Teaching My 4 Year Old and 18 Month Old to Read??

From a teacher's perspective, I say don't push your kids so that they will be bored in school. So many parents want their kids to be the best reader or speller or whatever in their class. Or they love bragging that their child can read before school. At what cost? Bored kids often become rude kids. Just read to them a lot. And turn off the TV, please! Kids today need a lot of stimulus that teachers cannot provide. Parents often complain that their children are bored at school.

Teaching your children to be creative, to be able to occupy themselves without having to have someone entertain them or tell what to do is very beneficial. Give them lots of opportunities to create. Music, art, sign language or other foreign language in fun settings that are not set up as structured learning can be lots of fun. Enjoy these younger years.

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I really like the "Now I'm Reading" series by Nora Gaydos. They are a series of small books designed to take kids from intuitive picture "reading" up to simple nonfiction. They have worked great with my kids. They are like $20 new for each level of books so look at the library or online for some used ones.

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My son is a VERY good reader (6yo 1st grader, reading approximately 2-3rd grade level) but I never did any formal reading program (or any program really!)

Just read to them all the time! What I think made the biggest impact on turning my son into a reader was first, reading together OFTEN, then later when we read together, I'd help him recognize a word (ie, ZOO which is fairly unique and easy to recognize) and when we read, for example: Put Me In The Zoo, the word zoo appears regularly throughout the book, so I'd read and point to the words as I read (which I had been doing for a little while already) then make a game out of it or share the reading. "Zoo" was his word to read, I would read all of the other words. When I came to "Zoo" my finger would stop and wait for him to say it. "Max" in a couple storybooks we had, etc. The goal here is to pick out easily recognizable patterns that appear often enough in the book to make it fun. We also did "dog" in Go Dog, Go! but 'dog' blends in and little eyes sometimes have trouble with d/b, etc, so it is not a good word to start with.

You'll learn to pick "easy" words that are reoccurring in the books you read to him. We've used "Little Red Riding Hood" as it was all capitalized and predictable and easy to pick out from the rest of the text, and boy, is he proud when he reads that long name! We didnt start with this though, we worked our way up to this.

Do it as long as it is fun, don't push. It is not that fun for my son to be the only reader in his reading group. But since we are deaf, my family all likes to read and it is an important way for us to get our information since talking with people is hard. (Not all deaf people like to read tho, it is hard since they did not have accessible language when they were young.)

Sounds like your 4yo is ready to start this fun game. I would not bother "teaching reading" (as in a program, etc) to the 18m old, just reading with her *is* teaching her reading. Pointing out or reading out loud things that you read throughout the day, saying what words you're looking for (for example, "where is PLAY on here, oh I found it, PLAY(click)" when you're using the remote, or whatever it is you use. So they learn that words are tools in your environment and pretty soon, maybe too soon, they'll learn how to start the TV and DVD/VCR player all on their own! Point out STOP signs, other signs when you're out walking. Just talk talk talk about their world, and read, read, read - to and with them, as well as for yourself.

And dont ignore math! Do the same with numbers and math concepts. Think & count out loud how many plates you need to set, things like that.

Sorry this is already long, but I read Elizabeth M's comments down below, and I think she is right-on. My son is bi-lingual with Sign Language and English, and I do think it makes a difference. It did not put him ahead *right* at the age kids begin to talk (maybe because he is a boy, as two hearing neighbor girls the same age were signing before he was!), but he is definitely way ahead now. Check out Signing Time for an easy and oh-so-useful "foreign" language to do with your kids. Signing Time DVD's are available in the Maricopa County Library system - they are fun for kids and very effective for adults as well. Also, I cannot say from experience that reading programs don't work, but I *can* say that simply reading to your child DOES work!

Relax, have fun, read, go to the library every week or two, cuddle up and read them! Enjoy it yourself, and then he will too.

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Hi! I taught my son how to read at 4yrs old by following the book "How to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons". When I first started I had my doubts but it was super easy and he picked up on it right away. I found the book on amazon.com for only $7. He is now in kindergarten and is way ahead of the class. Good luck!

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I wouldn't get too crazy about teaching reading at age 4. She may have a hard time when school starts if she is too far ahead of the class. I would practice letter recognition and colors, shapes, that sort of thing. Unless you are a teacher, I would save that for the experts! Good luck to you!

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Hi N.,
First start by reading to your children every day, even the youngest ones benifit. Always have books around and set the good example by reading yourself too. When a child has the joy of reading they will be a great reader. Every child developes at their own rate, one of my 5 kids was reading at age 4 but another one didn't start to be interested until 2nd grade, both are avid readers now.
good luck and enjoy.
Marlene

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I am not familiar with the system that you mentioned, and it may be effective. But, without any special programs or systems, my older daughter started reading at 3 1/2, and both she and my younger daughter (now 2) knew all of their letters from 18 months. Honestly, though I know from experience that little ones can pretty much learn whatever they are exposed to, I personally wouldn't spend money on a special materials to get them to read.

