Learning to read. It’s one of those things that must be accomplished. Everyone needs to learn how to read. But, what is the best way to teach a child how to read, that will not only teach him how to identify words correctly, but instill within them a love of reading?
As a mother of preschoolers and a future homeschooler, I often feel nervous about my ability to teach my children how to read. I don’t personally remember learning how to read. I don’t remember sounding out letters and forming words; I just remember slowly getting better at it over the course of several years.
But, I feel like there is so much pressure on parents to teach their children how to read and to read early. Where did this extreme emphasis on learning to read early come from?
There are several different “learn to read” programs out there which include books, computer software, websites, movies, and TV shows. And parents love to brag in person and on Facebook about their gifted children decoding words and reading by the time they are three and a half.
And it all leaves me conflicted.
I strive for balance in every aspect of my life, and educating my children is certainly one of those areas. I don’t want to be the drill sergeant mom who quizzes her kids with flash cards at every meal, forces endless educational games and software at them, and gives them dozens of worksheets. But, I also don’t want to be the lazy mother who just wants the school do all the teaching, especially when my children seem eager to learn how to read and write already.
But, I’m torn. I have been told about several different reading programs (I have even been recently pitched one to review on my site) and how wonderful they are and how they helped little Susie and Johnny read whole books by the time they started kindergarten. And, I believe they really do work. But, I guess I am questioning the method with which children are taught to read today, namely the overemphasis on breaking down reading into fragments.
On Learning to Read {Book Review}
I recently read the book On Learning to Read: The Child’s Fascination with Meaning. While I am not huge into psychoanalysis, I am curious as to why, despite more preschoolers learning to read (preK is the new K!), we still aren’t raising generations of readers. Teenagers and young adults don’t generally read books for fun, and especially not for the purpose of educating themselves. And this is what worries me. Is how we teach reading affecting the quality of the relationship children have with books themselves?
That’s where the research and studies presented in the book On Learning to Read proved very interesting to me. While the book was super redundant, long, and very scientific, the point they were getting at was clearly driven home: there is a huge difference between decoding to read and reading for context. Children are taught to read by decoding sounds, learning rules, and memorizing sight words. This process could be the reason why children don’t like to read on their own. Because, identifying words, sounding them out, and putting sentences together are not the same as true literacy.
Reading by decoding is boring
Reading by decoding each word doesn’t stimulate children. The books designed to teach children how to read are trivial, simple, repetitive texts about unreal, simplistic, too happy, purely entertaining situations. And children aren’t buying it. They hate them and get bored by them. And it is this boredom with the texts that frequently cause misreadings. We somehow think that Dr. Suess-esque books with 75 word vocabularies in them are a great way to teach our children to read. They will see the same word 20 times, read a story about nothing, and soon be on their way to read more complicated texts, right?
But, the problem with Dr. Suess type books and many other “Early Readers” is that the stories don’t make sense. People do not talk that way! It’s so unnatural and unrealistic, and at times confusing. These word-drilling books are, in short, obnoxious; personally, I hate reading them.
Preschoolers spoken vocabulary is huge and they are learning new words daily, but yet we somehow expect them to love reading a silly story with only 75 different words! Seventy-five! Most of which are repeated a dozen times. Why would a child see reading as something worthwhile when the stories are banal? Sure, they will come to recognize and read the words correctly, and by doing so bring pleasure to parents and teachers alike, but will they come to see the greatness of reading “See Jane run” for themselves?
Because, here’s the truth about learning to read: if we are interested in the text, in the story, in the information it holds, we will learn to read easily and quickly. In fact, conquering difficult texts gives us more confidence in our ability to read. A child who may be “unable to focus” may only be doing so because they are not interested in reading a story that has no point and does not interest them in the least.
The Problem of Today’s Children’s Books
Then there is the other problem with children’s books in that they are so picture heavy and picture dependent with a huge overemphasis on the importance of play. Children are curious about the world all around them, and especially about familial relationships. They have questions about death, old people, emotions, new babies, older and younger siblings, and friendships. But it seems children’s books sole purpose is to entertain children, and to make the child the star, the one in control of their surroundings (or to promote social agendas). And this is frustrating to me. I can’t tell you how many books my husband and I have picked up from the library to read to our girls and have been utterly disgusted by the message of selfish entitlement we find in it: the child can do no wrong.
