Teaching Your Child To Read

A little over a year ago, I decided to research methods for teaching children to read. I bought a couple books on the subject. The one I found the most interesting and agreed with the philosophy was titled: "Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever".  Here's what I felt the basic premise of the book was: read outloud with your child as often as you can. When you read together, make it a comfortable, stress-free, special time, so your child associates positive thoughts about reading. Read and read and read with your child. By doing this, you will teach them that reading is worthwhile and enjoyable. This will foster a desire in them to want to learn to read.

It's a great philosophy and I have read to Grant since he was born. Sometimes for hours a day. I know that the process of reading with him everyday has instilled a passion for reading inside of him. However, something was still missing from the reading equation for us. The Reading Magic book seemed to imply all I had to do was read to him and soon, he'd be reading on his own. Feeling a little frustrated, I asked a friend, who is homeschooling, what she had used to teach her kids to read.  She recommended "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons".

At this writing, Grant and I are on Lesson 30 out of 100. He can read the following sample sentences: "An ant can eat a seed. That seed is in the mud" from Lesson 29. I find this pretty impressive for a 4.5 year old, especially since a couple of months ago, he didn't recognize many written words.  This book helped fill that missing gap between desire to learn and how to learn that we were looking for.  I'm giving this book two big thumbs up!