IF- Teaching Reading

Teaching Reading (2-5 years of age, depending on your child)

I'm a big advocate for early reading. My mom taught my sister and I to read before entering kindergarten, and it didn't hinder us at all. We might have been a little bored while Johnny was learning to read "See Spot Run," and we were onto The Boxcar Children, but beyond that, we were perfectly normal, if not gifted and talented.

So, once your child has shown interest in reading and books, and you have done some of the "prep work" from Pre Reading, moving on to reading should be a breeze (haha, well, at least not terribly difficult.)

I recommend Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, by Engelmann, which is a scripted book that will have your child reading at a second grade level in 100 lessons! That is just incredible! 100 lessons/days later, and your child will be able to read and decode phonetically what alot of children can't do in the fourth grade!


You need about 20 minutes per lesson, the entire lesson is scripted so you do not have to prepare before hand, and you do not need any other materials! (wonderful when compared with most other programs that want you to virtually start a homeschool just to teach reading!)

Remember, the small motor skills that are necessary for writing usually develop much later than their necessary skills for learning to read. Please do not hold your child back from learning to read because they can not hold a pencil or cut straight. That will come with time.

On the other hand, once you have started your child on reading, don't forget to work with your child on their small motor skills. Coloring, cutting, lacing beads on a string, placing small objects (beans, rice,) into a cup or bowl with a spoon, will help these skills develop naturally.

Or, if you are like me, check out some great new materials, by Mead, which includes "Color Bound," a coloring book with raised lines so that your child knows when to "stay between the lines." (so cool!) They also have a litany of products for Early Writing skills!

There are other great reading systems out there, but remember to look for one that teaches your child phonics, and not just sight words. You child should be able to recognize a list of Sight words (google Dolche or Frye list,) but this comes secondary to learning how to decode.

Also, remember those leveled readers? Stock up on them! They are awesome for this reading stage because the learning child will feel like they have conquered a mountain, and most of these books introduce new vocabulary throughout. Better than a long story book that feels like you will never complete it!

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IF- Teaching Reading

IF- Pre Reading

I'm going through some education ideas (mostly for myself to remember years down the road,) and have broken it down into sections/milestones. Check out the Infancy to Early Toddler Years

Pre Reading

Please, do me and all of your grown up friends a favor....Toss out the battery operated toys. They are not necessary. 1-2 per kid. Tops. I'm dead serious. Nothing is more annoying and brain stunting than a red monster doing the hokey pokey.

Instead.....check out toys that make "classic," toys, aka toys that help your child and are non annoying. I love Melissa and Doug toys, especially for this 2-4 year age. They are so sturdy and will last for years!

Also, Target carries the Parenting line of toys or a new favorite website ChildTrek (for all of you "go organic," moms.)

When you are looking for books for this age group, I am a big fan of Leveled Readers due to their short length (usually 20-30 pages,) and fun illustrations. They usually run 3-4 dollars a piece (cheap, cheap, CHEAP!) and can be found at almost any store, bookstore, or not. At a bookstore, however, they can usually be found on a spinning rack, and come in character books (think, Fancy Nancy, Spongebob, etc,) or plain stories. They also come in nonfiction ones, which is amazing.

One of the biggest prereading things to remember, is that it's not just reading skills they should be developing. Don't forget about the math! I, personally, loathe math, so if it happens to fall off the back of the truck of responsibilities, I won't feel bad at all. Unfortunately, my husband stinks at math also, so our child is in trouble already.


One of my favorite items to use are Math Counters. You can find them at any educational store, but some of my favorite come from Lakeshore Learning (here.)

When you are shopping for them, look for a set in plane old primary colors, with the details of the objects not painted different colors (it will be too confusing, trust me.) It is also best if you can have big and small of the same objects, (ie Big dog, little dog,) but make sure that the one objects comes in a variety of color (red dog, blue dog, green dog.)

So, once you have these (about 15-25 per can, but it's worth it,) start by having your child sort all of the items by color. . This is also a great way to work on small motor skills. Once they are done sorting by color, have them sort by shape, size (big/little,) put them into pairs, groups of four, or have them make a pattern with them. You can also pick up a pair of child tweezers (like for a science experiment,) or use a spoon, and have them use this instead of just their hands. Seriously, these things each almost everything they need to know before entering kindergarten (except shapes perhaps, since "dog," isn't really a standard figure.)

Puzzles, too, should be focused on and around at this prereading skills (because isn't learning to read just decoding a big puzzle? It's methodical, but it is a puzzle.)