In On Learning to Read there are several chapters devoted to why a child misreads texts, blocks, or refuses to read, most of which are based on the subconscious of the child. I’m not huge into psychology, but I am sure there is much validation in their research. The main point was that by asking a child a question about what they just misread – by saying something like “I’ve never seen a purple goat before!” for a child who misread “The girl put on the purple coat” as opposed to just correcting the mistake – the child will reread and correct their mistake themselves. Also, we should address the context of the story when a child blocks or refuses to read, as it might be scary to them, or remind them of a difficult memory or situation, instead of just demanding the child read the word they are stuck on. Essentially much of their research boils down to addressing a child’s emotional responses to the text.
I have read countless articles about how to raise a reader and how to teach my child how to read. But, reading books like On Learning to Read and some other homeschool books and literature have me questioning everything, but most especially the books I am reading to my children, leaving me asking what should I be reading to them?
My approach (so far) of teaching my children to read:
I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t really know what is best, but here’s my thoughts on literacy and reading:
- I will read out loud to my children from the scriptures, and hopefully soon more “advanced” books.
- I will read books with my children that we own and get from the library.
- I will read myself, leading by example. Currently, I read an article out of the Ensign each morning, read a book in their room during nap time, read on my kindle, read the newspaper twice a week, and read countless articles on the computer. Plus, I attend two book clubs, which I tell my daughters I am attending.
- I will avoid reading dumb, stupid, repetitive, annoying, child-ego-centric, unrealistic stories to my children.
- I will strive to read linear stories that are true to real life.
- I will avoid reading books that make kids smarter than their parents or teachers or older siblings.
- I will read books about death, birth, and difficult situations.
- I will talk to my children about what I am reading and why I value reading.
- I will write out and spell out words for my children.
- I will point out the words as we read.
- I will have books easily accessible and all around the house.
- I will strive to carve out a regular time to read books together and to my children.
How have you taught your child to read? What do you think is the best way to teach a child to read? How are you working to foster true literacy in your home?
Chelsea Decker says
From a teacher perspective, reading consistently to your child everyday makes a WORLD of difference! Then they slowly letting them share the reins when they are ready, and transferring the reading part to them completely when it is a book at their independent/developing level. But consistency is key.
Katie Clark says
One of my friend’s family has raised 9 genius children who are excellent readers, and she said she believes it’s because her parents did scripture study every single night from day one and from the moment they could start reading, they had them try and read the scriptures during their turn. I found it interesting. This friend is now a teacher at a charter school here in Provo, and she is alarmed at how many of her 9th and 10th graders get serious anxiety when they have to read more than a few sentences. She said the reading abilities of all the students is quite scary, and the teachers can’t figure out why this is happening. Makes me really question the current system of teaching kids to read in schools.
Like you, I honestly don’t even remember learning to read! I feel like I just learned.
MandyE says
If you’d asked me two year ago, when our girls were three and showing SO many signs of pre-reading, I would have said they’d be reading easily before they started Kindergarten. They’re not, though. While I don’t fully understand it, I’m trying hard to follow their lead.
They LOVE books…they love to be read to, and they love to look at books and pick out what they’d like me to read. (In particular, they are very into “science” / non-fiction books…really complex stuff!)
Interestingly, our girls both love to write. They can attempt to spell many words (and have a couple dozen words the like to write most often, memorized). I was most amazed at my B a couple of weeks ago, trying to write a note with the word “available”…which she spelled EVEBUL. Wowza!!!
I want to encourage my girls’ sense of exploration, and I trust (for now) that the reading will come. I anticipate (and silently hope!) that once they “get” it, they’ll take off like gangbusters.
Great topic, Katelyn!!!
Hezzi-D says
As a teacher, the best way to start reading is by reading to your child. From there it really depends on the child. Children learn in different ways so you have to see how your child learns best!
