Though it really shouldn’t be, one of the most intimidating endeavors to a new homeschooler is teaching children to read. You have already taught your child to do a host of other important skills as a parent: sleeping through the night, potty-training, talking. Reading is the next step. You can teach your child to read with two important habits.

Parents get frustrated teaching kids to read when they feel pressured into thinking that reading should happen by an early age or at a certain pace.

Here are some practical ways I have taught our kids to read. Though it is not comprehensive, the information in this post comes from my experience teaching in public schools and at home teaching our kids how to read.

These are simple principles for anybody to use. This is not a comprehensive description, but I hope it is enough to help someone get started.

Teaching a child to read is a natural process. It does not have to be difficult. Yes, it can be slow work. It takes effort.

The progression happens over a period of time, if you can be patient for it, but it is not difficult. And if you can relax with your child, it might just be enjoyable!

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Two Daily Reading Practices

You should practice two things every day for your child to become a proficient reader. One requires a lot of time. The other should be 15 minutes a day depending on the age of the child.

1. The most critical step is to read to your child often. The best way to do this is to read in short chunks of time scattered throughout the day as part of your daily routine. You don’t need to read for a long time in each setting, but it should be frequent and pleasurable.
2. Early readers should practice reading 15 minutes a day using a phonics-based reading program. As they increase in level, the time also increases, but at the very beginning, they should daily practice 15 minutes of phonics instruction/reading skills.

#1 Read to Your Child

One of the most important things when you begin teaching a child to read is to read to him often. This should not take a lot of time in one sitting since that would overwhelm a young child. Read to him frequently in short chunks throughout the day.

Imagine that as your child is learning to sound out simple words, he is drawing from the bank. He comes to new words and as he is putting the different sounds together, he is thinking through his mental register of common words to see which word is the closest match. If he has heard words used many times before, he will be familiar with how to pronounce words and how they fit in the context of a sentence.

The amount of exposure a child has had to the written word directly reflects the number of words in his word bank. The more familiar words he has in his word roll, the quicker he will be to find a match and to continue to progress in reading.

What should be read to a child?

With the exception of nursery rhymes for the toddler and preschool years, all children can benefit from each of these types of books being read aloud to them. Even older children can appreciate quality picture books like those I have suggested.

Nursery rhymes. (young children)

Why do children love nursery rhymes and simple songs? Because when you can’t read something, your mind is looking for some form of stimulation. Repeating the same sounds and rhythms IS your reading. They are building a repertoire.

What happens when a child hears nursery rhymes every day? They will repeat them throughout the day. Actually, when you teach a child nursery rhymes, you will hear, “Again! Do another one!”

Children love to hear the same phrases over and over so that they can remember them and do them on their own. Many nursery rhymes have been put to song. If you can sing some of them and add motions, your preschooler will relish this time with you. You will be folding laundry and hearing them in the next room saying, “this little piggy went wee wee wee aaaaaall the way home!” with delight.

Picture books.

Rather than a large collection of random books, I suggest a small library of 40-50 carefully chosen books. Set aside the cartoon character, “candy” books that do little to engage the imagination. Those are fine for fun, but a small collection of beautiful, timeless classics read to them by a loving parent, will draw them in AND fascinate them.

When a child hears his favorite books read over and over again, they will become his friends. When the three year old lays down for nap or quiet time, he might be found looking at the pictures and “reading books” to himself. You might overhear a fine rendition of “The Three Little Pigs”. He is not actually reading, of course, but he has heard the story often enough that now he can retell it in his own words as the pictures cue him and he feels like he is reading. These pre-reading skills will fuel his desire to read more books on his own.

A Few Favorite Picture Books From Our Collection

Chapter books.

Even if a child can read on his own, he will benefit from having someone read to him. You are adding to his bank. The more you read to him, the more he understands words.

Additionally, reading aloud to a child creates a culture of shared experiences. When you read aloud to a child every day, you experience things unique to just you and your child. When a child begins reading chapter books, he moves from learning to read to reading to learn. The world is opening up to him!

