Teaching a Child How to Read

I had a very similar situation with my two older children. I honestly thought something was wrong with my daughter because she had such a hard time reading and then discovered after much time and money spent that she is quite intelligent but wasn't ready for reading yet. She is now 11 and an avid reader and as she is proud to tell everybody she meets has just started writing her own chapter book. Children are all different. Try not to worry. I hope this helped.

It is great that you are trying to share the gift of reading with your boys from an early age. I am a preschool/kindergarten/1st grade teacher and I agree if another poster that suggested NOT teaching your son to read. I don't mean that you shouldn't share lots and lots of books with him and let him see you reading for yourself plenty too. At 4 he doesn't need structured reading instruction. This is the time to build a love for reading. Teach him that books hold wonderful information, fun stories and adventures and can be a nice time to snuggle up with mom and be close. You need to motovate him to be excited about learning to read. If he takes the lead and asks questions about words and wants to know what sounds letters make or what a particular word is, answer him and be open to his requests for knowledge, but you don't want him to learn to associate books with frustration and struggles when he's only 4.

My daughter just turned 3. She loves to find "her" letter - first letter of name - in books, on signs, etc. She recognizes her whole name now too and is excited when she finds it. She likes to play with magnetic letters and puzzles. She knows some of the names and likes to sing the ABC song. She matches the other letters in the alphabet to other important people in her life. So she associates the letters with words that are meaningful to her. This is really enough.

As a teacher of children first entering school, I saw many parents that felt like their children needed to begin school days, weeks, or months earlier than the age deadline. They all argued that their child could read and do math problems and such wonderful things. What we found in the classroom was that these children usually had difficulties sharing, taking turns, participating, following directions, and accepting disclipline. When entering preschool or kindergarten, foundations for these skills are so much more important than knowing "academic" skills before entering school. I don't know if you feel you are helping your son to "get ahead" by learning some reading skills before entering school or if there is another reason why you feel this is important right now. Typically by the end of 1st grade the kids really all catch up to their peers so the children that might have hada slight "advantage" by reading before school, no longer stand out in that area.

Help your son learn some basic self-help skills and help him to learn to be curious by exploring the world with him. Crawl around in the grass and look at leaves and bugs, read books together while snuggling under a cozy blanket, go to the museum, fingerpaint with your son, and help him to be excited about trying new things and help him to want to learn more. All of these things will do more for him than getting him to put together letter sounds. He will learn plenty about letters and sounds and how to put them together beginning in kindergarten and it is a primary focus in 1st grade.

Be cautious not to stress your son out as that can cause learning difficulties through the school years. It's just not important that he know how to read right now. I wish you luck in making choices to help your son to develop a love of learning for his entire life.

E.,
I feel your pain! I have one daughter who is in excellerated Math and English classes and she is only in the 2nd grade. Yet my youngest who is in 1st grade is in a special reading program. I thought it was my fault for not pushing more phonics and reading material but in the end I realized it wasn't her fault or mine. She just wasn't interested / ready. I work with her everyday at HER own pace and I don't force it down her throat (BAD IDEA). Now she is slowly liking to read. Just be patient, the light bulb will turn on and you will be amazed!

H. :)

I wouldn't push it. He may not be interested or ready, and may sense your frustration and either come to resent his older brother for setting the bar so high, or have negative associations with reading due to being pushed.

"Learning to Read!" First Words. it has 14, 3 part picture puzzles. Each picture has a 3 letter word and one letter per piece. ie a picture of a fox with f on the piece with the head and o on the middle piece and x... you get it. My daughter, 4, played with it for the first time yesterday and one picture she didn't know what it was (a top) and so she sounded it out and learned not only to read the word herself, but what the picture was of. Her first word to read on her own.

Sometimes it may just be a matter of whether the child is interested in learning. I have had success with having them associate signs they are familiar with out of the home. For ex. Acme, CVS, favorite stores, street signs. This will connect that these "things" have words connected to them. Labeling in the home helps too. Take index cards or whatever and label the chair, table, television, etc. Find what may interest him especially, for ex. food, toys, sports. Enjoy the process. You will find out (again) that your children are very different people.

E.,

There is a great site called Starfall. It helps children how to sound out words and to read. There are activities on there I beleive that you can print out for your son to do as well. This is a great site we use it at school with the regular and the special education children, they all love it. It does also teach them what sounds the vowels make as to their long and short sound. Try it and see how he does on it. I am sure he will love it.

My advice would be not to. They'll get to that in kindergarten or first grade. If he's ready sooner, he'll let you know. If he's going to be a gifted reader, he'll get there, anyway, and if he's not, teaching him to read at four won't get him there. In fact, the best thing you can do for his literacy is read to him, and also read in front of him, for pleasure.

IMHO, preschool is for teaching children school social skills like standing in line, taking turns, following directions, circle time.

If you're homeschooling, good for you, but he's still only four years old!

They're only children once.

My son really responded to the BOB book series - it provides instant gratification so it inspires the kids to keep going - the stories are funny too

Hooked on phonics works really well too.

E.,

Your frustration is understandable, but you know what, every child develops at their own pace. My daughter now 6, it was like (and still is) getting her to read was like pulling teeth. My son, now 5, is easier than cake because he wants to do it to keep up with his sis. Also your frustration may be carrying over to your 4 year old and may be making the experience stressing for him. You may want to stop if this is the case because he will associate reading with stress and then will not like reading in the future.

Good luck.

L.

I found the Sing,Spell,Read,&Write curriculm awesome..I homeschooled my children using the Abeka and a few other..my kids loved the sing spell read and write..it made learning fun and the songs really taught them their sounds..the books were great fun for the kids to read too.. It might be a bit pricey but it is well worth the investment

Are you trying to homeschool your son? I found Christian Light Publications....Learning to read Lightunits very good when I homeschooled my son. The website is www.clpcle.com The teachers book which is $10.00 is a great help....there are 10 books in the series...which is a half year curriculum...the children are pretty much reading on their own after completion of it. It is a self-paced program which I really like...which means they can go faster or slower. It is a Christian company....actually a Mennonite company but the curriculum is excellent for first graders. Hope this is helpful to you.