For You Who Have Successfully used-Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

B.,

I have this book and chose not to use it. It expects children to learn symbols they are unfamiliar with, not just letters, and honestly, when I looked over the lessons, they seemed very dry, teaching reading without the richness or context that teaching whole language often includes.

Please, consider letting it go. I promise you, the kindergarten teacher KNOWS how to do this with groups. They really do not expect kids to know how to read when they walk in. Some will, some won't, and most will leave kindergarten reading at their grade level.

Let him enjoy you at home as mom, continue to read and play games with him. I'm not saying you should not teach him, but this method is usually reserved for children who were struggling with reading after receiving classroom instruction. (and I have that from a special ed teacher.)

ETA: My little sister will tell you that I "taught" her to read.. I read to her all the time when I was 8 and she was 6. Lots of the Dr. Seuss Beginner books, over and over and over. Memorizing the rhymes, the words, slowly putting it together herself. It was fun.

He is not ready. he is not interested. and you are getting mad.. a terrible combination.

all children learn to read. some learn before kinder.. some don't learn till 2nd grade.

some kids cooperate nicely with parents.. other kids work much better with a teacher.

stop. put the book away... try again later.. in a month or two.. in the mean time..

starfall.com is agreat website.. teaches letter sounds... abcya.com is agreat website....

maybe try a website for awhile..

You asked for my opinion, so here it is:

I think you're pushing too hard, too fast, and you're turning what should be an enjoyable activity into a chore.

You've said that he knows how to sound out words, so apparently he's getting the gist of it. Learning to read is a PROCESS. With very few exceptions, kids get the basic mechanics of it but will continue to make some mistakes along the way as they grow toward proficiency and mastery. It's not a race. Your child will learn to read, but it is not necessary for him to be fluent at this age. He should be working on mastering sounds and then recognizing simple words.

Being a good reader is essential to school success. Want to grow a good reader? At this age, teach him to LOVE reading. Want a kid who hates reading? Push it and make it a power struggle.

How to grow a good reader? Read to him. Every Day. Hearing adults read out loud is a foundation for reading success. Take him to the library. Get excited about books and what new adventures you'll find there. Let him choose some books that are appropriate for his level. If your library does a summer reading program, get involved in that next year. At the end of the program, kids who complete a certain amount of reading time get to choose a book to call their own. In the meantime, see if the library offers pre-K story time and take him to that. Take him to book fairs at school and stock your home library with his favorites.

Share reading---I read a page to you, and you'll read a page to me! Make it fun! Let him choose bedtime stories (that you will read) to encourage him to get ready for bed quickly. At 5, kids still want and need a lot of attention from parents, so use this time to make reading a shared activity.

Your intentions are good. You want the best for your child. But sometimes, the best is just doing the simple things and letting the process unfold.

Good luck!

J. F.

Don't do this to him. He's not enjoying it and it will backfire on you. Just the fact that you say "It makes me so mad" means that this is all about you and not at all about what is best for him. There is no reason that he needs to go to kindergarten knowing to read a little. If he were going to first grade, it would be different. But he's NOT going to first grade. The kinder teacher will be much more successful than his mom who is NOT a teacher, doesn't have peer pressure on her side like the teacher, and is angry because her child won't perform for her. I know you don't like hearing this, but you'll have a mess on your hands if you keep this up.

Drop this system and start reading FUN kids' books to him. Take him to the library and check out 20 books at a time. Stacks of books! Keep a running list of the books and each time you get to 50 books read, give him some little treat. Make stories up with him. Start them with "Once upon a time, there was a...", give him a prompt and then have him tell you his story. Add a little to his story, and then let him finish it up. This fosters imagination and helps him enjoy the stories you read to him more.

The best way to teach a younger child to read is to read to them. Pick the time of day reading to him using times that are good for HIM - not for you. Some boys are so active that they don't want to take time to read during the day. Sometimes you have to use before nap times and after nap times. Before bedtime usually works well, but you can't read 20 books before bed. If you spend a lot of time in a car, you can use the books that come with tapes and they listen to the story on the tape and turn the page when the tape says "turn the page". (Libraries have these books.) Reading at the library where everyone else is reading is good too. If they have circle time at the library, this is an excellent way to get him used to sitting in a circle. They will have to do this in school.