With my kids, we just read a lot and made a natural (fun) progression towards reading. I think that it's important to not be too rigorous with them. Whether they read before kindergarten or not, if you read with them and keep things fun, they will learn. If reading is a fun thing that is done a lot in your house, they will be good at it, and even more importantly enjoy it. The thing that I think helped the most with my girls is reading Dr. Seuss' ABCs,...a lot--from babyhood to toddlerhood. It reinterates each letter multiple times and the letters are big and a differnet color from the rest of the text, so they stand out. It is a favorite at our house, and our current copy is falling aprt from too much toddler love! When they are really little (starting around 6-months), I read it, pointing at each letter, whenever it is said. Typically, I read it at nap time and bedtime for my youngest. With both of my girls, we eventually got to the point where, I would pause, and point at the letter and and the child would shout out the appropriate letter name (Example, read, "Big ____, little ____. what begins with ____?). I think that it's important that when they decide that it is time to be done reading it (ie shutting the book, etc) that is been ok, so they don't feel like I am forcing them to do anything (you know how toddlers are sometimes). I also will let my toddlers take a book of their choosing into bed with them (my youngest almost always choses ABCs and "reads" herself to sleep).

After my oldest had mastered letter identification, I decided to try teaching her letter sounds with Dr. Suess. I would state the name of the letter ("Big A. Little a."), and then state the sound it makes ("Ah. Ah. Ah."). She seemed to catch on the the letter sounds pretty quickly. After she had each sound mastered (I started with short vowels, not the long sounds at first). I started showing her short words and teaching her how each letter in the word made its sound. Pretty quickly,she could see "cat" and say "C-A-T" (sounds). But, it took a while before she really could comprehend the blending of the 3 letter sounds to be "cat." At the time I talked to a kindergarten teacher friend of mine to ask her how I could get my daughter to learne to blend the sounds, so that she could read. She pretty much said that is the real mental leap for the kids, you just have to keep showing them how to do it and then one day they "get it." It's true, one day it just clicked. After that I started buying early reader books (that's where I would spend the money!), like "BOB" books and such. Now she's in first grade reading chapter books by E.B. White.

I didn't originally set out for her to read early. I just tried to set-up an environment where my kids liked to be read to and saw lots of words and letters. As I said, we read a lot, and we have lots of letter toys. One fun thing that we also have is a magnetic board on our wall at kid level, and it is filled with magnetic letters. My oldest like to make word searches with it and my youngest likes to bring me the letters that I ask her for (Where's the red "H"?).

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I am currently trying the Your Baby Can Read DVD's. My daughter is almost 15 months old. With her, its hard to say if its working yet because most of the words in the first video she already knows and she is quickly bored with them. There is no music and it is not very visually interesting. However, she does seem to interact with the video some. She will clap when she sees the children on the screen clap, and when they say 'dog' she chases our pomeranian. I don't mind it being time consuming because her watching the video allows me to do laundry or dishes without Abbie under my feet all the time; at least for a few minutes!

I am a huge advocate of early learning. I really dissapprove of letting the school teach your children. I don't think there is any excuse for a child to not be able write his or name by the time they start school. I have two step daughters, and that is how their mother feels. She thinks it is a waste of her time to teach the girls anything because they will learn it in school. In fact, she was irrate that I taught them both how to tie their shoes and write their names. They are 5 and 7! They are so behind all the other students in their classes. I think it's sad. Teaching your children anything before they go to school is your chance to bond wih them!

I don't believe it is necessary to buy an expensive DVD set to teach them anything, but I am trying it. I will let you know how it goes as we progress in our "lessons". I think you should try some of the less expensive methods the other mothers have suggested. I wish I'd have posted here before I purchased, and now they will not allow me to return the products.

Good luck! I hope it ll works well for you!
R.

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I have not used this system but my 4 year old is reading easy readers and has been sounding out small words for about 1 year. He is my third child, when he learned the alphabet we did not teach him the letter but the sound it made. We used the Leap Frog Letter Facory tape (from Target). His teacher said this really gave him a head start. For example by 3 he could see small words like cat and not just say the name of the letters but sound it out and then be able to read the word cat. He just learned the actual letter names later on. This may be something to try with your 18 month old when teaching her letters. Good Luck!

Being that my Mom sometimes made learning stressful, rather than fun, I always try to limit learning ONLY to fun since my child is only 3.

She loves books - so my husband and I read to her often.
Even when we're reading a book of our own, she'll ask that we read aloud to her, and she seems to enjoy it regardless of pictures.

On her third birthday, my sister in law bought her "Leap Frog's Word Whammer - Fridge Phonics Set"
She loves it... and she's sounding out words (as best as she can) whenever we see signs anywhere.

