Teaching your child to read can be a delightful experience.
It can also be a tedious and frustrating experience. If you’re finding it to be the latter, here are a few of my favorite tips (simple ones, because who has time for complicated things??)
Every time this word shows up, YOU read it. I’ll read everything else.
7 simple tips for teaching your child to read:
- Games that also teach are always helpful. When you’re having fun, learning doesn’t feel like a chore. We used Alphabet Bingo for letter recognition practice and sound practice.
- It may seem counterintuitive, but focusing on the SOUND a letter makes, as opposed to what its name is, can actually be more effective for teaching your child to read.
- When you’re reading to your child, pick a word that shows up frequently in the book and say “Let’s sound this word out together. Then we can read the book together. Every time this word shows up, YOU read it. I’ll read everything else.”
- Make a habit of following the words with your finger as you read. Your child will start picking up sounds and words the more you do this – without them realizing it.
- Don’t try to teach the alphabet in order. Teach in terms of sounds that are easy to grasp. For example CAT. Once they know this as a sight word, say “What happens if we put an M at the beginning of the word instead?” Continue changing one letter at a time.
- For your own reference, I recommend reading through the parent/teacher portion at the beginning of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons even if you don’t use the book itself for teaching your child. The philosophy behind the method is fantastic, but I found the book itself tedious to use.
- For your child, I highly recommend Fun Tales. These stories are delightful for beginning readers, and since the series starts with only one to two words per page, they are very manageable. We liked these stories far better than the popular BOB books and the I Can Read Series.
For tips to teach basic math facts, click here.