Teaching Reading- How, When?

He will begin to learn in kindergarten, and by the end of first grade you will be amazed!
Why don't you want a teacher to teach him? They are professionals, that's their job. I'm confused (?)
Just keep reading out loud to him, that's just as important as independent reading, there is no reason he NEEDS to learn how to read now.

I never "taught" my daughter to read. I just read to her, and tracked the text with my finger. She made the letter-sound connections on her own, amnd was reading independently at three.

My son loved a game we used to play in the bathtub with those foam letters that stick to the tub. I'd hold up a letter and when he'd name it I'd zing it into the tub or bonk it off his head - anything to get him laughing. He thought it was great and was jazzed to name the letter correctly because he never knew which way it would fly next. Sometimes we'd play with Pez candies or Smarties, which he'd get after naming a few correctly ( I know sugar is bad, but hey, we always brushed teeth right after bath time). From there we progressed to giving the sound the letter made, then it was on to building two and three-letter words, all using the foam letters on the side of the bathtub. He calls it the candy game and we've had to continue it even though he's now in first grade. I found it's a great way to practice spelling words and his timed match questions - for some reason being in the bathtub takes the pressure off. Good luck, and don't worry. When he gets to kindergarten they'll have plenty of take home papers which you can follow and work on at home. If you're really concerned, you can probably also find some free worksheets online that you can download and print.

Dr. Suess has some really good books I read to my daughter like HOP on POP, etc. My daughter thought it was funny and it kept her attention but she was a slow reader. Her teachers encouraged me to read to her and I really didn't do more than that and now I have to pry a book out of her hands. It may be you have to look around to see what catches his eye.

Also, have him watch programs like Between the Lions, Sesame Street, or others that encourage reading.

I think that if he feels pressured to read it may be why he is not interested.

Don't feel bad!!! There is no cookie cutter mold and could be many factors.

The fact is teachers are TRAINED and have a few techniques to work with.

The secret is to read as much as possible to your child. Does she recognize McDonalds? Does she know what the "M" of the arches stands for?

Does she know what letter her name starts with?

These are the first steps to her understanding that the symbols are letters.

"Krogers starts with a K.. do you see it any where else?"
"Walgreens stars with a W.. What other store sign has a big W?"

Yes, you can get videos and all sorts of things, but until she realizes the connection in her own life, it may not sink in..

To tell you the truth, I had no idea our daughter could read. She was 4 and I decided like you to start teaching her. I purchased a set of the BOB books and she read the entire first set on our way home. I turned the car around and we exchanged them for the second set.

identifying & writing the letters comes before reading.

Instead of using the tv, set him up with a project before you start your work. With my daycare, we watch 1 show each day.....& that's it, if that. When it's time to feed the newborn, I set up a project. For the 4yo, I give her a dry erase marker to use with a wipe-clean ABC book. She practices her letters while I feed the baby....& it works perfectly! I bought her book at WalMart & it was about $7....& it will last thru the next couple of kids, too! This is not a workbook, but a spiral-bound board-like book. Awesome product!

I also have several wipe-clean workbooks for her. One of them is a "before you write" book....teaching simple lines & curves. It's a perfect starting point for pre-writing! & kids love being able to wipe down these books!

Hit online....there are many resources for teaching letters & #s. For preKG, I begin with the child's name & then branch out to other names. Kids love learning how to spell everybody's names! I do a couple of art projects to go with each letter, we do sequencing, & we easily fill our whole day. It's simple, it's non-invasive, & the kids think it's fun. & that's what learning should be.....fun, not repetitious worksheets! Hope this helps.....

My son is now 5.
He showed NO interest what so ever, in 'reading' or writing... until he entered Kindergarten.
Then it was a natural progression and he was ready.
My son went to Preschool. I also home schooled him and my daughter.

My son's Kinder Teacher says "NO WORRIES..." and also do not force it and also that "all kids are at different rates...." but that no matter what, they ALL do learn it. In Kindergarten.

Do not worry.

As I said, my son is now in Kinder. Upon entering Kinder he had no interest in writing and reading. Boys are often... later in doing these things.
Learning it, should be fun.

But now, my son, is really enjoying learning it and HAS... learned it, quite well. He is not lagging. At all.

Ok, if you have a spare computer, I suggest a website that basically taught my 3 year old to read in 1 month. It is called zoodles.com and is free for the base site. (they have pay for extras, like being able to promote a site or ban a site, but I see no reason to have the extras.). You put in your child's age and they find age appropriate online games to play and don't allow your child to click offsite (I did a test run trying and it just took me to the main game page.)

Anyway, I highly recommend it.

If you need to put him in front of the tv for a while, I suggest:

- pbs show "Between the Lions"
- DVD Leap Frog "Letter Factory"
- DVD from Preschool Prep Co called "Meet the sight words"
- pbs show Super Why

It's good if he is able to hold a pen correctly before Kinder and to be able to write his name, but ya know, it's not the end of the world if he doesn't. IMO you should spend at least one or two days a week at your local library. Get movies for free (mentioned above). Get books that he's interested in. Go during toddler story-time which should be once a week.

