thanks for pointing out something obvious, that wasn't remotely obvious to me...

 

Awesome! So fun to see your son see that success. I love his enthusiasm for learning to read. 

 

Here's an article on blending with a short video demo that you might find helpful. You can also do things like lay 3 pieces of paper on the floor with letters on them (like m, a, p). Model blending for him--step on each one and say the sounds. Then start over and go a little faster, this time slowly blending the letters. Then run over them quickly and say the word fast. Map! Then have him try it.

 

You can do a similar game with a race car--put letters on index cards and let him run a race car over them in the same way. (If you are using a word with a letter team like "that," put the "th" on one paper.)

 

Have fun with it! 

[fralala]

Awesome! So fun to see your son see that success. I love his enthusiasm for learning to read. 

 

Here's an article on blending with a short video demo that you might find helpful. You can also do things like lay 3 pieces of paper on the floor with letters on them (like m, a, p). Model blending for him--step on each one and say the sounds. Then start over and go a little faster, this time slowly blending the letters. Then run over them quickly and say the word fast. Map! Then have him try it.

 

You can do a similar game with a race car--put letters on index cards and let him run a race car over them in the same way. (If you are using a word with a letter team like "that," put the "th" on one paper.)

 

Have fun with it! 

 

These are great ideas. One more tip with blending: my kids seem to have picked up blending very quickly when my husband and I began to use segmenting to communicate things we didn't want them to overhear, or even just pretended we wanted to keep secret, instead of spelling them out. ("Should we get rid of that old E-l-m-o t-oy?" Oh, Elmo is a really good word to practice blending/segmenting, by the way! and "should we have some i-ce c-r-ea-m?") This in addition to I Spy games with segmenting or I'm-thinking-of games with segmenting.

 

[knitgrl]

Blending seems to be a developmental thing.  And while you can work at it, there will just come a day when it clicks.  My kids have clicked (so far) as early as 3.5 and as late as 5.  

 

I found 100 Easy Lessons to be *ok* up to a point.  With my first, we got through maybe 50 lessons or so before I switched to Phonics Pathways.  All my other kids have just done Phonics Pathways plus McGuffey Readers.  Phonics Pathways is nice because it's not broken down into lessons.  There is just a progression through the book, and you can do just a few words or a whole page in a day, depending on what the child wants.  You can also copy a part of each page onto a whiteboard, which is a really fun way to do a lesson.  

 

100 Easy Lessons worked for us (dd was 5 at the time), but I had no clue what to do afterwards. I might try the above bolded with the next child.

 

[SamanthaCarter]

All I can say is don't quit. That's what I did when DS was three and desperate to read. He had known all his letter sounds for ages and so I decided to go ahead with it. 100 EZ didn't fit, and I was made to think by lots of people that I was pushing him too hard. I succumbed to the criticism, quit, and then DS taught himself how to read anyway. I wouldn't recommend that. He taught himself a lot of bad habits that we had to work through, such as guessing based on the first and last letters, etc. 

 

For my other two, I used The Reading Lesson. Highly recommend. I wish I'd had it for DS. :(

[Mommyof1]

My 4.5 DD doesn't like the phonics lesson books. She really likes phonics video's on Youtube. Alphablocks start with alphabet and their sounds then when the letters hold hands they sound out the word. There are other phonics videos plus some have used Leap Frog Dvds.

[Susan in TX]

He might do well with Click n Kids Phonics.

 

I have used this with my older, struggling, readers but I think it could be a good fit for a younger, eager learner as well.

 

Susan in TX

[reign]

I also recommend the Reading Lesson book. I paired it with the ABC flash cards from Leap Frogs Letter Factory. Youngest used that for years to play lots of reading/blending games. She was able to sound out words early but didn't remember them them or read with any fluency till closer to 5. She is my youngest and really wanted to do something she could call "school" with me. She did go through 100ezl around age 4 and OPGTR after that.

Edited July 13, 2017 by reign

[gstharr]

I agree with finding some  fun phonics videos.  But,  not daily, nor as a  structured lesson.  You might want to watch the videos with him for encouragement.  We were fortunate to be near a phonics class when my son was about  3 1/2 . He joined a weekly 1 hour phonics class for kindergarten (he was in pre-k then). No hw,  writing,  or testing.  The teacher just engaged the kids in sounding out the letters, and sight words.  I sat next to him to nudge him along. At home, we used every  opportunity that  came up to  practice the sounds he had learned.  (e.g., see that dog?  What letter does dog begin with?  da, da, da -D)..  A year later, reading exploded.  I guess that is when the blending occurred. He could read every book in the classroom, on the first day of school 

[Sunshine89]