Caryn says
75% of kids learn to read no matter how they are taught. But the other 25% need to see written language as a structural thing with patterns and rules in order to understand it. I know you see books with repetitive and stupid content as annoying and something to avoid, but some of these books beautifully highlight the structure of our language for that 25% of the population. Learning should be fun, and I believe sometimes silly. But reading is also something we do everywhere. It’s not just in books. It’s on road signs, restaurant menus, and on the very toys our children play with. Not knowing if your child is going to be one of the 25%, why not take a middle of the road approach and use books of all kinds to see what your children respond the best to? Kids are all different. I’ve got 4 kiddos. The first and 3rd were early readers. The second took his time. All are now advanced readers for their age and really love to do it. Have fun with your kids when reading with them. Be expressive, wear costumes, act it out. When you see words with pattern sounds talk about it, repeat them. I agree with Hezzi-D, each child is different. As a special education teacher I learned early on that successful teaching is responsive teaching.
Actually Mummy... says
These are some great tips – I’ve pinned it to my loveliteracy board
Andrea says
I’m now a SAHM, but used to teach fifth grade…I would agree with so much of this. I think the most important thing is to just spend time with your child reading, and enjoying…and them seeing you reading, too!
Lisa says
It sounds like you’ve done your research and are well prepared! I’m sharing this post with my daughter 🙂
Kim says
Thanks for this. I’m working with my older boy now. He knows a few of his letters but doesn’t know them all. And I don’t remember how I learned… So we have story time and do lots of reading. We try to do scripture reading on a daily basis, but we aren’t perfect at it. But we try to make it consistent – and that’s made a big difference in just his vocabulary.
Natalie PlanetSmartyPants says
I found your post from Parenting Pin It party and followed in. I am one of those parents who taught my child to read at 3, but I used only free methods out there and first built my child’s vocabulary by reading many-many books, none of which were easy readers. The fight between “whole language and phonics” seem to be going on forever in English language, and I suppose every child responds differently to different methods. We used Progressive Phonics where every book is read jointly with a child reading easier words and a parent reading harder words. My daughter quite enjoyed the short stories in that program. Perhaps you might want to check it out too at progessivephonics.com. I pinned your post to my learning to read board here – http://www.pinterest.com/sunnyvale422/learning-to-read/
Katelyn Fagan says
Great! This is great advice! I will have to look into it. And thanks for sharing on your pinterest board.
Brittnei says
I haven’t really put too much thought into this. I read to my son who will be 2 in April and he does a few educational apps online and watches a few videos that have our faith in the subject but that’s it. I plan on going to a homeschool conference in my state this year or next so I can learn about some curriculum since I know there are so many out there. We also plan to get him ABC mouse in a month or two as well. I think what I love the most about homeschooling is being able to do trial and error and being able to change and adapt to see what works best for your child 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing this with us at Countdown in Style! Don’t forget to stop by Friday to see if you are featured 🙂
Katelyn Fagan says
I should really look into attending a homeschool conference, too. And you are right about the trial and error!! I love that! Another benefit to homeschool.
Helen Neale says
A very interesting article – my starting point with my kids for encouraging and helping them to learn to read has always been to read with them ALOT! And also, to let them see us reading as well – to encourage them to want to do it. Half the battle is making sure you lay the groundwork so the kids want to work at it 😀 Thanks for joining in with the Parenting Pin in Party this week.
Rachel R. says
I have a hard time believing that teaching decoding is the reason people don’t read anymore. I think NOT teaching decoding is the bigger problem. We now have a generation of young people raised with the “whole language”/”sight words” method and they’re (as a group) such WEAK readers that they don’t enjoy it.
Plenty of us were raised with phonics and devour books. My daughters learned to read by being taught individual sounds and then learning to “slide them together” (although I’ll grant you that we are far less structured in ALL of our academics than most people), and they love to read.
And teaching very young children to read is not a new thing. It’s my understanding that the Pilgrims taught their children to read at 3 so they’d be able to read the Bible.
I totally agree, though, about stupid books that exist for no other purpose but to make use of a certain vocabulary list. (I felt the same way about piano lessons as a child!) I think it’s important to teach children just enough decoding skills to be able to break down real words and then GET THEM INTO REAL BOOKS as soon as possible! Nobody likes to spend their time on drivel. 😛
Katelyn Fagan says
Thanks for the comment Rachel! I don’t know why exactly people don’t read anymore (I’m not a scholar!) not am I really “anti decoding.” I like your suggestion of teaching just enough phonics/groundwork and then getting onto “real” books as soon as possible! And those Pilgrims were smart (says the person descended from one!!).