My son is 3.5 and loves to read. Well, he loves books. He can read his sight words (Meet the Sight Words dvd) and can tell me the sound of all the letters (Letter Factory). We go to the library twice a week. We used to watch Between the Lions every day, but now we don't have tv. It's a great show that teaches phonetics and helps promote an interest in reading. I miss the show. I would go check out the books at the library that we'd see on the show.

And don't call yourself bad or lazy. You are trying to keep food on the table and rent paid and all of that stuff. You are taking care of your child the best you can. And coming here for suggestions was a great idea. If you don't get many answers tonight, repost this question during the day and I bet you'll get more moms to answer.

added: What does he like? We can maybe suggest some library books. ie: My son loves Clifford. But any cats and dogs will do. I have some favoite cat/dog books that my son likes. He loves robots too, and it's not easy to find all the robot books out there!

No worries. Reading is truly one of those things he wont' learn BETTER by learning earlier. When I was little, my mom taught me to read before kindergarten. Which was great. EXCEPT for the fact that I was literally sitting aside from class doing other activities and bored as heck through 2nd grade because I already knew how to read. Also, kids pick it up more easily when they are older and already "know words". So rather than working on it gradually for years, the kids just do it all of a sudden. Many homeschoolers teach reading later because of this, and some country who is way ahead of us...(sweden maybe?) learns other languages verbally in preschool and kindergarten, but not actual reading until a couple of years later. So I guess what I'm saying is, don't WORRY if you can't do it early. Also, I am home with my daughter, and she's 5, and we're just starting to really work on learning to read. She's doing great-it's effortless, and I know it would have been harder for her a year ago.
But if you decide to do it now, get some super easing reading beginner books with big print (that rhyme) from the library, and start walking him through. I wouldnt' dwell on writing in conjunction with reading, writing letters seems like a different part of their brain at this age. It's good to do, but make it about writing, not reading so much. The best way to read is to look at words and read them. The "Bob Books" are also great. They have them through Scholastic book orders and Amazon.

My next door neighbor is a k teacher. She says every teacher has unique methods to teach reading. If you teach your child phonetically and the teacher doesnt, it can cause bad habits the teacher has to undo later. She reccomends lots of "lap time." Read to your kids often and trace the words with your finger. Teach them that you follow the words from left to right. Also, Work on school readiness. When mine started Kindergarten this year, they started by learning to write thier name, learning to write numerals 1-5, and counting to 30 outloud. Then counting small objects up to 6 and sight words. I, AM, We, It, As, The, I forget the rest. But these are the 1st things the kids needed to know. Next they will be doing simple addition and subtraction. I would work on those skills and get him ready for his teacher.

I wonder why this daycare charges extra for teaching children to read? I have asked a few parents to chip in on a program that I use. BUT, when they could not I had them piggy back on with someone else or I paid for it myself.

That aside, there are many wonderful programs online. Start with www.starfall.com

Just sit with your child and go through this site. You'll get it :) There's worksheets to print out too if you look around.

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You are already teaching him to read by reading to him and letting him see you read. Neither of my girls were ever really "taught" to read and they are both A students who LOVE to read for fun.
You do not need to pay extra for a reading preschool program. Save your money and just read to him everyday, point out words on signs and everywhere you see them. Talk about the sound letters make, play some of the games suggested here and have fun. He'll get interested when he's ready and no one would expect him to be reading before he enters Kindergarten.

You are already doing the most important things, which are reading to him and reading in front of him every day. It also sounds like he is in just fine shape for kindergarten.

I think there are LOTS of games you could with him for fun that would help:
Find pictures of rhyming words (duck, truck, muck, pig, dig, etc) and print them out. Mix up about three sets and sort them into the right category. Google "word family activities" or "word family games" http://www.enchantedlearning.com/rhymes/wordfamilies/

Read nursery rhymes and poems with him and focus on the rhyme. Sing songs, listen to songs in the car.

Play site word bingo, or site word matching/memory using the Fry word list. I made bingo cards that have six words each. My son, who is 3, gets the same card each time until he seems familiar with the words, and then I get him another card. We make the dog, the baby, or the neighbors play with us. I show the card, say the word, and then give the card if he has it. When we are done, we count the cards he has won, and I give him a jelly bean, animal cracker, raisen, or whatever for each card he has. You could do something more systematic where you pick @ 10 words a week to work on - bingo, matching, spelling them with magnet letters, finding them in books, etc.

When you read with him work on his comprehension by making connections between the story and his life, helping him make connections (you have a dog, so does this boy!) , and by having him make predictions (What will happen next?) or draw inferences (Why did you think the did that?) or having him tell a sequel to the story.

PLEASE dont make him do a bunch of worksheets and workbooks.

Two websites I really like:
http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/preschool_activities.htm
http://teachmama.com/

:)

There is a book called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It is very easy to use. I have taught several of my children to read using this book. It takes just a few minutes a day. I don't do the writing part of the lessons, just the phonics part. For your son, I would not worry about writing yet. Boys tend to write later than girls. Their fine motor skills usually take a little longer to develop than girls do.

starfall.com, bob books from the library, free at a great starts to reading-

start with letter sounds, then the easy books.

As you read him a book point to the words.

It doesn't have to be hard-just doing something for him is a great start.