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Teaching your children to read can be very intimidating for a parent who is not a professional teacher. You want to make sure your child has a head start in reading and in school but where do you begin? Should you buy one of the many reading games available today? Read more books to your child? Use flash cards? What letter do you start with?
How to Begin Teaching a Child to Read
When a child is just starting to learn to read, the best way to get started is with phonics. Depending on your budget, how you think your child will prefer to learn, etc. there are many options. Many free programs, worksheets, and online games are available. If you have some teaching experience and/or are very comfortable in working one-on-one with your child to teach them, it may be enough for you to gather a variety of reading skill worksheets, game ideas and workbooks to put together you own at-home reading course. Many parents do this. It can be highly successful and rewarding. Before getting started, read up on the basics of reading and become familiar with a methodology that you can follow. For example, letters are usually taught in a certain order and you need to be familiar with this before getting started. For children with a learning disability such as dyslexia, you should learn about the disability and how it can affect their ability to learn to read. In most cases, there are methods for handling a disability that are more effective than standard methods of teaching reading.
It may be easier for you to follow a specific reading program. There are many good reading and phonics programs available today.
One of the easiest ways to get started is to find a reading program that is available online. Often, these programs provide you with a sample reading lesson for free so you can try it before committing to purchase. Pricing for home use can be very reasonable. Most importantly, a good reading program provides you with the full reading curriculum. It allows you to ensure you're your child will learn in the right order and cover all of the reading skills. When you are deciding about which program to choose, consider the following:
- It is appropriate for your child's current reading level and will help advance their skills.
- It will make learning fun - it is supposed to be enjoyable, not a chore.
- Check who stands behind the company or product. If you can not figure out who they are or it sounds questionable, don't buy it.
- Try to get a complete course - for example, a phonics program covering K-3.
- If they have an online version this is a big advantage: you can access anytime, from anywhere, no CDs to lose or damage, you automatically have access to new and improved features.
- Pricing should not be outrageous. There are good, affordable products out there.
- Check if a child can work on their own - this is an obvious advantage.
- There should be some kind of progress report included so you can actually see if your child is succeeding and if there are areas that need further attention.
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