Teaching Dorian to Read
Posted on February 1, 2010 - Filed Under Homeschool, Kids | 7 Comments
If I were a real homeschool blogger, I would take amazing shots of my kids doing their school stuff, but I’m not and I haven’t. 
However, I decided not to let that stop me from letting folks know what we’re up to on the homeschool front.
You may recall that we “started” school last year. Well, it didn’t really work. Dorian wasn’t that interested, I didn’t plan well enough and it all just fizzled out. This year, however, he was four and it was decided that school MUST be started in earnest. I know, that’s early for many people, but here kids start at 3 and Dorian has been mad at me for a couple of months for not teaching him how to read.
When I was learning to read, we used the ACE curriculum which must have been good because I was reading the Chronicles of Narnia within the year. However, I decided to go in a totally different direction with Dorian. A while back, I bought Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
In the book, children are introduced to specific letter sounds and taught to blend them. It’s a really neat system, actually, and provides rapid gratification for the impatient kid, because you are literally reading by Week Two. Dorian LOVES it. But we had to modify some things. You are supposed to read the letters and words in the book, but since I have a very distractable child, I used sticky notes and copied the letters and the phonetic markings onto them. We line up the sticky notes each morning and he sounds out all the letters that we have previously worked on. Then I have him practice sounding out words with me and making rhymes.
At this point, Dorian is reading simple words like “Sam”, “as”, “mat”, “sat”, etc. We’ve only used the sticky notes and the book at this point, but he can point out the letters and sound them out in any of his books. We are currently on Lesson 10, so I think that’s pretty good. By the end of the book, in 100 lessons, he will be reading some pretty serious chunks of text, which he’s really excited about! To tell you the truth, so am I! I love reading and can’t wait to share this with my sons. I’ve been stocking up on books in case he ends up like me, zipping through 5 books a day by the age of 7.
Just a note, though. While I love that Dorian is learning to read, HE was the main catalyst for this. I would have stuck to the alphabet and such for this year if he hadn’t been so adamant that I teach him to read RIGHT THIS SECOND! And judging by the results, I’d say he was definitely ready. But, I won’t be doing this with Dante unless he’s ready at 4 . . . which at this point seems unlikely. I suspect he won’t start until considerably later, and that’s fine too.
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7 Responses to “Teaching Dorian to Read”
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Kids have their own agendas for reading. Brian was DRIVEN to read and was memorizing/reading by age 2. No fudging on books with that child. You had to read every word, and properly! Honor was more distracted and not interested. She wanted the knowledge, but without having to work for it! (She’s such a cat). She is difficult to correct as well – she assumes she knows everything and won’t ask! She’s reading now though (and has been for awhile, since ?4?). She had the vocab, she just had to match it to the letters. Oddly enough, she was/is the one driven to write! Notes and stories and lists and labels… Now, she wants her own blog.
hey! I didn’t mean to hit submit! Darn cursor in the wrong spot! Anyhow… I meant to say, I like your attitude about going along with the boy’s personalities and reading readiness. You force it, and they’ll hate it. Honor’s starting later than her brother had had no effect whatsoever. Different kids have different needs – and being able to allow for that, that’s definitely a plus for homeschooling!!!
I would totally read a blog written by Honor! I agree, this is a huge benefit of homeschooling, being able to work the boys’ individual personalities.
All those short A words reminded me so much of Dr. Seuss books. Maybe your mom can send you some, because, IF and that´s a big IF, you can find them in Guate City, they´re very expensive. I remember pestering my aunt, who lived with us and was a teacher, to teach me to read at 4. She did it gladly, so that we´d stop asking her to read comics for us. It definitely is something that should depend on the child being ready and wanting to learn to read.
Good for you and congratulations to Dorian!
I am sure that if he is ready to learn, then learn he will…
BUT, are you teaching him to be bilingual (sp) straight away, or are you going for English as a first language and then… Spanish(?) as a second??
Good luck with it all
I have been reading through an RSS feed into my email, sorry for not being ‘around’ so often, but I have!!
I’m teaching him to read in English, we’ll transition to Spanish later, once he’s fluent in English reading. The alphabet is mostly the same, so it shouldn’t be a big switch for him. What I understand from most bilingual schools is that they start in one language and then introduce the native language in the second or third grade.
He speaks both languages equally at this point, which I think is pretty impressive considering I’m the only one speaking to him in English! Well, and Dante.
The boys do have bilingual friends, they all switch between the two languages when they’re together, it’s very cute to hear.
I have TONS of Dr. Seuss books, Cristina! My family knows how much I love them, so there has been one or two in nearly every package that comes down.
My sister also brought some down when she came three years ago and even my grandmother sends books down. She actually sent me some preschool and first grade workbooks in English, as well, which we are working on now. They actually sell them at Hamlin and White here in Antigua, as well, both in English and in Spanish (some are bilingual!), but you’re right, they are very expensive.