How to Teach your Child to Read doesn't have to be a Homeschool Struggle

It is so true, isn’t it? Teaching your kids to read can be the hardest struggle in homeschooling! Well, at least in most cases. The #1 struggle for homeschooling parents is how to entertain the younger kids while they are homeschooling the older kids.

But the #2 struggle, hands-down, is how to teach your child to read. I can say I agree with you. Many parents keep their kids at home, then send them to school for a year so they can learn to read and then take them back once they know to read.

Yes, the struggle is real! Let me share with you our experience.

It Can be Easy

My son could read before he could walk. I am not kidding you! I have videos to prove it. He would crawl to flashcards with words and choose the correct one every time I’d give him a word. He was a natural. At age 6, I checked his reading level and he was past 6th grade. He is 8 now and I have no idea what his reading level is, but it is very high.

I had to do nothing to teach him to read, except expose him to a reading program when he was little that had videos and mainly flashcards and books. I used this Baby program with both my kids. Both loved it, but my oldest really took to it and it was amazing how much he was grasping. It is a great program and I really do think it helps a lot. This one was crucial for the baby stage as well.

Here is another program I started with them after they were done with the baby program. It is a wonderful toddler set! I got the 10-DVD set and the workbooks to go along. The kids LOVED them and had no idea they were learning! They have (still, at 6 and 8 years old) a 30-minutes a day TV time (sometimes it’s every other day) and these were the videos they’d watch.

They’re actually less than 30 minutes long. But they grasped so much, especially once they got to the blends, digraphs, sight words. This one was also fun for the toddler stage. And this one for the preschool stage.

Now that they are older, we are using this for foreign languages. We use the entire set for Latin, Hebrew and Greek.

Hope this helps! It’s been a great progression for our family. I hope it helps yours, too.

He has a love for reading and begs me to take him to the library every week. He can read the same books over and over and get more and more from them every time. My work is done. I am the parent of the year.

or maybe…

Take the Scenic Route

My daughter’s story was very different. Since the system we used worked, I tried it with her, too. It didn’t quite go the same way. She sometimes showed interest in the written word, but she is more artistic, so she would enjoy the pictures and illustrations in books, rather than the words.

I then knew that we would take the scenic reading route with her. I took the pressure off of me, even though people would ask me if she was a little reading genius like her brother.

I do not compare. I refuse to compare. It only puts you in a place of anxiety and stress.

Every child learns differently and at a different pace.

This is such an important concept to grasp, understand, internalize and embrace!

We enjoyed our journey through learning to read. Even though I did have check-up points along the way to track our progress, it took years and a bit more work than with my oldest. You know what? That is ok. I liked being a part of both journeys because it made me realize how to love and teach my children in the way that they need to be loved and taught.

Having said that, I want to share with you some of the resources that we have used with my daughter, in case you are also taking the scenic route and want to be on-point while enjoying the journey.

Take a look at these blog posts that can give you some fun ideas and inspire you to take the reading bull by the horns and add a pretty flower wreath to it, in a manner of speaking.

Teach your Child to Read

You CAN teach your child to read and you CAN enjoy doing it!

Our favorite: Teach your Child to Read in 20 Easy Lessons

Essential Skills for Reading Success

Classic Reading Books for Kids

Teach Phonics & Reading to your Kindergartner with Success

Beginning Phonics, Reading and Printing Lessons

Go to this blog post also to get your free printable reading log for your child to be proud of keeping track of any books read. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a goal to read a certain number of books and then maybe reward your child with his or her favorite book? 😀

The Ultimate Book List (by Age) that Your Children Need {Free Printable Reading Log}

Or enter your email below to get our free reading log printable.