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:

• Glenn Doman, whole word cards: brief summary & jump start teaching to read and FAQ, or if you are looking for some materials, proceed to the PowerPoint presentations: Word/Phrases/Sentences cards, or Books, or even Encyclopedic Knowledge Books.
• Phonics
• Combination of Doman and Phonics methods
• Methods applicable to teaching to read in Russian
• Teach Your Child with Multimedia: educational dvds, toys, websites, etc

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

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A while ago I shared one of the ways we found to spice up our learning to read: Word Treasure Hunts really spiced it up, and brought some magic into our lives. You can read more about setting it up in this article: Word Treasure Hunts. Recently we were ready to elaborate it, get it to a new level…

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Thanks to Kristina from TeachYourBabyToRead group for sharing this fabulous resource: incredible collection word cards and, the most amazing – the schedule on when/how to use it, what to retire, what to add, etc. Enjoy!!!!

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On a TeachYourBabyToRead yahoo group, another terrific discussion of great books for the kids up to two years old. We LOVE reading, so couldn’t skip this opportunity to insert our five cents.  Please jump on a wagon and add your favorites!

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Some of the best resources available at ChildAndMe come from an amazing parent, A.P.P., the man who not only was very kind to share all kinds of presentations, word cards, teaching ideas, book lists, but also wrote extensive essays on how to use it.  Through combination of various methods (both Doman’s and phonics), A.P.P. was able to teach his son to read at the very young age – at two and a half his son Henry could read about a 1000 words!  At the age of three-four his son Henry was reading Declaration of Independence: both, the fact of the boy’s age, and the interest his father was able to evoke in such sophisticated text, are equally impressive.  Materials created by A.P.P. are always well organized, well illustrated, straight to the point… and lots of fun!  They helped my kids learn about a whole variety of subjects that I haven’t even thought of.    And now comes the most exciting part: A.P.P. decided to reveal his secret identity and to dedicate most of his time to creating more exciting (and FREE!) educational materials for kids!  A truly fabulous gift for all the parents dedicated to their children’s development! So, drum-roll….

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Toddlers are always on the move. Yet, both of my own little ones LOVED books at that age. Though, reading stories wasn’t on their agenda…  eating them (literary) seemed a lot more enticing.   While we didn’t end up eating any books (phew!), reading them together didn’t immediately happen as I was dreaming…

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“How did you begin teaching your kids to read? How long it took? How did you add languages? This is so confusing!”

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This is a wonderful website with free phonics books. Registration is required, but it is free. I skimmed through it – pictures look funny, words – useful. So, if phonics is your teaching to read method of choice or you just want to do both – check it out: Progressive Phonics.

I started showing word cards to my older son when he was about 6 months. He wasn’t really interested. So, I came up with a thousands of ways to get his attention: we were vacuum cleaning the words, wiping it, jumping over them, doing forward rolls, watching them in the car, hanging in the hallway (see more at Alternative Ways of Showing Cards to An Active Child)… With my first one I was freaking out all the time: “Is it working?”, “Is he learning?”, “Why he is just looking at the pictures in the books and not reading it?!”.

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