Teaching preschooler to read?

[koru]

I'm new to this forum so forgive me if I'm clumsy....

I am not an official homeschooler and, more than likely, won't be. My husband teaches in the public schools & the system is pretty good. I'm a firm believer in learning at home, though, and will continue teaching my children througout life! On with my question...

I have a 4.5 yr old who is super-bright, if I may say so myself. She's a whiz at math, has already mastered simple addition & subtraction and her wheels are turning in the multiplication department, too. She just gets it. She's also starting to read but nothing remarkable. She wants to, though. She knows all the phonetic pronunciations of the letters & can read 20-30 simple words but she seems ready to put it all together. But...I don't know how to go about helping her along? A friend recommended a book titled "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons" by Siegfried Engelmann and I actually bought it the other day with a Christmas gift card of dh's but I think I'd like some feedback before I dive in. It seems wonderful, to be honest, but does anyone have experience with this book? Are there others out there that could be better? Is there an easier way to teach a child to read without "lessons?" Fwiw, we read to our children quite a bit. I suppose it could be more but with a 4.5 & 3y/o & 8 month old....it's pretty busy around here.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[robin4kids]

All my kids have learned to read with this book. I though, have never had a child that knew their letters, or sounds before this book. I am not sure how it would work if your dd is already reading some words. You might want to give it a try them either do a couple lessons at a time or skip to a more difficult lesson if she knows how to say all the sounds.
The way the book works is very simple. They learn a new sound every other lesson. By the 4th lesson they are reading words. By the 30th lesson they are reading short sentences. By the 100th lesson they are reading long stories. They throw in words like "a" that do not follow any rules, but are just words they need to memorize.
My kids were all very slow readers, but had wonderful phonics base, thanks to this book.

It can be VERY boring. Have you tried Bob Books? They are very simple books with very simple pictures. Some kids love them.

Robin

[koru]

Thanks, Robin. I have a 3 yr old, as well, and maybe we'll do the lessons with both of them & see if it makes it more fun & interesting for dd1.

[Dar]

Moved to The Childhood Years...

Dar

[elizawill]

koru, if you don't plan to homeschool, the only thing i wonder is if your child will be utterly bored in public school? she sounds wonderfully bright, and she seems to be reading at a public school first grade entry level, or end of the year grade K already. i'm not discouraging you from teaching her to read by any means...so please don't take my post as such. i was just wondering if her school will be able to meet her advanced needs well, especially since she will enter K knowing all the things they teach (and then some). she sounds really lovely

as for the book, "teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" - i feel it is very hit or miss. my dd really hated it (as did i), but i followed the script. other mamas here say if your child seems to dislike it, use the script very loosely & it's quite enjoyable and successful!

[koru]

hmmmmm elizawill...I never thought about that. I have to say, though, that I'm definitely open to hs'ing if the public school system doesn't work out, for whatever reason.

We did the first lesson of the book & it is very, um, interesting. I found it tricky to follow the script verbatim but I like the "say it fast" part. I've been doing this with the girls all morning. "dog" "house" ~ "ta" "ble" ~ "sh" "e". They think this is a fun little game! Maybe I can just take ideas from the book & incorporate them into our day, little by little.

Any other suggestoins are welcome!

[pigpokey]

My daughter enjoys the Hooked on Phonics computer software and both my almost 3 and my 4 1/3 year olds enjoy Starfall.com. HOP is more lessony, and my daughter chooses Starfall probably five times as often as HOP. They both play with Leappad books, but do not choose that play option frequently.

Maybe also google modeled oral reading or guided oral reading.

[koru]

Originally Posted by pigpokey

My daughter enjoys the Hooked on Phonics computer software and both my almost 3 and my 4 1/3 year olds enjoy Starfall.com. HOP is more lessony, and my daughter chooses Starfall probably five times as often as HOP. They both play with Leappad books, but do not choose that play option frequently.

Maybe also google modeled oral reading or guided oral reading.

Thanks, pigpokey! I never thought about online resources but, even at the young age of 4.5, dd1 adores the computer. I just bookmaked starfall.com.

[MPsSweetie]

I taught Amethyst to read using that book also. It isn't really *fun*, but it works. And its just 15 minutes or so a day, so its not like it takes forever. Amethyst liked it, but she was really excited to read. We finished it in about 2 months but we didn't go all the way to the end.
As for being ahead, when you finish it she should be reading at a 2nd grade level. Amethyst is now in 2nd grade reading/LA and doing just amazing. But we homeschool, so I just adjust to what she needs.

Also, we tried doing the book and letting her play on starfall.com, but they teach different ways of sounding things out and it made it a lot more difficult for us. But starfall is fun!

[Lingmom]

I checked the book out of the library out of curiosity and then soon after realized it was boring and unnecessary. For my daughter, reading seemed to come just like talking did... I didn't need to teach it. By just providing accessible input (like Bob books or similar easy readers) and pointing out the correspondence between sounds and letters, my daughter was able to pick up on the patterns by herself. I didn't have to do 100 scripted lessons. Also, check out the PBS show "Between the Lions".

[umsami]

DS1 is 4-1/4 and is beginning to read. He learned his letters and sounds from the Leapfrog videos...and just started sort-of reading a bit on his own. We use Starfall.com and have borrowed some of the Bob books. Seems to be working well. I wasn't planning on teaching him at all... but he sort of lead things, so I'm OK with it. We're moving at his pace...although I put limits on the Starfall time because if it was up to him, we'd never leave the site. (It's free, btw... and on the exercises "an" words or whatever, your child can usually hit the letter on the keyboard if their mouse skills aren't good enough to drag it. (Sometimes it doesn't work on the first exercise, but works on subsequent ones though...no idea why.)) YMMV.

[mommyabroad]

My DS started to read before 4. We weren't doing any formal instruction together and he wasn't in preschool or watching regular television. He's been a fan of all things alphabet for a really long time so I'm sure that helped. But I think he also learned a lot from some silly videos we checked out of the library -- Alphabet Circus and Alphabet by Rock 'N Learn. DS loved them and I'd hear him going around the house trying out various concepts from the videos. They also have one called Colors, Shapes, and Counting. They are very low tech.

[Xoe]

my dd lived on Starfall like it was fresh air...but I have to agree with the person who said they sound things out differently. There are moments when I feel it would be easier if my DD the sound of "L" was luh, ND "R" was ruh, as I learned it. These days kids seem to be taught that it's uulllllluh, and errrruh. But all the same, if your kid likes it, the it will probably work for him or her.

xoe

[Softmama]

we used the book and loved it. we are now using it with ds2 who is 4.5 yrs old and he starts begging for it the minute his dad walks in the door. i thought it was wonderful. i'd say, give it a go and see how your dd likes it.

[girlmama28]

I taught both of my daughter's to read using Hooked on Phonics. I am currently using it with my son, who is 3 1/2 with great success. He really likes the computer game, and we use the workbook maybe twice a week. My girls could both read when they went to kindergarten and I don't feel like it was a negative for either girl. It gave them a headstart for sure and helped them to feel more comfortable. They both had great teachers that gave them one on one time and let them continue to advance. I think reading before kindergarten--if your child is interested--helps them to do well in school, and why not give your child every advantage you can?