Remember, this whole phase is all about the play time! Keep everything in a game like fashion, and you will be almost certain to keep their attention. Read, play, work, with an intention of sneaking in little snippets of lessons here and there.

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IF- Pre Reading

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(warning, this post is incredibly long, but has been 3 weeks in the making. Please proceed with caution. And patience. And a sense of humor.)

**Edit** I have taken the post and split it into 4 parts/posts.

I've been thinking lately about the big IF's. What would I do if.... How would I prepare If.....?

And we all know that I don't have a child.

(no duh, right? I wouldn't have the time to write this incredibly long post if I did!)

But I do have a lot of opinions on educational materials and experiences and I believe they are well researched and have credentials.

AND, I do have over 8 years of education experience and over 10 years of early childhood experience. I worked as a preschool teacher in high school, planning lessons, learning as I went, and got my certification in 11th grade.

On top of all that, I was nannying for a (then) first and fourth grader, which included about 1-2 hours of tutoring 4 days a week. I continued that for the next 7 years! They are so grown up now, (Starting 9th and 12th this Fall,) but I loved the experience of working with them for so long!

On top of THAT (everything kind of overlapped,) I was getting my Elementary Education degree, babysitting like a storm, then graduated and "taught" 3rd grade for a little bit. Now, I am tutoring a 1st, 4th, and 6th grader, and it has gotten my "teacher" mind wheels turning, about what I would do, and why. I have been researching, reading, and discussing, to find out what works, what works best, and why it all works.

So, not having a child (yet,) hasn't stopped me from digging deep and figuring out some basic ideas. I thought I would write them down here to remember for years down the road.

Or, you know, just to laugh at when I have three kids and don't have a minute of time for any of this.

But if we are playing the hypothetical game, indulge me.

So, IF we had a child, here are my opinions on educational ideas and materials that would be MUST Haves (for us anyways.)

In Infancy to Early Toddler Years

I am in no way saying that your child needs to be a genius by the age of 14 months (though wouldn't that be cool?!) but I do think that being active in your child's brain development is essential. While teaching we would get to see some pretty interesting surveys and studies that were done that looked into the connection with academic success and parental involvement. In case you didn't know....it has a very high correlation.

Ian and I have talked about things that we expect to do with our (future) children and it includes the following (pretty common sense) list:

-Music, music, MUSIC! And not just classical or lullabies either (though I might just be the biggest classical music fan out there. That and big band music. Mrs. Angela once called me an old soul...I think she's right.) There is this sweet Led Zeppelin lullaby collection by "Rockabye Baby!" that we will definitely be utilizing. (the music is a little kerplunky and xylaphoney, but it does it's job.) Have different types of music for different times of the day. We might have a set of cd's by our cd player ready to go for a day, or have a playlist designed to go for different times of the day. I've already been accumulating my set for years now, and one day I'll share with you what we love for kids.

-Books! Read as much as possible. Not only does it exposure your child to a myriad of vocabularies, (please don't only read baby books.....that does not help,) but it teaches your child that there are certain times we sit quietly, even while we want to do other things. Make sure you point to the words as you go, use good pacing, and use intonation, all of which are reading skills we develop. And have babyproof books that can be played with ie: Board books and Tub books.

-Songs- And no, this isn't the same as "Music." I mean the little songs you sing to your child throughout the day. You know.... ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, He's Got the Whole World In His Hands, The French National Anthem....

what?!

You don't sing the French National Anthem to your child? How strange.

I did.

To a child I rocked asleep 3 nights a week for her first two years of life.

Then she started singing it. Her parents thought she was a French speaking prodigy until I cleared the situation up.

Too bad the anthem is so brutally grotesque. What? You've never read the French National Anthem? Oh sheez. Okay, read HERE. Enjoy.

What? So sue me. I didn't think she'd pick up on it! It's not like I acted it out or anything. She was sleeping.

Ehem. Anyways. My point is that songs are really great for teaching before your child seems able to learn. So crack out those old "Schoolhouse Rocks" songs and get ready for a two year investment of very annoying songs.

-Toys (you'll hear my rant on battery run toys later.) For now, stick to simple "baby toys." And I mean SIMPLE people! Stacking, sorting, nesting, or music making toys, are all in the route to go with. Brands like Lamaze or websites like FatBrainToys or GrowingTreeToys all have the "classic," type of toys we should be looking for.

See? I told you this as much for me, as for you! I now have a list of toys, companies, and ideas that I can refer to one day down the road. I'm very excited about the rest of the posts in this series. Any other suggestions for this age group?

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