I'd suggest you buy that, I think they're between 20-25$, and the little device and interactive letters make learning to read fun.

I would not spend a lot of money on a "system" no matter what their claim to fame is. Children learn to read in steps. Letters, sounds, sight words, then sounding out harder words. If you have a pad of post it notes, put them on things... televisison or tv, refrigerator, door, window, floor, table, counter, chair, couch and on and on. They will learn to associate the word with the printed counter part and these will be their first sight words. When you point to the paper, read each letter out loud to the kids, and they will learn that letters form words. Then you can go from there by teaching them to write their names and some letters. Whatever you do, keep it fun. If you are frustrated they will be to, and they will get tired of learning before they ever start school, and that will be a bigger problem than help.

From: Josie M Date: Wed. Dec. 03, 2008 i wanted my boys and now my grandson to learn to read early because as many of you can tell, i am dyslexic. i know the words look perfect to me but many times theya dont look so perfect to normal people. i know this can be hereditary and i wanted to give my kids an advantage. i had such a hard time in school and maybe that is why i try harder with my kids. my oldest had a few reading problems until he got to high school. my youngest was reading chapter books by age 3 i am now raising my grandson and here is my take on the program.
there are good things and bad things. my husband insisted of buying it for our grandson who we just got custody of. first of all the 14.95 offer is jsut one cd and one book of cards. youreally need the whole thing and it is about 250. we split that with the other set of grandparents who have Charlie on the weekends. heis 17 months. his attention span is about 10 to 15 minutes. the entire cd is about 22 mintues so we find oursleves doing it in several sessions. he has to have a perfectly wuiet room with no distractions so i remove all toys and put the dogs away when we are doing it. so i guess its different for each child. you are supposed to do it 3 times a day so we dont do it as ordered all the time. i want it to be fun and sometimes we go to the park for several hours instead. ive had it fo2 months and his vocabulary has increased somuch. henow has about 75 word vocabulary. sitll nto recongizing the words or reading per say but he reconginses the pictures. i think it goes too fast for him to really concentrate on the letters and maybe thats the way it should be . idont know how to rewind a cd yet because im technologically challenged. he likes it sometimes but sometimes he will ahve nothing to do with it. it comes with a bunch of books he really loves even though i couls have gottne similar ones at the bookstore for a lot less. we use those books to potty train. we read them when he is sitting on the potty and it makes him sit there longer. so there is a dual prupose. the pull out cards are also somethng he really likes because he gets to do something and participate. so at this time he is not reading after two minths but i am also not doing it as they say you should. i guess also it takes a lot fo time and commitment to be consistent with the program. some moms dont have that much time or more
with my youngest son i jsut read to him all the time because he loved books.he always carried a little back pack ful of books around wherever he went . he was my quiet kid. he was reading on his won by age three and by age 4 he was reading chapter books. i didnt really follow any program i jsut follwed his lead. he is very inquisitive and asked a lot of questions but i know charlie is nothing like him he likes to run around all day long and do things and touch things.

Hello N..

Are you referring to the Titzer method or the Doman Method?

Doman is the classic (or original) method. You can learn more here: http://www.iahp.org/
and here:
http://www.acceleratedlearningmethods.com/doman-method.html

Titzer actually used the Doman Method with his own children.
But, I don't believe he mentions that to anyone...probably because he wants you to buy his system. :)

We have the DVDs by Titzer and I was not too impressed especially with knowing & using the Doman Method. I was under the impression that they would be more like the classic method. Disappointingly enough, they were not.

I think any effort you will be making on putting energy to a good cause, like teaching your children to read, will be beneficial to them 10 fold.
Good for you!
~D.

I started my daughter on those videos when she was 4 months old. By the time she was 1, she could read ball, cat, arms up, star and a few others. Within a few more months she could read all the words for colors and names of animals that were on the dvd. She is now 2 and I work with her with flash cards and recently I have been able to write down completely new words like "please" and "remote" and she read them w/o any prompting. So I would definately say it's a good investment! But you have to take the time to read with them and work with them aside from the videos, but they are a great start!

I am currently using that program that you are talking about we just started, but i believe it will work. The program is kind of time comsuming but my daughter that just 21 months has started to reconize some of the words. At this time I am very pleased.

A really EASY way to help your 4 year old with reading is to use "Reading Blaster". It is a computer program that has space guys and you zoom around space helping your space buddies out. It is a WONDERFUL program that kids love. I used this program with my kids and yes, they were both reading exceptionally well before kindergarten. Also, go to the library and pick up the Dick and Jane books. (You know, see dick run etc.........)