Missy Robinson says
I have five children age 17, 14, 9, 8, 6 – all read at some level. My thoughts are that we DO tend to push ‘rote reading’ too early and it steals the fun, joy and wonder away and makes reading a task to be checked off.
The 17 year old is an avid, highly advanced reader who reads multiple books per week. yes, per week, for both pleasure and information. She is exceptionally gifted and uncommon. Her love of reading stems from a thirst for knowledge in general and a self-motivational drive for learning.
The 14 year old is what I would describe as an above average reader. She reads what she must for information and enjoys reading for entertainment when there are large blocks of time available (ie: summer break, travel, etc.). She reads to participate with what her peers and family discuss and what is required to do well in school.
The 9 year old is another self motivated and exceptionally advanced reader. At his age he reads almost exclusively for pleasure, but often chooses informational/historical books. He did not read well until second grade, and was behind according to public school standards. He now tests at an 8th grade level (is currently in 4th).
The 8 year old was a delayed reader and tested at the low end of average at the beginning of this school year. I have made a concentrated effort to boost her confidence in reading by requesting that she read aloud almost daily. Letting reading cross over into her favorite types of play has helped her to be interested so I choose books about animals and the American Girl (doll) books. She is now testing at the higher end of average and we are continuing to work on it. Reading is not something she chooses in her free time.
The six-year old is in kindergarten. He LOVES the silly rhyming nonsense children’s stories and I enjoy the cadence of reading them. He is able to memorize the words and “read” with me, filling in when I stop. He recognizes sight words and is learning to sound out words by letter. His drive to read is high and his actual skill is higher at this age than any of the others (except the 17 year old was).
I have provided stimulated and relatable books from early ages, beginning with books that I love to read…I believe they can sense my enthusiasm. Reading has always been combined with snuggles and not something we do at the end of the day, but earlier as a priority. Periods of quiet time allow for exploration early on and later we have instilled actual reading times.
When my children weren’t avid readers at K and first grade, I didn’t force this issue. By second grade, I did prioritize and let them know that it would be something they did everyday just like brushing teeth, eating meals and exercise … it is a life skill.
That’s where we are!
Katelyn Fagan says
Thanks for your insight Missy! It’s interesting how different kids in the same family can be. I do think your idea of prioritizing reading is a good idea, and not just something before bed, and snuggling together while doing it, an especially good idea. Thanks so much!
Jennifer-Mommy Life After Ph.D. says
Love this post since we are in the middle of this right now with a kindergartner. Your list is spot on. I just try to treat him like a learning human being and not baby him by dumbing down my own verbal language with my kids. If they don’t understand a word I use, we write it down, sound it out, and talk about synonyms. I think that basic approach is very helpful and will benefit them later on too! Thanks for sharing!!
Sandy says
I read books to my 2 children from the time they were babies. Child #1 pretty much taught herself to read before she was in kindergarten, which surprised the heck out of her teacher! Child #2 was not an early reader, partly because her sister read to her and she didn’t bother to learn! However, both kids are now grown. The non-early reader has her doctorate and the other has a master’s. Both work at jobs they love.
Sandy @ Being Content Where We Are says
I too want my son to be someone who loves to read and i try to make sure he sees me reading often. I have no doubt that you will have no trouble teaching your kiddos to love it too.
April says
I’m in the middle of figuring all of this out for myself. I use anything at my disposable. I have DVDs that are extremely repetitive that helps with basic information like letters, numbers, and colors. My daughter recognizes most letters, numbers from 1-10 and quite a few of her colors. I also don’t know that’s lazy parenting. She also thinks a heart is called “I love you”… because that’s on the balloon that’s shaped like a heart. I also read to my daughter. We don’t have many of the typical children’s books, yet, I read what I have. Not a lot of pictures, but it gets the job done. Then we also have storytelling time… where they can make their own stories. I correct for sense… I will stop the story to see if the next thing makes sense. And if it does, then they keep going. It’s been fun. I don’t know what’s best. I don’t think my daughter is a genius. I just try to push her a little farther than I did the day before and hopefully she’ll find a love of reading. Granted, my husband never read a book cover to cover until he graduated from engineering school, so sometimes I wonder, what’s the point?