A Few Favorite Chapter Books from Our Collection

Audiobooks.

I highly recommend using audiobooks for bedtime. This is a great way to give them something to look forward to at bedtime. Most importantly, they are less likely to be distracted which often happens when they listen to audiobooks during the day.

Memory Work

Memorize something every day. Memorizing is a form of reading. It builds literacy skills. It helps cement words and their meanings (and their spelling!) into their minds.

Memorizing for school-age kids is what nursery rhymes are to preschoolers. It is building a repertoire of high-frequency words.

Here are some memory suggestions: a poem, Scripture, part of a historical document or speech.I wrote this post to give you more Memory Work ideas. Simple Ideas for Memory Work in Morning Time

We don’t sit and read lines over and over or “try” to memorize. We only read the poem or the Scripture one time a day (usually in the morning) for a month or two. After a period of time, they usually have it memorized. Remember saying the pledge of allegiance in school? You never tried to memorize it. You just said it once every day.

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Sample of our Daily Reading

Here is an example of reading in small chunks throughout the day.

Breakfast– nursery rhymes (preschool children only) ,memory work , Bible story

After lunch-( for napping children) 2-3 picture books

(for non nappers) 20 minutes quiet personal reading, Mom reads aloud a chapter book and any other school-related reading

Dinner– Family reads a chapter of Scripture round-robin style

Bedtime Routine– Both of our extended families have a rich history of singing old hymns. Because we want to transfer this to our kids, we sing a hymn before bed. Another reading opportunity!

Bedtime– audiobooks in bed

If I were to guess, this is an average of two hours a day that some form of reading or reading aloud is happening. And this does not include the times that they pick up a book just for fun!

A literate environment will produce strong readers!

#2-Fifteen Minutes Reading Practice

The second important step to build your child’s literacy is daily reading practice. Young readers should practice reading for fifteen minutes daily. Obviously, as a child progresses in their literacy skills, the amount of time spent practicing reading or reading on their own naturally increases.

Daily reading practice should include some direct instruction in phonics concepts (letter sounds, putting letters together, long and short vowel sounds, word blends, cvc words, phonics rules, etc.) with a greater time spent on the actual reading.

If you have read to your children frequently, they will already have a love for stories and knowledge. At some point they will want the power to do it for themselves. They want the tool that gives everyone around them access to knowledge!

Remember when your child was a baby and they reached a point in their development when they insisted on feeding themselves? That’s what happens when a child is ready to read.

There are many excellent phonics programs available today, but I love using this Companion Guide to Teaching Bob Books. For the full post on how I teach 15 minutes of daily reading practice with beginning readers, see Simple Steps for Teaching Reading That Work!

Troubleshooting

Are you frustrated with your child’s struggle with reading? Here are some questions to ask yourself.

• Does your child want to read? If not, don’t push!!! Scale waaaaay back on reading practice and vamp up your read-aloud time with them. It will come.
• Do you have expectations that your child should be reading by a certain age or grade? The point of reading practice is PROGRESSION. Ignore what everyone else says or makes you feel. Kids learn at different paces. Ask yourself, “Is my child progressing?” If they are progressing, they will be fine! Do not make the mistake of putting expectations on a child that will only discourage them! Let them learn at their own pace.

We live in a literate society. To do almost everything, you have to be able to read the English language. The drive to want to read will become innate because of our literate environment. Reading to them adds even more fuel to this fire. You want them to LOVE reading because that will furnish them for life.

Don’t look at their present reading level as the barometer for their future reading success. Gauge their reading success by how much they LOVE hearing a good story or book read to them. That will be the force driving their reading mastery!

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The rewards for teaching a child to read are huge. When you teach a child to read, you have given him perhaps the most useful tool that he will use for the rest of his life! You have opened up a world of knowledge and possibilities for him. I encourage you to relish teaching your child to read.

For more information on how I teach 15 minutes of daily reading practice with beginning readers, see SIMPLE STEPS FOR TEACHING READING THAT ACTUALLY WORK!

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