How to Teach Your Child To Read

March 4, 2007 — Alenka | Posted in To Read. 6 Comments »

It seems that there are as many ways to teach a child to read, as there are children: some learn by phonics, some by whole words; some have special books, some have special letter magnets, some have syllable blocks, some have flash cards; some do it with their parents, some learn in school, some might even learn all by themselves! So, which method to chose? Which one is the best?

I think it depends on a child, I think it depends on a parent. I’ve heard opposing views for every single method. So, select the one that appeals to you and your child the most:

You can read my personal reasons for selecting a particular reading method or see comments below for other paren’ts experiences, and please share your own!

Thanks to Krista (the creator of MonkiSee DVD series) for sharing her own road to success: How did I teach my kids to read.

Thanks to Laurie (the moderator of TeachYourBabyToRead) for sharing her own approach and ideas: Teaching kids to read with written conversations

6 Responses to “How to Teach Your Child To Read”

  1. Alenka Says:
    March 7, 2009 at 5:40 pm

    Thanks to Krista for sharing her own experience with the road less traveled – teaching small kids to read: How did I teach my kids to read?.

  2. Karen Says:
    October 26, 2009 at 11:56 am

    Thank you for taking the time to have a place to share ideas about what to do: re: child rearing/education!
    Please help me if you can as I’m confuse, overwhelmed and unsure how to proceed. What is the diff. btwn Doman and memorization? Isn’t memorization similar to whole language? If so, isn’t phonics the only way to teach reading with some memorization (words that are sight words only)? And if phonics is the way to go — what specific method have people used…It is really hard for me to figure it all out and I barely have enough time to read Dolman’s books (How Smart is your Baby, How to Read).

    Should I buy the cards or make them?Do you know anyone selling the cards for cheaper (they’re so expensive through Dolman)

    I have a 7 week old and a 2 1/2 year old. All I have done with my 2 1/2 year old is inconsistent flashcards (not Dolman’s but regular ones and picture books identifying – common words). I also read a lot with her and she knows her letters and their sounds (I started rudimentary phonetics). She knows all her flash cards that we’ve bought but is not that interested anymore and I really doubt she will now go backwards and start Doman’s method. She has always looked at words with pictures; she knows the name of the things that she sees but not the words.

    I’m just feeling like I cannot get a handle on how to proceed correctly and petrified I’m losing precious time every day and already failing my children…

    Any advice/insight is greatly appreciated…!
    Thanks, Karen

  3. Alenka Says:
    November 21, 2009 at 10:07 pm

    What’s a memorization? Is it a special system, or you mean just memorizing the whole words? I really wish I could help you. Please clarify, since I have an impression that “memorization” and “whole language” are some reading systems that I am not aware of. I’d love to learn.

    Doman: a system of showing whole words to a baby, very quickly and very joyously. Baby figures out phonics by himself/herself. Babies who succeed are very advanced readers, good spellers, etc. More: Doman: Brief Summary
    Phonics: baby learns phonetical blocks of the words and later learns how to combine them. Recommended resources: Phonics, Resources

    We’ve been doing Doman whole word approach for the first few years. Around age three, I really loved the combination of phonics and whole words system that A.P.P. has developed and, in addition to Doman words/couplets/sentences I started showing these cards: Combination of Doman and Phonics. Either the Doman words finally set in, or the cards helped – my son’s reading finally took off. Now he is reading most of the words phonetically – some of the parts he figured out by himself, some I showed to him with those cards. Some of the words he just recognizes as a whole. The most important things for me are that he loves it, and his progress is quite good in both English and Russian!

    Being petrified if I am proceeding correctly -is a normal state of being for me. Also – wanting to do a lot more, then I have time. So, that makes at least two us…

    I believe, that it’s not the materials that matter, but the joyous approach and consistency. I strive for one meaningful session a day: reading, math, chemistry, biology or history… something! Then, once we accomplish it, it feels so great, that we find more chances to squeeze in more! So, may be you could let your children be the guides? Instead of investing into expensive materials, just show them different presentations or some other cards and see if they like it? Wishing you the best of luck!

  4. Karen Says:
    November 28, 2009 at 3:33 pm

    I wrote that wrong…tying toooo fast!
    What I meant to say is —Whole Language Approach versus Phonics/Phonetics…or a mixture od the both—which is the best way to go? I read some of what Proud Papa wrote and what I have sortof surmised myslef and it seems to be both is necessary to have a child who can decode and also memeorize sight words to help with their reading momentum. Here are 2 links that discuss that discuss the 2 approaches:)
    http://www.halcyon.org/wholelan.html
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_language

    Thanks for writing back to me and I hope to write more when I have another free minute!

  5. Shawn Says:
    January 20, 2010 at 2:52 pm

    I have a daughter who is 4 years old. Should I try Doman’s whole word method or go straight to phonics?

  6. Alenka Says:
    January 20, 2010 at 2:53 pm

    I am sure the whole word system can work at 4 years old just as well as for babies: unlike Doman Math this method doesn’t have an age limit. My only concern would be that at four years old kids’ learning approach is different: babies have, as Maria Montessori put it, “absorbent mind”: they absorb everything around them as sponges. Around age 5 (depending on individual development) kids reach a new stage of learning: reasoning mind. I believe that in Doman books it is indicated that for older kids you would want more challenging words, and quicker progress to the fun stuff: phrases, sentences to keep their attention. At four some things are easy: you don’t need really big red letters. I think you would still find the book beneficial – the kind and joyful approach, the system for organizing and presenting information, the scientific research behind it. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t shy away from free resources as well: A.P.P.’s cards that are organized phonetically to help grasp phonetic structure of the language easier, free presentations with words and pictures and sounds share by many parents, reading every possible word with your kid that you encounter – even street signs, words on the food boxes and toothpaste names, etc.

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