Though it's neat when a kid can read entering kindergarten, it's not a necessity. Some kids just get it quicker. My daughter read pretty fluently at 4, and I think it was an innate thing. But, here are some strategies we used: Like the experts say, read to your kid every day. Ours is '2 books before bed.' Read signs outloud in the car, and help them use the picture cues. Re-read beloved books so she almost memorizes them as you point to the words. Have her pick out repeated words, like 'how many Ellie's on this page?' Using beginning suonds, encourage them to guess words in the story. (Duh Duh...dog?) Write down lyrics to their favorite songs, so they can use their musical intelligence to connect. But don't worry if they take a little longer--it's more important to keep them interested in it!

Ive seen the program on TV. What are the charges, if you don't mind me asking.

I think that getting your 4 year old started is fine. Some food for thought if you are not planning to homeschool. I encourage you not to bring your child so far ahead of the learning curve that she gets lost in the public school environment. I say this from personal experience. Wilson Phonics is an excellent program if you want to use it. It is also a common program used in the schools. my suggestion is do a little research online and look at the curriculums of the school your child will be attending and see what program they use. Then get her started early. As for your younger child give her some time to just be little. I really encourage you to let her get through potty training and some of her other basic skills and see where her development is headed. Then if she shows an interest and ability at 3 1/2 or 4 you can take her through the same process that your older daughter uses. I know these programs exist, but I think that they are often misguided. Best of luck.

My son never liked to be read to when he was a baby. He did, however, know all of his letters and numbers by age 2 and we taught him those thru puzzles and Sesame Street. I never did any advanced reading programs, nor did I try and teach him to read before he started school and he is now in 1st grade and has well surpassed the level that he is to be at the end of first grade and we're only half way thru the school year. Don't be in a rush to grow these kids up so fast. If there is a toy that is inexpensive and is fun for the kids to play with and at the same time, teaching them phonics to get them ready for reading, I think that's okay, but don't put too much pressure on them. Let them enjoy being babies and kids and have fun with them! They will learn to read and will do well if you teach them that learning is fun. Good luck.

I haven't used that system, but we did use the Reader Rabbit Learn to Read computer program. It was fun for the kids to use, but it was not our only tool. Teaching Stuff store has a Phonics and Sight Word Bingo game which is good also. Whenever and wherever you see words, sound them out. Also, talk to your kids with an expanded vocabulary, it's amazing what they pick up. Read them articles from newspapers (science and nature things are always a good start.) My one daughter was reading chapter books in kindergarten, the other was a little more of a challenge but she got there and they are both in gifted classes for reading. It sounds like you're on the right track !

Personally I think we are getting to much into our thinking minds and need to play and exercise more than we do. Unless your kids are really into it, and asking to learn to read, I wouldn't push it. Enjoy your play time with them now because when they do go to school, everything revolves around academics, and again for me it gets to be to much. You can teach them real life skills around the house, invite them to help you wash laundry, help toss the clothes in or push buttons, cook dinner (they can stir, your 4 year old can learn to crack eggs...etc.) dusting or washing floors with big buckets of soapy water...

Don't push to hard. Use teachable moments (times that occur naturally). Your four year old will benefit from this but just start with reading aloud, getting books, going to the library. Learning sounds is more important than letter names. Try Starfall.com. Don't let them get so far ahead that he's bored in kindergarten.

Hi N.,

As you can see from the responses you have gotten so far, there are other products that reportedly teach kids to read early.
I have stated in response to another post on this subject, that I advocate proceeding with caution..as countries with national systems that push early formal reading instruction have had negative consequences...ie more reading problems later. Sweden and Finland start compulsory schooling at age 7, although many parents have already taught their kids to read at home before then...I wonder if it is really some big secret?? Or it just happens from reading to your child. (I am still researching this)
The task of learning to read is a complex one...there is controversy about what is effective for everyone (whole language versus phonics) even among educators.
As some of others have noted, kids can pick up sight words rather early. So do they need to know the names of the letters...or just the sounds of the letters? They can also pick up common symbols (like the blue circle and triangle on the restroom doors...so is this reading too? It is symbolic thought.
I realize it is tempting to just jump into something that looks fun and that it might work...but I would be willing to do a bit more research before pushing reading so young.
Long term results and Safety are worth taking a look at. Does the child retain advantages by reading so young throughout the time spent in school?? Or is this program so new there is no info on that?
There are so many areas in public schooling that are going to be neglected in favor of jumping the the reading and math hoops...like art music physical activity...kindergarten is not a laid-back developmental time anymore...it has a first grade curriculum...much to my dismay. Maybe it is better to enjoy time with your child and let him or her blossom in some of these other areas that have been downgraded in importance.
One thing I think would be better than teaching reading at a young age...would be an foreign language immersion program...just regular pre-school stuff done in another language. Just pre-school developmental curriculum. This automatically puts the brain in high gear (but not in a harmful way) and gives a child an enormous advantage in future fluency.
As we know public school in America do not even want to touch foreign language until a child is much older...what a waste of time.