The Gift of Reading

Posted by Tammy | 0 comments

This giveaway is closed, congrats to Farm Fresh Jessica on being the winner!

As soon as she opened her eyes that recent morning in June, my daughter exclaimed, “I’m FIVE and now I can read!” For whatever reason, she assumed that turning that special number on her birthday would guarantee her the present of reading.

No one in our family knew where she got that idea from as we looked at each other in surprise upon hearing her comment. And after opening all her presents, she immediately went to get a book to read. Only alas, she discovered it wasn’t an automatic gift!

Rather than see her disappointed face, we wrote out words for her to read. Her name. Her siblings names. To. From. God. Love A mild satisfaction came across her face as we explained she’s just learning the first step in reading and will be learning more in the days ahead.

Reading. That big scary thing for homeschooling families. It’s probably the hardest subject to be calm about because it does seem like the whole wide world is watching to see if your young child can read and it almost feels like it is a test on whether or not you are a competent homeschool parent.

Yet as I begin to teach my ninth child to read in the days ahead perhaps the biggest lesson I’ve learned through the years is quite simple…..relax. In our family I’ve witnessed early readers and one very late reader with everyone else in-between. You can pound pound pound drill drill drill until you are both in tears, but it truly does seem to be a developmental process that doesn’t happen at a certain age like FIVE, but instead suddenly goes *CLICK*!

As an old time homeschool parent, I’ve used the same basic process through the years. Introduce letters in their preschool years and sounds to go with those letters when they are around five. If they show an interest before that, go for it! My now five year old knows her alphabet, can write her alphabet, and likes to copy words out of books. Those things she learned without much concentrated one-on-one work. She has the advantage of older siblings who often play with her and who don’t realize how much that playing time ends up being learning time for their youngest sibling. Especially as they sit down and read with her.

Since the basics are in place, it’s time to introduce the sounds and I’ve used the phonics approach for years. Our main phonic materials have been through A Beka Book, but we’ve also added an assortment of other activities. We had used the Sing, Spell, Read, Write program with one of our first children, however now we primarily use a favorite parts of that program – the sound tapes. The library is also a good source of books and DVDs that focus on specific letters of the alphabet. And what about cutting pictures from old magazines to create notebooks with all the individual alphabet letters and pictures to go with them OR shaping the letters from play-doh as you sound them out. Simple things to do consistently a little bit at a time a little part of each day.

The journey on the road to reading should be a joy and not a daily drudgery of your homeschooling. Listen to your intuition as you go along. If your child is resisting you or seems to tire easily one day, save it for the next day. If your child is excited and wants to do more, pull out another activity to challenge them further. Make sure you regularly review what your child has already learned. If your intuition is telling you that you might need a little more help, Heart of the Matter is a wonderful resource area to plug into whether it be for reading program reviews or more specialized tips from writer Darnelle whose area of expertise is helping struggling students as she pinpoints academic problems that may need more specific help.

There is great joy in the journey of homeschooling when you see your child’s face light up as reading *clicks* for them. When that happens, you know that they have received one of the greatest gifts of learning. Reading will be the key that opens the entire world for them whether it be academically or just reading for pleasure. More importantly, it will open up God’s Word to them in a new way as they will be able to read it for themselves. And isn’t that really the heart of the matter?

GIVEAWAY: “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” by Siegfried Engelmann, Phyllis Haddox, Elaine Bruner Description on cover: In only 20 minutes a day, this remarkable step-by-step program teaches your child to read–with the love, care, and joy only a parent and child can share! My thought was that the commenter would need to list their favorite early reader book or series to be entered in the giveaway?

To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment telling us one of your best tips for teaching reading. Comments will be closed Friday, August 15th at 10pm EST and the winner will be announced on Sunday in our new weekly newsletter. You can sign up by entering your email address in over in the right sidebar.

As always please make sure you leave your email address or that it is clearly listed on your profile or blog. If we can’t email you, you can’t win.

Married in 1980 and still living in the same house in a woodsy rural setting, Tammy’s homeschooling journey began in the fall of 1987 when her oldest turned six years old. As rather new believers professing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, homeschooling was a way to live out the principles found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Through all the challenges of life Tammy has stayed the course growing to a family with nine children who presently range from preschool age to college graduates married with children. Her role has transitioned from learning everything she could about homeschooling to becoming an encourager to others coming along the way. Please visit Tammy at Garden Glimpses.