Teaching children to read is one of the most exciting and fullfilling jobs a homeschool teacher has, and maybe one of the scariest, too. It's really not as hard as it seems, though. If you've been reading to your child, and he can speak in complete sentences, he's well on his way to becoming a reader. When he starts asking what words say, or is telling you what some words or letters are, he's probably ready to start the activities on this page.
Before you teach words, make sure he knows his colors and shapes. Teach these with matching games. In fact, teach everything with matching, right at the start. It's a good, non-threatening way to learn new things. Let your younger children watch if you want-you never know when they'll be ready to learn. My youngest son learned to add by watching his sister work with me. I didn't even know he could until he was tested for speech and the therapist told me he could!
Matching Games:
Make your own color flash cards-the ones in stores don't usually work as well. Cut up file cards or cereal boxes. Every card should be identical except for the color. Color the entire card with the same shade of color. Let him practice sorting them into piles by colors. Start by showing him a red card. "This is a red card. I'll put it right here." Find all the other red cards and put them in the same pile, telling him they are red. Then start a new color. Don't worry about whether or not he's getting it. Just keep showing him. Every once in a while, you can ask him if he sees a red card, or he may offer you one. If it's the wrong color, just say, "Oh, you found a blue card. Let's start a blue pile here." Nothing's called wrong yet. We're not testing him, just showing him. The focus is on matching, not learning the names, although he eventually will learn them. When he can find the red cards, move on to the basic colors. Use the same game for shapes, which might be easier. Teach squares, circles and triangles at first, because they're simpler, and remember, when teaching rectangles, to explain how they're different from squares. It's easy to forget how confusing this is to a beginner. Remember to make everything identical except for the shape. (Cut the card into that shape. It's easier to match than the picture.) Otherwise he'll get confused about size and color. Don't work for very long at a time. Try to figure out what his interest time is, and stop just before he gets bored. If he only works for three minutes, that's fine. You have lots of time. Remember that the younger he is, the less time he will probably spend on this. You can supplement the time by discussing colors and shapes as you go through your day
Color days:
Celebrate a color. Dress the kids in that color and serve food that color. (You can add food coloring to pancakes or oatmeal.) Go for color walks and look for anything that color. Before the children wake up, try decorating the house with balloons, flowers or hearts that color. Make a craft from something that color-red hearts, green trees, etc.
Matching other things:
The Alphabet:
Teach the alphabet a few letters at a time, just the way you did the colors and shapes. Don't put anything on the cards but the letters. Teach lower case or capital letters, but not both the same day. Look for letters you know everywhere-on signs, food label, in books, etc. Just let him sort the letter cards out while you tell him the names. Try to pick letters that don't look much alike. For example, don't teach b and d together. Try a and t instead. Teach a, t, and g the way they appear in books, not in printing. Remember, matching is first, reading later. You can teach these slowly while you teach the reading games. I always let my kids get the hang of reading first, and then I start phonics.
Reading Games:
My name:
Everybody loves his own name. Make place cards for everyone in the family, and put them at the table. Label things in his room: William's dresser. William's bed... My mother labled nearly everything in our house to help us learn to read.
My Family:
Even older children will like these games. Get a photograph of everyone in the family. Make name tags for everyone. If there are people at home, play with real people. Otherwise, play with the photographs. Hold up the name sign for Daddy. Say, "This card says ‘Daddy'. Give Daddy his name card." This is active, so it's good when they are wiggly. All the kids, even your toddlers can play this. Later, when you can tell he's starting to learn the names, say, "Oh, let's see. This card says..." See if he guesses or reads it. If not help out. We don't want any failures at this level.
When he's reading the names fairly well, try giving everyone the wrong card. Let the kids try to straighten them out. This is harder than it sounds, so be ready to help.
First sentences:
You'll have to play with the names for a long time. Those first words are the hardest. When he's finding this too easy, you can try sentences. Make cards for the words "This" and "is." (Be sure the word 'this' starts with a capital letter. Let him mix them up and sort them out. (You'll need at least three of each word, if not more.) Then add in the names. Again, you're just sorting, not reading, although you will tell him what each word is. He'll read it himself when he's ready. Next, set out those photographs, and have enough "This is"cards for each person. Make cards for the periods too. It never hurts to introduce punctuation.
Set out the child's picture. Let him find his own name from the name cards and put it under the picture. Say, "Let's make sure everyone knows who this is." Add the cards for "This" and "is". Say, "These new cards make a whole sentence about you. They say, ‘This is William.'" Point to each word. Since he can match now, see if he can make a new set. Give him three more cards with the same words. Ask him if he can make the same sentence. Show him how if he doesn't understand, and give him three more cards. Help him by handing him the correct cards, and help him read every word. It doesn't matter if he can't do it. You can do it and he can help. When he can do that, add the period. Say, "Oh, I almost forgot. A real sentence needs one more thing. This is called a period and it's like a stop sign. It tells everyone your sentence is over." Remember that sentence and period are new vocabulary, so use them a lot. Have him help you find them when you look at books.
When he can make that sentence without copying it, you can add the other pictures. Later, you can add the word not. Lay out all the sentences, but put some of them under the wrong picture. Let him add 'not' to the mixed up ones. Then let him do all the work, deciding who will be mixed up. It's okay if he'd rather get them wrong on purpose. My daughter loved to "write" "This is Daddy." under Nicholas' name, just for fun. Let him read it, so you know he did it on purpose. Silly games are more fun for a lot of kids.
Later, you can add other sentences if you want. I am and I can are good starters that let you add new words. You can also add the question mark and change the sentences to "Is this Daddy?" Teach the words yes and no so you can answer them: Yes, this is Daddy." Eventually, you may be creating short little stories: "This is William. William is a boy. William is three years old. William is not silly." Who doesn't love reading and writing about themselves? No pre-schooler I know!
You can introduce the concepts of capital and lower-case letters after he is pretty comfortable with these early sentences. Make extra versions of the capitalized words with lowercase letters. Tell him new sentences always start with capital letters, to remind people the sentence is starting now. Names also start with capitals, because they're special. (This is a good enough reason for now.) Help him decide which version of the word to use in each sentence.
You can play with these flashcards until there are just too many cards to work with. By this time, you will be ready to move on to books.
If all this seems to complicated for him, let him match other things. Have him match pictures of very different items (sort out pictures of ducks from pictures of houses, or sort wash cloths from socks. Anything that teaches the concept of matching will work. You can't start reading until you can match. If you can't figure out why it seems hard, try matching and remembering Chinese symbols. It's tough until the symbols are familiar.