Wow 3.5 is early! None of my kids have been ready at that age but I know some kids are more eager. When my son was 4 I taught him the letter sounds using progressive phonics alphabetti series (we used the older version) and it got him reading cvc words.  I was pretty impressed but he did eventually tire of the program and we moved onto Logic of English Foundations A which I feel is really great for young learners because of the multisensory approach and no sight words right away. I use this as a preschool program and so far have had great luck mainly because it builds the phoenimic awareness skills. I also feel it really helps having the child write the letters and eventually the words they are learning (letter tiles/magnets can be used or writing in salt/paint/etc). One activity from that book that might work with your little one is segmenting an action word (like r-u-n) or animal and then having the say the word and act it out. Also you can use a picture book and ask them to find the d-o-g or something that starts with the letter 'd'. After they are good at that, have them start segementing words for you to guess, maybe from around the room. Lots of ways to adapt those activities, but they are active ways to build phonenemic awareness, which helps with blending I think. I think the key is finding ways to make it fun. I wouldn't necessarily ditch the Teach your Child to Read book but I would supplement with some other fun things. Also there are some great websites out there, if your child is into them to help master those sounds and blending... teach your monster to read and starfall are the one I think of first that are free and several that you can pay for (abcmouse, homer, readingeggs, education.com...). I liked the readers from Reading the Alphabet because they gently introduce sight words and vocabulary... it is very picture dependant though which many lead to some whole language learning. I'm not really a stickler about that because I figure if I'm using a phonics program they will learn it eventually. 

 

 

[...................]

I have a 3.5 year old, and I'm not remotely anxious for him to learn to read. But he is. He's showing lots of signs of readiness- asking what every sign says, pointing and sounding out words he sees (whether rightly or wrongly), very comfortable with rhyming and figuring out words that start with the same sound. And he just really wants to do it. He's super-motivated and asks for his reading lessons all the time.

 

But when they actually start? Another story. He's super fidgety and we can rarely get through a whole lesson- needing to break it up a few times per day. Certain parts are really easy for him. He didn't know many of his phonics before, but has quickly learned those that have come up, and even asks about others to learn them. He does the say it slow/fast well, easily recognizes words said slowly, and aces the rhyming part, which is basically just blending with half the word missing. But we're on lesson 20, and when it comes to reading actual words it's still very hit or miss. He almost never blends until I model it for him after he struggles with it. He says each sound in isolation- so he can't recognize the full word, or he'll guess based on the first sound of the word, or recognize the "at" in "that" and just call it "at" or "rat." Basically, lots of different kinds of errors that I think stem from not blending. Often he gets overwhelmed and just guesses completely randomly. While he continues to ask to do reading lessons, there's often a lot of frustration within one. No tears yet, but some "I can'ts" and "This is too hards" and "I'll never learn to reads."

 

I'm not really sure what to do here, and I've never taught anyone to read before, so I don't know what's typical. Should I just give up for now? He really is so enthusiastic and wants to be a reader, but I don't want to mess with that enthusiasm by continually ramping up lessons he already finds over-challenging. Should I just continue going through and it will click? Go back to an earlier lesson and start from there? Is there helpful blending-specific practice anyone could point me to? Or is there a better reading program for his age/strengths?

 

Reading is such a powerful thing, and I love that it's one of our favorite things to do together. I separately also adore reading. So I feel really nervous about wrecking this- really? I didn't read till school, and I'm totally fine with just backing off until he's older/taught by people who know what they're doing if that's the way to go :)

I would just wait a little while. I made the same mistake 12 years ago and the lovely ladies on this board tried to encourage me but after a few posts really wondering why my highly intelligent 3.5 year old couldn't get it, someone said "your 3 year old doesn't care to sit and learn to read. Get over it."

 

lol.

 

That following year I used Calvert Pre K and he really enjoyed the pre reading lessons, rhyming, matching sight words, etc. I followed that up with abeka Pre K when he was 4.5 and he did the lessons but still wasn't actually reading. In K wee use CLP Phoncis which is like Abeka only cheaper and not as nice and pretty, and then he could read all the readers but still didn't care to read. Then he found the Nate the Great detective serieS.

 

My son's IQ is close to 140 and he reads very advanced books now even for his age, at 15. He also has read over 30 College Level programming books, and he loves to read...

 

I'm just saying put the reading aside and enjoy him being 3, he will eventually read, and he will read a lot and he will read well as long as you provide him with a literature Rich environment :)

[...................]

By the way- my son at 3.5 did all the things yours does, plus memorized sight words such as the word on the back of the toilet, VERIZON (he loves the phone store) and more...none of that meant he was ready to learn to read.

[Mommyof1]

At 3.5 my DD already knew the alphabet, their sounds and picked up short vowel sounds in a day. Even with that she wasn't ready to sit down for phonics lessons. She learned those with videos. I waited a couple months. I got Blend Phonics Pre primer and put the words on cards. She would do that but not till she was closer to 4.

 

Blend phonics helped her feel like she was really reading because he used words not two letter blends. At 4.5 she can blend and read a lot if different types of words.

 

She is happy to read her Bob books and lessons in McGuffey Primer. The primer introduces something new one thing, one lesson at a time. So the amount of words on a page won't overwhelm her.

[Cake and Pi]

I agree that the timing of blending seems to be a developmental thing.  My older two both knew all their letters and all the basic letter sounds by 2.  One started blending at 3.5, the other wasn't ready until almost 5; both were taught with 100 EZ Lessons.  Ironically, the one who blended later has made steady progress and is now a very strong reader, while the one who blended earlier has had a couple of major plateaus.  The first time it turned out he needed glasses, and then in 2nd grade we found out he likely has stealth dyslexia and has been compensating this whole time.  He has dramatically higher reading comprehension than any other reading skill and doesn't read word-for-word.

 

Starfall might be a fun way to break up 100 EZ Lessons, and I see no problem repeating bits of those first few lessons over and over as long as your kiddo wants until he's ready to move on.