I believe that one of the greatest joys of homeschooling is getting to be an eyewitness when my children are learning to read. The gift of reading is one of the greatest academic accomplishments I can give my children. Our homeschooling focus begins with reading. The Referee and I hold firm to the idea that a person who can read well can learn anything. Holes in a person's educational history can be filled in by reading books (or even websites nowadays) on any subject matter.
Children who struggle with reading tend to struggle with confidence in learning. I have peers who admit to questioning their intelligence based on their reading challenges. I do not know the full connection between strength of reading and academic success, but I've heard enough personal accounts from friends and family to take note of this priority when educating my own children.
Our homeschool focus begins with the building blocks to reading. Identifying ABCs, followed by learning the phonetic sounds each letter makes. The curriculum we use introduces the short vowel sounds first. The next step is a blend of a single consonant with a single short vowel. It is a small step from a 2-letter blend to a 3-letter word. I know this phonics method only through the experience of my children learning to read, because I learned to sight read when I was a kid.
Something clicked with Jersey #3 and he is now starting to sound out 3-letter words. He has been able to identify his ABCs for a couple years now. I introduced the short vowel sounds last Fall, but they did not stick, so I gave it more time. A couple weeks ago, he started taking an interest again. The consonant sounds clicked with him faster. So, as soon as he had a breakthrough with a couple short vowels (a and o), he was able to blend.
I really like A Beka's phonics based reading program, so that is the curriculum we use. For the pre-K level, they offer little paper "readers" that are very colorful and only 10 pages long. The reader introduces a single letter on one page, a blend with that letter on the next page, and then a 3-letter word on the 3rd page. The children think they are reading, because they are learning these skills from a little book. It is so cute. The last page of the 3rd reader has a 3 word sentence. The amount of material in each reader is just enough to encourage the kid and build their confidence and excitement about reading, without exhausting them, so we end on a positive note. The number and difficulty of words increases as we go through the sequence of readers.
Learning to read appears to be a "2 steps forward, 1 step back" process. Jersey #3 went through 4 readers with me in one day, then sat and read 3 of those readers to his Dad that evening. I know that when we pick up the readers again, he will NOT be ready for the fifth one. We will start back through the 3rd or 4th one to review a little before moving on. If we move on too quickly, frustrations grow. A little review builds excitement, then he can learn new material with that positive momentum. This is how Jersey #2 learns as well, and the two of them appear to have some similarities in their learning style.
The Referee is very impressed that our son is learning to read already. We both are fairly certain that we learned to read in 1st grade. Jersey #1 learned to read a few months after turning 5. Jersey #2 learned a few months before her 5th birthday. Jersey #3 will be 5 in a couple months from now. Success is not found in the age of the child. It is found by being attentive to the readiness of the child. Each child is so different. They grow, develop, and mature at different rates. So, I have to keep an eye out for clues to their interest and readiness before I introduce a new academic skill. As hard as it is for me to do this, I have also had to learn to back off when they are clearly not ready for something, and give them more time before approaching it again.
With Jersey #1 I actually slowed her down, because I thought she was too young to learn to read. She figured out reading on her own. She learned her ABCs, and then the sounds each letter made. I didn't pull out any readers for her at 4 years old, so she started sounding out street signs. She sounded out "sun" off the Sunrise Apartments sign. That was my first clue that it was time to teach her to read. By kindergarten, she breezed right through those Pre-K readers the first day. She completed the kindergarten readers that first week. I laughed at myself for spending so much time researching the reading program I wanted to use, and then waiting too long to start it that she taught herself to read using street signs instead. So, I made sure to get out the reading program much sooner for Jersey #2.
Jersey #2 picked up blending 2 letters really well. She was a model reader for this curriculum. The funny thing about her is that even though she is beyond beginning reading books, she is resistant to read chapter books. She has no explanation, but just informs me that she does not like chapter books. She has sailed right through her entire 1st grade reading list, but digs in her heals to avoid the 2nd grade reading list. So, we started reading the chapter books on the 2nd grade list together, taking turns reading out loud to each other. One of the benefits of homeschooling is this ability to move forward at the student's pace, even when her resistance makes no sense to me whatsoever!
