Good books, funny books, repetitive, rhythmic books; books they read independently and books you can read together…useful as the resources below are, the best way to teach reading is to immerse children in books they’ll want to read. If they want to read, they will!
In our homeschool, hours every day were (and still are!) spent losing themselves in the worlds created on the pages of a wildly eclectic pile of books. It was time well spent and gave them not only confidence in reading but also taught them to find pleasure in the act of reading. Now, as pre/teens, they still read daily – for school and for enjoyment.
Whether you’re homeschooling from the beginning or are switching to home education from mainstream schooling, allowing learners time to fall in love with books, to become confident, independent and read-out-loud readers will benefit all aspects of a home-ed curriculum.
We didn’t start formal timetabled ‘school’ with our children until they were 7+. Before then, they learnt to read through play. We’d read together (cementing the idea of daily reading-aloud way before ‘school started’) and they’d ‘read’ back to me books they’d memorised via repetition. As we went along, they’d learn to recognise individual words and add them into an envelope of words they COULD read, working from a different envelope of words they were LEARNING to read. They loved watching the envelope of ‘Words I Can Read’ fill up and by the time they started actual lessons, they were confident word recognisers. But recognising words isn’t in itself reading and so when we began school, I wanted a textbook to guide us. It needed to be a textbook that
- could be slotted easily into the day,
- required little (or no) prep for me,
- and was going to be effective at teaching them to read confidently.
The book needed to be simple to follow (and to teach from) and with lessons that were short but beneficial. I settled on ‘Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons‘. It differs from the phonics systems used by schools in the UK but worked well for our children.
Why use ‘Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons’?
‘Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons‘ progresses logically, simultaneously building on phonics and encouraging writing practice. I appreciated how the structure of the system visually represented to our homeschoolers the progression they were making; the pages get noticeably more difficult but because the content flows in a logical, rhythmical way, the difficulty doesn’t intimidate.
To use this system with our home learners, I had to read the book first to understand the teaching style – using a system of phonemic awareness (rhyming, blending, segmenting) – and familiarise myself with the symbols used to indicate letter-sound correspondences.
Once the system made sense, teaching from the book was simple and the only prep I needed to do was re-read the particular section we’d be focused on that day to preempt any challenges. There’s debate about whether phonics is the right way to teach reading but the system worked well for our children and was useful to refer back to when correcting pronunciation mistakes.
Dr Phyllis Haddock, who co-authored the book, hosts a video series explaining in detail how to use the book – it’s essentially a teacher-training course for this specific book and it’s really worth watching. Even if you’re not going to use the book, lots of the tips will be useful as you teach your child to read.
Downloadable on her website (under the videos) are supplementary instructional materials to use while helping your child learn to read. These materials could be used as word games to extend the lessons in the book, or as flashcard-style reference cards (for both the teacher and the child) as you get used to the structure of the book.
The alphabetical list of vocabulary covered in the book is a great resource that could be used as spelling tests and the Alphabet Practice Strip would make a great handwriting lesson resource.
All of the supplementary material and videos accompanying ‘How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons’ can be found here.
Learning to read can feel like a huge obstacle to overcome for children – especially in school. At home, learning to read can be fun and no pressure; something they choose to do because they want to.
When teaching children to read, keeping a bookshelf of easy-to-access books that contain words they already know is a simple way to encourage them to read indepdendently and encourage them to progress: Once they’ve read the books on that shelf, they can read books on the more difficult shelf. Surrounding children with books – stories – they’re eager to explore is the best way to encourage independent reading.
Tips to Encourage Reading in Littles
Read to them and next to them!
Children model behaviour. Setting the tone for your homeschool lifestyle with reading as a major focus of the day encourages them to want to read independently. Read to them, lots. Five minute gaps in routines can be filled with short stories, poetry and comic books. Ten minutes of sitting next to them reading yourself while they quietly look through books makes them feel grown up and part of the activity.
Use books as rewards
Set them easy to achieve targets and reward them with books! If books become the treat the they look forward to when they’re little, you’re connecting the psychological feeling of happiness with reading and positive feeling towards learning only brings positive things.
Comic books & count
Reading doesn’t have to mean books. Anything with words is reading and comic books/children’s magazines can feel more accessible to children learning to read.
Use screen-time as reading-time
Whilst we all try to keep screen-time to a minimum, learning to use screen-based devices is a skill. By allowing younger children to explore screen usage via reading apps like Reading Eggs or Khan Academy Kids adds an extra dimension of fun into reading lessons (and reduces the ‘my kids are on screens again’ guilt parents feel).
Additionally, e-books are a great way to connect the idea of screen-time with positive screen-usage. Many libraries offer e-book versions of children’s favourites and Oxford Owl has a library of free to access e-books for learning readers.
(Read more about e-books vs paper-books here.)
Show them their progress
Use a colour-in book tracker to visually show them how many books they have read, use the ‘Words I Can Read’ envelope system mentioned above, pile books they’ve read in a stack on the shelf and encourage them to watch it grow.
And most importantly: Relax!
One of home educations many benefits is that children can learn at their own pace. Reading doesn’t have to hit targets. Not all children are ready to read at five, some children might not read a full book until they’re teens and others might resist reading altogether until they find a subject they’re interested in and want to explore independently: That’s ok! If your child is resisting the idea of learning to read, don’t let it turn into a battle ground. Keep reading to them, encouraging word recognition as you go about your day and making books fun. Take them to library story time (if you can), ask them to choose new books to add to your bookshelves and include audiobooks in their daily routine. Academic studies show no difference in adult reading ability between children who learn to read early versus those who learn later – there’s no rush. Keep it fun and relaxed and they’ll get there in time.
N.B. if your child has a special educational need that makes reading difficult for them – don’t worry. You can still immerse them in books by reading to them, encourage ‘reading’ independently via audiobooks, guided learning apps like Reading Eggs and, for older learners, use AI apps like Trellis to help with academic reading. Ultimately, what makes reading important is the ability to access the words communicated through the text: If they can do that, that’s great.