Teaching your child to read may seem like a daunting task but it can be one of the most natural parts of your homeschooling journey. As a former classroom teacher I am qualified to give instruction to any child. As a third grade teacher I’d encountered non-readers and had successfully helped them build reading skills. But when the time came to teach my own child, even with the skills and experience of an educator, I had some concerns. It’s natural to have concerns or doubts with such an important endeavor but with the right expectations and resources, it’ll be another fulfilling experience.

My training and experience taught me that children learn to read at different paces. Some children learn to read quickly and others will learn more slowly. It’s important to be flexible with your expectations while you figure out what works best for you and your child. Your child will learn to read so don’t add unnecessary pressure to you or your child.

I followed a patient approach with my child. We started with basic letter recognition and letter sounds. We spent a lot of time with phonics and used a lot of child-friendly videos on youtube. We used the videos repeatedly until he became familiar with the letter sounds. The familiarity with letter sounds enabled him to begin reading by sounding out the letters in a word. While he learned phonics we also worked on sight words. Sight words are high frequency words that kids will come across as they begin to explore reading. We labeled our entire house with as many sight words as possible (i.e. chair, table, door). We took the labels down once he learned them and became confident in his knowledge of the sight words. Building your child’s confidence is key to helping them learn to read.

A key tool in teaching your child to read is to expose your child to many types of reading and different kinds of reading experiences. We do lots of reading aloud. We do shared reading, which means I read then he reads. We read books, magazines, booklets, and comics. We use books of appropriate reading level. We read during the day, before bed, under our oak tree or silently together. We take any opportunity to read. We use our own books, library books, and ebooks. Incorporate reading into your daily routines and teaching your child to read will naturally become part of your family life.