Early Reading Help (long)

[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

[WTMindy]

teach them to read at that age if they are into it. My dd was reading at 3 and my son was starting to read at 2 and doing it well at 3. You will probably get people telling you to wait, but if they are enjoying it and doing well, I think it is great to push forward. Once my kids could identify the letters and the sounds (we didn't use any formal reading program by the way) we started talking about blending the letters. This blending seems to be tricky for kids and it can take a while to get it. We wrote three letter words on a paper and practiced blending. We started with simple 3 letter words with short vowel sounds. This took a while, but once they got it we added a silent 3.

I remember thinking the whole time, "I can't believe they are learning to read." But, they did and I never regretted starting them so early. But, I think if it becomes an issue where they hate it, I would stop and come back to it later.

[Jean in Newcastle]

You have the order of things right. But things don't always follow each other right away. Just like the usual order of walking is crawling, pulling up, cruising and then toddling, sometimes there is a considerable gap between one step and another. Those gaps can't be hurried - they are developmental. One day, if you keep doing these things as a game that they enjoy, one of them (probably the older one) will "get it". Exposure to words and letters can help it along somewhat but ultimately there needs to be a developmental light-bulb that goes off. So get the book, but if you kids don't have a light-bulb go off in their mind, ease off a bit. Maybe they are developmentally ready to work on some other aspect of "school"- their fine motor skills maybe, or counting.

[Jeani]

bumping for more help

[Ria]

Jeani,
Some of our children were reading at age 3. We used the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with great success. Each lesson takes 5-10 minutes at the most each day. We omitted the writing part of the lesson (obviously, fine motor skills were not developed yet!) and also omitted the rhyming part of the lesson. When the kids seemed to reach an impass, we'd just back up 10 lessons or so and repeat them. That gave their confidence a boost and then we were able to proceed. The book is inexpensive, and it's designed to be used by even very young kids.

Ria

[nancypants]

My oldest started reading just before he turned four. The main thing I can suggest is to keep it fun. Play games. My kids love it when I play the "go get it" game... I think of a letter sound and say, "Go get me something that starts with _____." (letter sound) I tell them what letter says that sound too even though I really want them to associate the sound with the letter more than its name.

My early readers love Starfall as well. We do it together even if they do not yet know how to control the mouse. I ask them what they want me to click and we say the sounds/words, etc. along with the computer voice. My two year old will sit with me and do it for at least half an hour at a time.

Another random thought... when you are reading to them, move your finger along underneath the words as you read so they associate the audible words with the written words.

[j.griff]

Hi Jeani, a mom on another board (a long time ago) posted about a book she used to teach her baby to read (yes, I said baby). I think the title was "teach your baby to read" and I believe she got it at a yard sale or somewhere similar. She used lots of word flash cards she made out of blank index cards, for everyday objects (blocks, ball, sofa, floor, door, window, chair, cat, etc.). I would check out as many books as I could from the library on teaching reading (we just bought Phonics Pathways after checking it out from the library several times). Good luck, and don't sweat it when they slow down or just don't get something, just give them time and they'll get it. Be happy that they recognize their letters! :)