Katelyn Fagan says
We’ve used some Leap Frog DVDs to help with letter sounds, recognition, numbers, and other things. I think it’s smart to entertain with knowledge. And your daughter sounds adorable. And it generally sounds like you are doing a great job teaching her how to read and to love reading. Go Mom!
The Monko says
This is so interesting. My son isn’t quite ready to start the reading journey, he’s 4.5 years old and only just starting to recognise letters. We read a lot to him and what we tend to read are fact books because thats what he is interested in. I have often thought – how will be bridge the gap between the interesting content of the books that we read him, and the boring simple stuff he will need to read when he is learning. So your post really struck home with me.
Have you come across the Waldorf/Steiner philosophy on reading, that you don;t start teaching until about 7 years old, but before then you fill the child with stories and read to them and get them to love words and vocabulary, so that when they are ready they will pick it all up so much faster. This approach resonates with me, but as we will be sending our son to a regular school we won’t have the luxury of allowing him to wait – if you are homeschooling maybe you should look into this option a bit more.
Katelyn Fagan says
Thank you! Someone else after this post mentioned Waldorf, and I had no idea what it was, so thank you for sharing a bit about that philosophy. I’ll have to look more into, as I am homeschooling.
Lisa says
I earned my master’s in elementary reading and literacy, and know many of the “strategies” used in public schooling to get kids to read. And you know what? I discarded almost all of them when it came to teaching my own kids. I enjoyed reading your post.
I do believe that familiarity with the alphabet is a huge predictor in reading success and enjoyment, and so from the time they are very young, we are singing the alphabet song, playing ABC games in the car, and using foam letter mats to build castles and just introduce the kids to the letters.
We listen to books on tape when we go in the car, we read aloud scriptures every morning, and from a Bible devotional every evening. My husband and I both model reading for them. This exposure has helped them to embrace reading as a preferred pastime.
Amber @ Fit, Foodie Runs says
Love these tips! Added it to my favorite post of the week! Thanks for joining Anything Goes linky!
Angela @ Joy Focused Learning says
This is very interesting to me. We used a simple phonics based program with my daughter when she was small. We also read her a variety of books during that time, not just easy readers. We love to read chapter books together like Charlotte’s Web. She is an avid reader and seems to be her happiest cuddled up on the couch with a stack of books. I definitely agree that even at young ages you should be reading quality books to your children.
I featured this post at this week’s Anything Goes link-up.
Shelly says
I completely agree with your approach. I just wrote about this here
http://redheadmom8.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/my-hands-off-approach-to-teaching-reading/ if you’re interested. Btw, I came from the Anything Goes linkup!
Carrie says
I am a special education teacher and I have 2 girls, ages 6 and 3. My 6 year old currently reads orally at the 4th grade level, her true reading level (oral reading and comprehension level) is likely around grade 2 or 3. We have read to her frequently from day one and around age 4 she started sight word reading and I am not a fan of sole sight word readers. I wanted her to learn the rules of decoding words and not to memorize every word. Although I was not a fan of the program when I has to use it in my classroom (now work part time in early intervention) but I purchased a smaller version of the SRAs DISTAR reading program. It was called Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. It does throw in comprehension. I loved it for her but it is not for every kid. Obviously it was successful for us. It was cheap, easy, self explanatory and she actually enjoyed it. She does read for fun now, magic tree house is her favorite. My 3 year old will not be an early reader, yes I know that already. Unlike my oldest, she has no interest in exploring letters or pointing out words in books. We read to her ALOT. I mean we fill up our 31 bag full of library books on a Monday and by Monday evening those books have been read twice! But play is most important in her mind and quite frankly I am 100% for that. I know that reading to your child is necessary and it will help them with reading but I also strongly feel that for most children, they need some direct instruction to help them read. I do not feel it needs to be done before they reach school age. It only needs to be rushed if the child is rushed, my daughter wanted to read early. I was there to help!
Katelyn Fagan says
Thanks for your input Carrie. I’ve heard a lot about the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I might have to pick up a copy. One of my daughters certainly seems very ready for more formal instruction, so I don’t know. Maybe I should just try it. Thanks.
Rachel@ {i love} my disorganized life says
I love the steps you’re taking to help your kids not only learn to read, but to love reading as well!