At what point did you start teaching your child to read? Did you use any special books/ program?

Question

We already read to our son and have since he was 3 months old, but once we start wanting to actually teach him is there anything special we need to do? Any special reading programs? Books? Or just keep reading to him?

He isn't 3 mos old... we started reading to him at that age. ;) I want to start teaching him soon.

Answer 1

We started at 3 with learning the alphabet....then at 4 (and now 5) he wants to read everything.....street signs, books etc. it's a slow process but fun!

Good Luck~~

Answer 2

A child can learn to read effectively for a lifetime once he/she can name out of order ABC's upper case/capital and lower case, the correct sound of each in less than 3 seconds. Always teach short vowel sounds first, then long vowel sounds except the letter and word A or a, and word I. MSTRPANC is the correct sequence determined by frequency and changing the first and last letters and leaving "a" in the middle.
Hooked on Phonics is the best and memorizing reading has been found to be ineffective in learning large compound words if a person is not told the word from someone who know phonics and how to decode the words.
I used Hooked on Phonics for my child and his most recent national test scores showed his ranking 99 percentile nation wide. Follow it to a T for at least the first 3 major sections.

Answer 3

We started at age 4 1/2 with our oldest. We used The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise.

Answer 4

My son can read (mostly Hop on Pop, etc.), but we really didn't use any special programs. We did use some Montessori lessons, such as sandpaper letters. A Montessori teacher told us to first teach the sound of the letter, and not even mention the name of the letter. She said that's what kids need to learn how to read, and they will just pick up the name of the letter later. To be honest, that sounded kind of strange to me, but it worked. When we pointed out letters, we would just say the sound of the letter. My son started reading on his own after we did this, and he does know the names of the letters as well. Keep reading to your son, and let him go at his own pace. Don't drill him to learn; he'll do it when he's ready. Most of all, have fun!

Answer 5

YOU are always the best teacher.
I read to my daughter every night. I would let her choose which stories she would want to hear and I would read them to her as many times as she wanted. I never let her see that I didn't want to read. She would pick up on the words and she would always know if I were turning the pages too soon or not soon enough. By the time she was 4 she could read by herself. By the time she went to kindergarten she could read at an almost 4th grade level.
The best thing you can do for your child is to read to him, read and read and read.
Teach him well.

Answer 6

When reading follow with your finger, and read everything! not just books, but read boxes of cerial, cans of food, signs, tags, ads, read everything and anything while he is with you. make sure to help him sound out the words and letters with you while you read words.

It is the sounding out that helps him learn to read instead of memorizing to read. My mother tought me to read long before I was in school and she done it all by sounding out things, I couldn't even recognize all my letters in kindergarden but was reading at a grade 2 level! If you continue to read and engage him in story time he will learn, but most importantly is to make it FUN! never force or create stress you want this to be enjoyable, so if he decides he don;t want to read anymore and you are half way through a sentance, oh well story time is done.

Have fun and eventually he will pick up on it.

Answer 7

Just keep reading to him! You can point to the words as you read to help him make the connection between the marks on the page and the sounds he hears. Otherwise, let him figure it out when he is ready and follow his lead.

Answer 8

Hooked On Phonics looks good to me, because they have different levels of learning.

Answer 9

My mom used hooked on phonics for my siblings and me and we started on it at like 3.

Answer 10

if he is 3 mons then leave it just continue to read to him eventually when he is old enough they will have much better stuff to help him read so don't waste your money now!!