Happy Homeschooling Mom
After recently reading The Well-Trained Mind, I immediately checked this book out from the library which was suggested for teaching your child to read. Once reviewing the book I ordered it from Amazon. I am homeschooling my 5 year old son. I am a certified teacher, but at times feel inadequate about teaching my own child. This book provides a strong, systematic phonics approach to teaching reading. A must have for anyone wanting to teach their child to read.
fantastic resource
If you love reading, you know how valuable literacy is for children. We read stories as a family with our children, ages 3 1/2 & 5. We also enjoy trips to the library and finding new books together. I've watched them grow to love books, and naturally begin to develop language & reading readiness in these early years.
I'm a public school parent, not a homeschooler, but I believed that my kids would love reading if they knew how to do it. So, I invested in this book, and have been very pleased. I wasn't sure how to teach them to read, and wanted to keep enjoying life together without a lot of pressure to teach & learn. The Ordinary Parent's Guide is a great resource for several reasons.
1) it recognizes that most parents don't think of themselves as reading/literacy teachers. It is encouraging, informative, and realistic. I appreciate all of the tips to "if ____ isn't happening, put it away for _____ months and then try again."
2) it is laid out so that you can spend 10 minutes a day without setting up a "classroom" and "homeschooling" your little ones. It uses simple poems, songs, and memory games to make the process fun for everyone. It also uses very inexpensive tools, like index cards, to help teach (no computer games or fancy book series needed).
3) The author understands the value of knowing how to read & the need for kids to love learning. Her lessons help them progress quickly, so they can have early success & build confidence.
4) The exercises work. My older child was already starting to pick up on words, phonics, and sentences in concept, and these exercises helped me give him the tools to take off. He's reading nicely, and soaks up all of the phonics rules like a sponge. My younger child didn't recognize all of the letters yet, though he could sing the A-B-C's. By a couple months in, he knows the letters, but understands the role of vowels & can sound out a few words as he sees them.
It's worth picking up as a resource, or a day-by-day guide of literacy activities at home.
Great book
This book came highly recommended, and it has lived up to all the praise. My four year old picked up on the short vowel sounds (first five lessons) very quickly, thanks to her techniques. Great teaching guide.
Homeschool material
An excellent book. It was so much fun to see my grandson's eyes light up when he realized he was reading. Be sure to read through the book. There are many helpful suggestions.
A useful supplement
This Audio CD is a useful supplement to the Ordinary Parent's Guide. You may be suprised to find you actually don't know how to pronounce many of the letters of the alphabet correctly. It is very important you teach them correctly to your children, especially if they have any speech difficulties. For example, 'D' is not pronounced 'duh'. Teach your child the wrong pronunciation and they may wind up having some difficulty sounding out words. The CD will model for you the difference between the voiced and unvoiced consonants, which will be invaluable. There are also some fun song tracks, and the complete Consonant Rhyme, which is learned in the book. You can just turn this on, and Presto! It isn't meant to listened to beginning to end, however.
