I have taught all three of my older boys to read so far, well Ryan is still leaning but he is doing fantastic. People always ask me "how?" or "what program" etc I honestly have never used "a program" Teaching Ethan was an accident. He was in public school up through 1st grade but he learned to read full in kindergarten from what we did at home. I just read with them. Did letter and sound games. I read simple reader books, and I did do site word flash cards with two of them. But I do not do that any more. I guess my method is a combination of exposer and phonics. I do not introduce a phonics "rule" though a program and then teach words in that fallow that rule. I just read books and discuss the rule as it comes up. Starting with sounds letters make and then working my way through letter blends etc. Some might think this is confusing or how a child could keep up, but I have been blown away how well they learn and my guess is because they are learning though reading works in contacts of stories and book instead of just "memorizing rules" and then trying to use those rules to read. I hated reading as a child, and hated the rules, they did not make sense to me, and there were always words that did not fallow them, so I do not stress my kids learning them, but I dooo teach them, just though reading as they come up.
I did buy this program Delightful Reading through Simply Charlotte mason, and I enjoy it. I used it with Aaron some but he took off and did not finish it. I am using it more with Ryan, but I adapt it to make it work for us, but I really like it so far. We build a work, sound out the work and write it in his book. Here he is learning about Magic "E" words. (see I do teach the rules) and we build worlds with this rule, and then we will read books later and try to find words that fallow this rule. I guess you could say I do "use this program" but I do not fallow it to exact but I do use it. I also have the books a Parents guide to teaching reading, but I do not do that until after my kids are already reading fully on there own. I do go back and teach them the rules so they can be better able to figure out new words on there own. But I do it later when they are fully reading (age 6-7ish) so they are not feeling frustrated, but almost like tools to decoding - I hope that make sense.
I have a bunch of work books and games, file folder games, work wheels etc. I think I have posted links some where here. I also use the Now I'm reading books. They like those, along with lots of other fun reading books that I read with them. I take turns reading they read a word or two then I read, then as they learn more, they read more. I will also have them repeat me sometimes too, a good skill.
I am kinds of all over the place and go with the flow depending on the child. But it seems to work. I think the KEY is making it fun, going at their own pace and eliminating stress and pressure. I know after my fist two kids read so fast, for a while Ryan was really resistant, and I though - man this kid will never learn to read. But I just changed things up, prayed for him, and stepped back and did not pressure him and how he loves reading lessons. He also took a big jump into it when he turned 6 and really has a desire to want to read like his brothers. That really helped him wanting to do it because he sees he benefits not just because I am saying he needs to learn. Love the self motivation!
Word wheel activity, and also a dot paint activity, I wrote some words (just letters for Dallin) and said them, and they put a dot on them when they found them. Just review words out of sentence context is a good skill too.
Love my sweet fast growing boys!
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