Children who struggle with reading tend to struggle with confidence in learning. I have peers who admit to questioning their intelligence based on their reading challenges. I do not know the full connection between strength of reading and academic success, but I've heard enough personal accounts from friends and family to take note of this priority when educating my own children.
Our homeschool focus begins with the building blocks to reading. Identifying ABCs, followed by learning the phonetic sounds each letter makes. The curriculum we use introduces the short vowel sounds first. The next step is a blend of a single consonant with a single short vowel. It is a small step from a 2-letter blend to a 3-letter word. I know this phonics method only through the experience of my children learning to read, because I learned to sight read when I was a kid.
Something clicked with Jersey #3 and he is now starting to sound out 3-letter words. He has been able to identify his ABCs for a couple years now. I introduced the short vowel sounds last Fall, but they did not stick, so I gave it more time. A couple weeks ago, he started taking an interest again. The consonant sounds clicked with him faster. So, as soon as he had a breakthrough with a couple short vowels (a and o), he was able to blend.
I really like A Beka's phonics based reading program, so that is the curriculum we use. For the pre-K level, they offer little paper "readers" that are very colorful and only 10 pages long. The reader introduces a single letter on one page, a blend with that letter on the next page, and then a 3-letter word on the 3rd page. The children think they are reading, because they are learning these skills from a little book. It is so cute. The last page of the 3rd reader has a 3 word sentence. The amount of material in each reader is just enough to encourage the kid and build their confidence and excitement about reading, without exhausting them, so we end on a positive note. The number and difficulty of words increases as we go through the sequence of readers.
Learning to read appears to be a "2 steps forward, 1 step back" process. Jersey #3 went through 4 readers with me in one day, then sat and read 3 of those readers to his Dad that evening. I know that when we pick up the readers again, he will NOT be ready for the fifth one. We will start back through the 3rd or 4th one to review a little before moving on. If we move on too quickly, frustrations grow. A little review builds excitement, then he can learn new material with that positive momentum. This is how Jersey #2 learns as well, and the two of them appear to have some similarities in their learning style.
The Referee is very impressed that our son is learning to read already. We both are fairly certain that we learned to read in 1st grade. Jersey #1 learned to read a few months after turning 5. Jersey #2 learned a few months before her 5th birthday. Jersey #3 will be 5 in a couple months from now. Success is not found in the age of the child. It is found by being attentive to the readiness of the child. Each child is so different. They grow, develop, and mature at different rates. So, I have to keep an eye out for clues to their interest and readiness before I introduce a new academic skill. As hard as it is for me to do this, I have also had to learn to back off when they are clearly not ready for something, and give them more time before approaching it again.
With Jersey #1 I actually slowed her down, because I thought she was too young to learn to read. She figured out reading on her own. She learned her ABCs, and then the sounds each letter made. I didn't pull out any readers for her at 4 years old, so she started sounding out street signs. She sounded out "sun" off the Sunrise Apartments sign. That was my first clue that it was time to teach her to read. By kindergarten, she breezed right through those Pre-K readers the first day. She completed the kindergarten readers that first week. I laughed at myself for spending so much time researching the reading program I wanted to use, and then waiting too long to start it that she taught herself to read using street signs instead. So, I made sure to get out the reading program much sooner for Jersey #2.
Jersey #2 picked up blending 2 letters really well. She was a model reader for this curriculum. The funny thing about her is that even though she is beyond beginning reading books, she is resistant to read chapter books. She has no explanation, but just informs me that she does not like chapter books. She has sailed right through her entire 1st grade reading list, but digs in her heals to avoid the 2nd grade reading list. So, we started reading the chapter books on the 2nd grade list together, taking turns reading out loud to each other. One of the benefits of homeschooling is this ability to move forward at the student's pace, even when her resistance makes no sense to me whatsoever!
