Teaching your child to read can be one of the most challenging things you encounter. We all expect our children to start reading by a certain age and time. The fact of the matter is that not all children are ready to read to at the same time. Some might be ready to read as early as kindergarten, while other children might not be truly ready until after 1st grade!
It is our job as our children’s educators to take note of when our children are ready to read. If you are pushing your children to read and you notice that they have zero interest in it and they are not progressing at a normal rate, then maybe it is time to back off for a little while and try again later. There is no right or wrong and when it comes to educating your children it is definitely not a race! So be patient with your child (and yourself).
Check out my top 10 homeschooling tips and tricks here!
Here are some really great online reading resources that I have found that have helped encourage my little one to read. He literally had no idea he was learning to read!
*Teach Your Monster To Read: This is a really fun (and FREE) phonics/reading game for your children. You child will customize and create their very own monster. Then they will “teach” the monster how to read. The games starts off with basic phonics and builds up to more complex reading skills. I really enjoyed this one because the increase in skill level is gradual enough so that it does not overwhelm young children. My kiddo picked this one the most when given a choice!
*ABC Mouse: This is a great way to start your little ones on the path to literacy! We really enjoyed this program! I loved the learning path that is laid out for your child to follow. This program was something that my 4 year old could do all own his own without much direction from me. This program also has some biology mixed in as well. My kiddo really enjoyed the ticket reward system!
*Reading Eggs: This was another one of my favorites. Kiddo could pretty much do these lessons on his own. This was a step up from ABC mouse. We started this when he was almost 5 years old along with Math Seeds. The graphics and cartoon characters on this site is top notch and very engaging for little ones. When I first signed up I bought all the books and workbooks to go along with the program. I’d suggest that you save your money and skip this. The online program is enough on it’s own. I found that adding in additional workbooks and reading books was WAY to overwhelming and made it feel more like work.
I hope this gives you a few ideas to help you encourage your child to read. Don’t push them to hard or they might become reluctant readers later on. Just be patient and have fun!
