One of the joys of homeschooling is taking things as slow or fast as your child needs (or wants) to go. Anna has been wanting to read for a long time so as I have monitored her I began slowly using a book called "Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons." My mom handed it down to me from my brothers homeschool days and we began in the fall. We did maybe a lesson a week... sometimes no lessons a week. Just taking it slow. I did not want to overwhelm her in any way. I mean after-all last fall she was only 3.
She has been able to write all of her letters by herself since just before her 3 year old birthday which was all at her own initiative... She would ask me how to make a certain letter and I would use that as the opportunity to teach her the proper way to form the letter. She loved learning how to write and I knew the next step would be reading.
After laying a good ground work with only a few of the lessons from the "100 Easy Lessons" book, I did a little research and decided to purchase Sing, Spell, Read and Write. I found this was a very comprehensive (yet very fun) program for the beginning reader. She loves it and has thrived since starting it. It really starts at the basics assuming the learner doesn't even know the alphabet yet BUT, it is still a good review and has fun songs to learn the basics of phonics. I am a HUGE believer in learning phonics to read and not sight words. This program is totally phonics based!
So, I have said all that to say that Anna can read. Can she sit down and read a whole book? NO. But, she can sound out simple words and that is true reading. Now, we can't even sit down to breakfast without her trying to sound out every word on the cereal box. It is sooo much fun to watch her. She is so proud of herself when she gets words right. What a blessing to me to be so involved in such a big part of my childs life like learning to read!
There is nothing better than watching a little person grow and learn and thrive! I just love it!!
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