Miriam Said:

Did you try to teach your child to read before kindergarten? How did you do it?

We Answered:

The best way to get your child moving towards early reading is to read to them every day. I learned to read by the time I was three; my father and mother read to me every day for at least a half-hour, and often for considerably longer.

And we didn’t restrict our reading to "baby" books. We read some of those, but we also read books that were for considerably older children. That was a long time ago, of course, and many of the books we were reading were from the 1930s through the 1950s - old even then - so the vocabulary was considerably more advanced than the children’s books of today.

I think that by using baby talk and restricting reading to baby books, many parents unintentionally channel their children into infantilizing their language.

Don’t just restrict reading to just before bedtime, or your child may come to associate reading with falling asleep. I bring books in the car on trips that will last more than ten minutes (assuming that I’m not driving, of course), and read them to my son. Any time is a good time to read.

The other major factor, I think, is television. When I was very young I accidentally broke our TV. We were poor, so we weren’t able to replace it for more than a year. I think that’s why I became a huge bookworm; without that stupid box to distract me, I read and read and read. The American Association of Pediatrics has expressed strong concern about the effects of TV on toddlers and children, and if at all possible I’d restrict TV watching to as little as possible. I only wish I’d been able to eliminate it entirely for my own son!

Obviously, learning the alphabet is key. When I was young my parents bought me an excellent alphabet book, with colorful pictures of animals and common objects for every letter; I still remember that book (although I haven’t been able to find a copy or remember the title), so it must have influenced me strongly. Alphabet flash cards are also useful; you could use them to play spelling games with your four year old. Letter blocks would also work nicely. Have him or her spell out simple works with the cards or blocks, and offer plenty of praise.

Here’s a link to an answer to a previous question in which I listed a lot of wonderful old books for children. While I’m at it, I’ll add some more great books in widgets.

Good luck!

Lance Said:

What is the easiest way to teach your child how to read?

We Answered:

i found tracy's info very insightful especially for the world of today.
I have been using dick and jane books with my son. He has started picking up so fast. I use the fat yellow book. This introduces a few words at a time and there are a lot of repetitions.
I dont prefer using electronic stuff and all the gadgets as my parents never did use them and we all did very very well.
I also have used leapfrogs alphabet sounds. Where you can hear the sounds of each alphabet although its more of a toy you can still learn the sounds.
Dick and Jane books are still used by many and many I know with a lot of success.

Willie Said:

How did you teach your child how to read?

We Answered:

Read to them, read to them, read to them! This is the best thing you can do. Let them read to you! Ask your child's kindergarten teacher exactly what method she'll be using. (Usually in k-garten, they only learn sounds of letters, and it's not until 1st grade that they get into reading. But not always- so ask.) As for the Leapfrog learning systems. I think they're fantastic. However, your child has to think so too. If they don't want to play with them, they cannot work. My kids (all four) had absolutely no interest in them. But I have friends whose children loved them. Maybe a test drive at the local toy store? Good luck to you. Read read read!

Lonnie Said:

At what age can you begin to teach your baby to read?

We Answered:

Most children are able to learn to read around 4-6 years of age. (THough they may pick up a few sight words earlier than that -- my daughter recognized some words at 2- 2 1/2, but couldn't really read until she was 5 1/2.)

You cannot teach an infant to read, and please dont' waste your money on flashcards, or waste your time interacting with your baby by showing her flashcards.

If you want to help your baby learn to read, buy books and spend some time each day cuddling with her and reading to her. And let her see YOU reading for pleasure. That will instill a love of books, which is more important than anything else in encouraging her to not only learn to read (when she is cognitively able), but to go on reading for pleasure for the rest of her life.

Gertrude Said:

homeschooled families, how do you teach your kindergarten child to spell and read?

We Answered:

When I was a special ed teacher, I had a group of boys who all read on or below a 1st grade level. Considering they were all 14, this presented a LOT of problems! I didn't have the heart to do to them what had been done in years past... give them a 1st grade reader and keep drilling them with dolch word flash cards and phonic pages. Their records indicated they'd done that... for years. Instead I bought each of them a copy of the same book and I read to them. My rule was that I'd keep reading as long as I saw them following along. If they didn't, THEY'd have to read. No non-reading 14 year old wants to read aloud so the threat worked.
We read good books too! I avoided all the textbooks with partial stories out of context. They were boring and non-productive. We read literature.
At the end of the year all were reading at or above 4th grade level. Their self esteem was high and they were beginning to take pleasure in reading. Considering where we started, this was extraordinary.

READ TO YOUR CHILD. Write notes to him/her. Help them write notes back. Make word cards and stick them around the house, words like DOOR, WINDOW, BEDROOM, STAIRS, TOOTHBRUSH. Make chore charts, calendars, bulletin boards, and art with words. BUT don't resort to only worksheets, flashcards and readers or you'll kill the love of reading.

My oldest has severe dyslexia. He didn't learn to read until he was 11. Thanks to BASSMASTER magazine, he was reading on college level by age 12 and while he still has dyslexia he also has a degree from a college that gave him a huge scholarship ($80,000). My next two sons both learned to read fluently by the age of 3 and 4. My daughter isn't fluent yet due to some visual problems but she's getting there! Read fun stuff. Read exciting stuff. Find a bunch of Dorling Kindersly books and pour over them together. My third son is 15 and has read grad student level history books for years now. He loves to learn (and play ball and play music). I tried very hard to not kill that love of reading. Books are the MAIN Christmas presents requested by my children.
Oh, one last point. We keep the video games to about 1/2 hour once a week. We keep the TV off unless its PBS or an old movie. We spend a lot of time outdoors exploring, hiking, gardening, playing in the creek. Outdoors play grows brains! Games, computers and TV makes for quiet children maybe but doesn't grow their brains much.

Georgia Said:

Homeschooling Moms how did you teach your child to read?

We Answered:

This is why they should be in school. So qualified educators can teach them.
Homeschooling only slows down the process.
The only benefits to home schooling is, your child can become, class president. Valedictorian. Prom Queen/King. Things that may not have happened had they been in regular school.