A question many parents, whether or not they are home educators, ask themselves is when their child is ready to start reading. There are many experts out there who delve deeply into this topic. Their opinions are varied, and no one idea is perfect for every child.
My personal system is this- start teaching when your child is ready to learn. Do not push them, but do not discourage them. My 4 year old, Ruthie, loves to do "School". As a matter of fact, she got upset with me when we started school because I had not started doing MATH with her!!! (No, really- I'm not kidding!). I had actually purchased a kindergarten math curricula in the event that we felt (later in the year, of course!) that she was ready to start working on it. I had gotten it on a great deal, so I didn't mind if we waited until next year to start. But, Ruthie had other ideas!
If your child is excited to start learning to read, then start teaching, even if they are only 4. On the other hand, if they are reluctant to start, feel free to wait awhile. Not every child is going to be reading at 4 or 5 years old.
One of my favorite products for learning to read is a very simple set of Bob Books. We really love Bob books around here, plus they are inexpensive and non-consummable. You can probably pick them up at a used curriculum sale, or used on ebay.
I found a kit at our homeschool support groups curriculum sale that I plan to try with Ruthie when she gets ready to start learning to read. It is called Happy Phonics, and rates in Cathy Duffy's Top Picks for homeschool materials. I will review it after we use it and let you know how it works for us!
No comments:
Post a Comment