If you homeschooled DC since pre-k/K...

[Sweetpea972]

just curious how you taught them to read? Sorry if this seems like a dumb question but if it were up to me, I don't think I'd know how to start and progress. I'm totally depending on DD's school to do that but I'd like to know more. Thanks!! If you would like to refer me to a website or book that would be great too.

[AngelaS]

I used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with my first. I don't recommend it any longer and now I use The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. We also love the Bob books. :D

[Raidra]

I used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with my first. I don't recommend it any longer and now I use The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. We also love the Bob books. :D

We used Teach Your Child to Read, too. With Colwyn, we followed it more or less exactly. With Lachlann (in the process of using it now), he knows all the letter sounds and works ahead when he feels like it.

Some kids need a reading curriculum and others will teach themselves to read, just through being read to a lot.

[mamicka]

DS1 taught himself before Prek. DS2 we've been using Hooked on Phonics because we got it for free. He loves it & is doing really well.

[m448]

He pretty much picked it up on his own since we read to him. It finally clicked for him about 6 months ago. a great read is Teach Your Child To Read Using Children's Books. Not a curriculum per se but a very natural method (i read it but didn't really do it as my oldest picked it up via being read too).

[daisymommy]

Explode the Code (first the primer series, Books A, B, and C. Then Book 1). It also has basic printing practice all throughout it too, which I like.
Followed by the Bob Books.

Once we did that, DS was reading by the end of his Kindergarten year. He loved the workbooks series, and asked to do it everyday.

Another fun curriculum that is game/hands on based is happy Phonics.
http://www.lovetolearn.net/catalog/detail/Happy%20Phonics/1

For us, Teach Your Child to Read with 100 Easy Lessons was way too structured. It drove us both nuts within a few weeks.

[Cuckoomamma]

Our first taught herself completely how to read. We read together every day and for a couple of months she did a series with dh that's like the Bob series. She'd just read it to him while he sat there, no real input from dh.

Our second I was a bit more structured because I was doing "school" with the older and she wanted her time, too. So, I did a workbook that I picked up at Costco with the starting sounds of letters. Every so often we'd do a Bob book. Mostly just let her be and did other fun stuff where she wants to read, like playing games.

I think that it really comes naturally to most kids if you read to them, interact with them and wait for them to be ready. I don't think most kids are ready in pre-school and really don't agree with the "memorize all sight words" philosophy of our public K. So many of those poor kids are overwhelmed and don't think school is fun. I have a dn who hates to read and doesn't read very well in 3rd grade. I really think the school killed any love to read in her.

[brittone2]

DS1 pretty much taught himself. We did a lot of play and games with sounding out words, some explode the code (if he wanted to), etc. He was reading pretty fluently quite early so there wasn't a need for a lot of direct instruction.

DD is newly 4 and starting to sound out consonant vowel consonant words on her own. She enjoys playing with Boggle Jr. on her own (she uses the cards and then uses alphabet dice to spell the words on her own). She initiates this a few times a week. We also play a game where we take little pieces of playmobil items (hat, cat, dog, etc) and some index cards with the initial letter sounds on them (h, c, d) and she matches them up. Then we move toward matching up the word with the item. We treat it like a game and she enjoys things like this.

Both kids have liked Bob books but they aren't exactly the most earth shattering. They liked them at the stage where they were just starting to sound things out and it was a confidence builder for them I think. When I read to DD I will pause here and there and ask if she wants to try sounding a certain word out (c-v-c type word) in our other reading (since most of what we read is varied and not Bob Book like ;) )

She's doing some Explode the Code as well but we use it loosely and keep it fun.

[JTsMom]

We've always done a lot of reading with Jason, and I think that has had a big effect on his reading ability. Aside from that, he's picked up on a lot without much help from us. I've made our home a "print rich environment", meaning there are lots of things for him to read everywhere, we play with magnetic letters, Fridge Phonics, and the Word Whammer. For more direct instruction, we use The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading and Explode the Code. We also use Bob Books, and various easy readers that I pick up.

He is 5.5 now, and a special needs kid, but doing very well with reading. I would guess he's probably about a year ahead of grade level at the moment.

[Sweetpea972]

Thank you all for sharing!! I'm going to look into the books and sites you mentioned.

[MommyAllison]

DD has been asking to learn for a year, so we tried Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons this fall, but DD hated it. We took a month off, then tried Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading and it has been much better. DD is starting to sound words out now, and was given some BOB books for Christmas that she just started using. She loves being able to read a whole book by herself, though as PP mentioned, they aren't earth shattering. ;)