Adapt this into your regular day and it will go a long way towards helping him be successful in kindergarten. Don't make learning a chore. If he hates learning, he will be a problem for the kindergarten teacher, and not only will he not be learning, but he'll also be a discipline problem. Instead, direct the learning in ways OTHER than trying to teach him to read.

He is going to "hate" studying/school, if he is pushed too much.
It needs to be, fun.
Not as a punishment.
And, if he knows his aptitude/ability or mistakes makes you "mad"... he will just avoid lessons or you.
When I was a child, my Mom was so academic and forced things. She was a scholar. I was not at that age. And eventually, I hated her helping me. And then I just avoided her, didn't tell her how I was doing in school and was closer to my Dad. Because he was more nurturing and understood me.

My Mom wanted perfection.
I was not perfect.
I was me.

He will learn to read either in K or in first grade. So will many of his peers. No need to push it.

You're not doing anything wrong. But you ARE forcing your son to do something that isn't fun. Reading should be fun for a small child... and this system ISN'T. I borrowed it from a friend and realized I had no desire to inflict that boredom on my kids. Instead, make up flashcards of sight words and tape them in silly spots in the house. Read to him several times a day. Make a game of developing rhymes and talk about the sounds involved. Get him involved while driving to sound out signs on the road. Make it F.U.N.

He'll learn to read a lot quicker than if you force him to use a "system". And he'll enjoy it and become a life long reader... versus someone who grudgingly does it because he has to or is bribed.

I never used any kind of special program to teach my kids to read, and actually it was very fun and successful!, they love reading until now, but I started step by step without forcing them. First, I just read a LOT to them, every night, and as a family we do have a little time to read, all of us, so the kids see us, mom and dad, enjoying reading..that's also a great picture and a nice way to encourage them.....just a few minutes.
At this age, learning should be natural. I understand you want him to be prepared for Kindergarten, but pushing too much it will have opposite results like the ones you are noticing now. So, relax, and just keep reading to him, and please do not mention all the time "lesson time"! (instead: "let's have fun, look at this...!", "I want to read something to you that you will enjoy...", "honey, look what I learned! (and read it to him)....things like that) Go to the library, read together SHORT stories, go to a bookstore, or a Target and let him to pick up a book he thinks he likes...have fun and make it fun!
A. :)

He doesn't have to be reading when he starts kindergarten and being able to read some words won't put him at any particular advantage. My daughter couldn't really read much either going into kindergarten, except for her name (plus all upper and lower case letters), but she loved being read to - bedtime stories have been a nightly ritual for us since before she was 2. Once in kindergarten, she picked it up very quickly, using whatever method they were using, and now she can read most Dr. Suess beginner books and similar material all by herself. She takes pride in being able to read and often insists on reading the books herself - even if we are tired at night and I especially just want her to get to sleep, LOL.

Sounds to me like what you are going is just turning him off to reading more than anything - I would just take him to the library regularly, let him pick out whatever books look interesting to him, and read them to him at home. Making him finish a lesson before playing with friends is just going to make him hate reading even more. I mean, after all, what do you want him to learn - just HOW to read, or to actually LOVE reading?

I use the book The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading with my 5 yo son. It's great and my older daughter is now a very advanced reader in starting second grade who also used it. BUT, with my son, he has little patience for it like yours some days. And that's OK I often don't do lessons with him and when I do, I keep them very short. I only do them at all because he's good with letters and has expressed clear interest in reading. If I do a lesson with him, I do make him behave, but again, i don't force the lessons often because it can make them less interested in reading when it becomes naturally easy at older ages. If your son is reading at ALL in kindergarten, he'll be ahead, for whatever that's worth. Reading earlier is not reading better and some of the smartest countries have kids start reading at age 8 when it's effortless.

You're not doing anything wrong. Just don't force it. Don't let him win in the moment with bratty behavior, but do lay off and decide yourself not to do lessons when you think he won't be receptive. My son likes Bob Books (for a couple minutes) and reading street signs as they go by....and sometimes our lessons..sometimes he can read difficult sentences and any word I throw at him...but I don't push it much. Boys especially get frustrated with it at younger ages.

