Early Reading Help

[Jeani]

Hey Everyone,

 

I'm new here, and new to hs... I'm sure these are rookie questions, so I appreciate your time. My oldest son just turned 3 last month, and his little brother is turning 2 next month. My dh and I have always been interested in hs, and about 2 years ago we really started digging into some reading on it. We're interested in the classical approach, but are still just getting started. Last September I started "schooltime" with them, and we've been doing a letter each week. At this point, they both know all their uppers and lowers (except bdpq of course) and the accompanying sounds. They don't get stuck on anything anymore. And DS1 is rhyming up a storm. So I'm told at this point they can start learning to read??? Is that crazy? Esp. the baby, no? Any tips or opinions are most appreciated. My library is doing a search for the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. Meanwhile, I have a magnet board, letter tiles and a few basic sight words that I'm going over. How long does the bat/cat/hat/pat scenario play out before they can read these words? If I ask DS1 what letter I need to add to "_at" to spell a given three-letter word he can tell me, but if I put a three-letter word in front of him to read, he can sound out all the letter sounds, but can't put them together yet. Am I going in the right direction? Is he too young? Is DS2 too young? Need input. Note: the three-letter word activity is only like two weeks old, and we only do it maybe 3 times each week.

 

Thanks,

Jeani

 

 

 

[SBP]

Nope, not crazy! My DD learned to read as a very young 3 yo, as did two of my nephews, so it's certainly possible that your DS is ready - and maybe both of them are, though I have no personal experience of one as young as your baby learning to read. We used "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons," and I still say it's the best $15 I ever spent as a homeschooler :).

 

However, in my DD's case, her older brother (4.5 at the time) was getting reading lessons, and she insisted on getting them, too. I tried just having "reading time" with her and cuddling her in my lap with a story book, and she would put the story book away and thrust 100EL into my hands. Had to be the SAME book DS was using, or it didn't count! It would have never occurred to me to teach her otherwise, and if it hadn't gone well, I certainly wouldn't have continued it. There are so many wonderful, fun things to do with toddlers that I definitely wouldn't force reading lessons on one who isn't ready.

 

If you think your DS is ready, though, by all means give it a go. OPGTR wasn't out when mine were toddlers, but I'm sure it's a great choice, and like I said, we're big fans of 100EL here. If you start and stall, you might find you have to camp out in one spot for a while while the concepts sink in. I think my DD did the first 20 lessons or so in 100EL twice before we moved on, and that was fine. If you start the lessons and sense resistance or frustration, you might just decide to put it away for a while and try again later. In the meantime, of course, keep reading to them as much as you can :).

 

Enjoy your little people!

 

SBP

[Alice]

My kids are young too (my oldest is 4) so there are many others who have more experience than me. Hopefully, they'll chime in. I started doing some CVC words with my son last fall right before his 4th birthday and he really didn't want to do it and it got really frustrating for both of us. He had known his sounds and letters at that point for about a year but there is something about blending them together that is a real mental leap for them. My advice would be to just see what your guy wants to do (I think 2 and 3 are young but know kids who have learned at that age). If he gets bored or frustrated or if if he isn't making any progress I'd put it away and just wait awhile and keep "reviewing" the sounds. If he's having fun...great. I had put the reading away for awhile and we ended up starting again with CVC words about a month ago after he had sounded out a few words in different books on his own. I figured at that point he was ready (and more interested). It's going much better now and I'm glad I waited instead of pushing him back in the fall.

 

I've found it's hard with him to not want to do more. Like you, my husband and I have been researching homeschooling for about a year or so and I start to really want to "do" history and science and music and art....because it sounds fun! I've had to remind myself over and over that he's little and really mostly he needs to play. It's hard with the first though not to see him as older than he is.

 

 

Good luck from one "rookie" to another. :)

[Dawn E]

we had a lot of 3 yr olds ready to begin reading. Dd started at this age, too. I would recommend you get some manipulatives, like a movable alphabet which you can buy, print or make yourself with several sets of magnetic letters. This site is wonderful and has a printable movable alphabet as well as some pink series cards to use with it--these are three-letter words with short vowel sounds. One set of the pink series cards you would cut out with the words and pictures together, and then cut out another set that separates the pictures from the words. With these materials, you could start blending words together. The children can do all sorts of activities, like matching the words with the pictures and later taking the pictures and creating the words with the movable alphabet.

 

BTW--the above site has a ton of info. I linked straight to language so be sure to check out all it has to offer.

 

You can buy great Montessori materials here and many other places, even ebay. Send me a PM if you want more info.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I'm using Montessori Read & Write with my dd (3.5yo next month). IMO it is great for teaching the foundational skills needed for learning to read and the early parts of the book could be used by anyone, even if the intent was to switch to a different program for phonics instruction. I'm also using ideas from other books and games that I've found online. Good luck!