So, this is the second part of our collaborative effort!

The first part of this two-part post is on The New Parent’s blog. There we introduced the idea of, “why not start to teach reading at an early age?” Here we discuss some thoughts on how.

Let us know what you think!

———————————————————————————————————-
Knowing that the Angel is ready but wondering if it’s too young to introduce reading, the alternative dad feels that introducing words may cause confusion. Furthermore, he is unsure if my personal observation of her readiness is indeed her readiness to read or if she’s merely interested in words. So will understanding words at such an age cause a child more confusion?

I asked the same questions, AM, but thought that her capacity to learn to read would broaden her language acquisition, and help her grasp concepts more readily. I started with single and two letter words, each written out large on an individual piece of poster board. I had studied many different approaches (including Glenn Doman’s), and brought aspects of each together. Short periods of learning (maybe 20-30 seconds), large type, repeated a few times during the day.

Well, TNP, recently, I’ve been spending time teaching a friend’s son, who is learning English as a second language (ESL). I go along with his school curriculum which uses phonics to teach reading. I am so impressed with the way that he can read words (even though he is unable to understand them) because of phonics. I’m swayed toward using phonics to teach the Angel. In fact, the Angel has picked up all her letters and phonics through three means - Touch & Discover Alphabet Town, Fridge Phonics Magnetic Letter Play Set - LeapFrog Interactive and Starfall website (self-navigation). It’s funny how I have come to acquire the two toys (not with the intention of teaching letters or phonics or at least thinking they would only come to such use later on).

Anyway, her exposure to all those have all contributed to her learning all the letters and sounds (I was surprised to discover it myself one day), when she pointed them out to me herself and sounded them out. But we have fossilized at that stage, because of my holding back to teach her reading. At the same time, because I have been spending a lot of time teaching and making resources for my friend’s son, the Angel has been picking up all our phonics. Is phonics the way to teach reading?

(laugh) I also went through the same thinking process as AM! What I ended up with was a combination of sight reading and phonics. I started to understand that each method has its strengths. Sight reading seems to be a powerful way to jump-start reading—if done calmly, without tension. Kids can access sight words quickly (as they are pronounced for the child) and this seems to give them “confidence.” Once my little one was sight reading and reading simple books, I began to integrate phonics into her learning. The two done in the right sequence can really get them reading!

Categories: Homeschooling
14 Comments »