Do you read to/with him? Other books? Magazines?

I think the issue is just that you're forcing him to do it and he's not quite ready emotionally. Academically, it certainly sounds like he's capable, but emotionally, he doesn't want to be pushed.

If he recognizes all of his letters and knows all of his sounds, he knows everything he needs to start kindergarten. If he can read a few sight words too, that's great. It sounds like he already can, so he'll be ahead of many of his classmates.

If you want to improve his reading, find other ways. Obviously, the more you read to him, the more he'll pick up. Buy the game Zingo or Zingo Sight Words and play it together so he can learn to match up the words and recognize the word that goes with each picture. Create your own memory-style game with notecards and put sight words on those - find the matches of the words instead of matches of pictures.
There is also a great game by Discovery Toys that is currently available on Amazon called Short Vowel Fun. It's played like Uno, in that you have to match either the vowel sound or the beginning letter (for example, if someone played the word FUN, the next player could either play SUN to match the vowel or FAT to match the first letter). We have this game and love it. There are two decks of cards, start with the easy one and progress to the harder one. http://www.amazon.com/Sounds-Like-Phonics-Short-Vowel/dp/...

The lessons aren't fun for him. They're too much work and too academic. Turn it into a game and you'll notice a big difference. Just don't tell him that's why you're playing.

Zingo: http://www.amazon.com/Think-Fun-7700-ThinkFun-Zingo/dp/B0...

Zingo Sight Words: http://www.amazon.com/Think-Fun-7704-Zingo-Sight/dp/B008R...

i can't help you, because reading was not something we did in 'lessons' (which would make me whine too.)
my kids learned to read organically, because i read to them all the time and they always had books. dr suess's ABCs was their main primer, and i never had to make them stop doing fun stuff and sit down to a lesson of it.
you are setting this child up to hate reading forever. please stop making it a chore.
khairete
S.

It's the book. Ditch it. Let him play on starfall.com.

It sounds to me like he understands that part just fine, he just doesn't want to comply. I have a very bright daughter who did similar things, although not with the reading. If you asked her something simple (too simple) she would make up an answer. Not because she didn't understand the question, but because she felt like I was belittling her ability by asking in the first place.
If he is getting them all quickly, you do not have to do every. single. thing multiple times. Have him do the first part, as prescribed, and if he makes no mistakes, let him skip ahead and just read it fast on the second part and see how he does.

It may be too much repetition for him if he is "getting it" faster than the book is moving. Do you also spend a lot of time on the written portion? Don't. Let him write it once or twice and then be done or do something else that uses it without it being rote work. Like, let him draw the sound and then see if he can turn it into something else (like the word "pig" can be turned into a face, or two 12's stacked can be turned into a bunny).

He's very bright B.. He is being literal intentionally. You say, "Say it fast." and he is intentionally translating that into, "Say it; fast." So he says it: "fast". He's at the age to get those jokes. When they ask you if you know how to spell "giraffe" and you say "Yes." Then they say, "Spell it." And you proceed to spell G-I-R and they interrupt you and say, "No. 'It' is spelled I-T."

You can also break up the lessons into smaller chunks. Do one part, take a break and then come back an hour later and finish the lesson.

How far into it are you, anyway?

Maybe try another way instead of trying to stick to the lessons. I downloaded an app called "Lola's Party" on my iPad, Along with "endless ABC" and my 3yo has learned how to sound out simple words after playing them for a few weeks. (Both are free) At first I thought she had maybe memorized her stories, and was combining memory with letter recognition so I wrote out a few simple 3-4 letter words (cat, hit, pen, etc.)She sounded them out like a champ! I didn't even care about 'teaching' her to read at this point, but I figured if I was going to let her have screen time I might as well make it educational.

She does have a hard time stringing the sounds into an actual word, but the more she practices the more she gets it. It is really handy that her practice comes in a form that she enjoys, rather than one she wants to avoid. When we read her stories at bedtime, I have started having her try to sound out (or tell me the letters in) the title, then just chilling out and read the rest of the book myself unless she asks to try.

Different kids learn in different ways. Even with math, I had a really hard time sitting down and studying a subject. I did better with games and puzzles than lessons.