Are you excited about teaching your child to read at home? I was talking to a friend of mine recently whose oldest child just turned four. She has been doing the right things as far as teaching her daughter letter recognition, reading aloud a lot, and generally preparing her for learning to read… but she didn’t quite know the “official” steps to take to actually see her daughter become a reader.
I have taught my oldest three children to read, and I have used several different methods! The primary reason for this is not because I wasn’t satisfied with the first few methods I tried; honestly, I just wanted to try out a variety of curriculums and keep myself interested in the process. Teaching your child to read can be tedious, repetitive, and sometimes a bit dull, but I guarantee it will be worth your efforts!
If you’re ready to try teaching your child to read, here is what has worked for us:
Bob Books
I picked up a set of these at Costco when my oldest daugher was just turning four, and they worked fairly well for her. Once she had learned letter sounds, she simply plodded through each book in order, sounding out new words along the way. Honestly, this is probably my least favorite reading method I’ve used. I noticed that she often memorized the books since they were so repetitive, and the content wasn’t particularly engaging. Three stars.
Hooked on Phonics
Perhaps you’re like me and remember the countless 90s commercials with the tagline, “Hooked on Phonics worked for me!” Frankly, I was a bit leery about using this method simply because it felt so commercialized. Yet when a friend passed along her old boxed set and I gave it a try with daughter #2, we LOVED it.
I think this program has two particular strengths. First, as you work through the book, each day’s activity is different. Some days you’re recognizing letters, some days you’re reading stories, some days you’re learning sight words, etc. It certainly keeps the monotony a little more at bay. Secondly, our box came with a poster that included the titles of all of the stories that she read independently. After she would read a story, I would let her put a sticker on the title of that story, and it was very inspiring for both of us to see her continued progress. Five stars.
Merrill Reading Program
This is a lesser known reading curriculum, and I probably would never have discovered it had I not been given the first book in the series by a seasoned homeschool mom. As I did more research on this series of readers, what I learned is that it was originally written to help struggling elementary readers because it very slowly builds vocabulary and sight words. I found, however, that it also worked well for my 4-year-old son, even if he may not have been the intended audience. The biggest drawback to this program is that finding these books can be difficult (and expensive!) on used book sites (Amazon, Better World Books, Thrift Books, etc.). Buying new may be your best option. Four stars.
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Okay, I’ll be honest… this book did not work for us! But I know many families that rave about it. If you feel like you don’t know where to begin with teaching your child and want your part completely scripted out, this is the book for you. You simply read through each lesson verbatim, and this book does the rest. If you complete all 100 lessons, your child should be reading around a second grade level.
I tried this with my oldest daughter, but the long, boring, black-and-white pages filled with very small text just did not excite her. By lesson 19, she would throw a fit when I would suggest we do another reading lesson — a sure sign it was time to try something new! Two stars. (But it could work for you!)
I Can Read It! series
This was the reading set that was recommended through Sonlight’s homeschool curriculum, and we used these with my second daughter after she had the fundamentals in place from Hooked on Phonics. In many ways, these books are very similar to the Merrill Reading program above, but they do move a little faster and may not be best for a young beginning reader. We enjoyed these, although (like most early readers!) near the end they began to be a bit tedious. Four stars.
Pathway Readers
If you’re not familiar with homeschool curriculums, chances are you’ve never heard of this set of readers. These are used in Amish parochial schools and are manufactured by Milestone Books, a small, Amish education company.
What I love about this first reader is that it starts out with a set of stories that are read alternately by the student and parent. The parent first reads a story about a family which introduces the child to the characters and the setting, and then the student reads a very simple story that uses the same words that were introduced in the parent’s section. Eventually the parent’s reading sections go away, and the student reads independently. For some reason, both of my girls truly became fluent readers as soon as they began reading these books. Five stars.
All About Reading
One thing I have learned about young readers is that some need phonics instructions and some don’t. Once both of my girls understood sounding out letters and putting them together into words, they progressed quickly and intuitively figured out consonant blends, irregular vowels sounds, etc.
On the other hand, my son was a fluid reader of “regular words,” but he really needed to be taught specific vowel blends, irregular consonant sounds, and phonograms. All About Reading is a beloved program that really teaches reading methodically, and it would be great for a child who really needs phonics instruction.
Now that you have resources to consider in teaching your child to read, when is the best time to start? I started my kids around the age of 4 or 4.5, give or take a few months. They all had great interest (no major pushing by mom), and I am blessed that they all caught on quickly.
There is certainly no reason to force a reluctant reader to try and read early; I suspect that will make them dig their heels in even more and not want to learn. But I always taught mine early because reading truly opens up a new world for every child, and I couldn’t wait to watch them discover the joy, beauty, and power of books for themselves!
Do you have any great resources that worked well for you when you were teaching your child to read? Please share them below in the comments!