Homeschooling

My daughter is really, really into learning to read. She's just chomping on the bit to read. The other day, when I was driving, she pipes up from the backseat: "Mama! Look at all these signs! I want to read them! I can't read any of them right now!"  Everything I've read says *not* to push kids into reading, but at 4 1/2, she wants to. So, we've been doing some stuff --- I figure it's worse to stunt her desire than to hold her back, right? Well, here's my question:

What are some good kids' books for beginners? She loves the Dick and Jane books; she's 3/4s into her copy and excited about finishing it on her own. Are there any books like that around? I try and sell her on the books for learning-to-read, but she won't believe that those thin glossy books are Real Books. LOL

Book recommendations?

 
  
 
 

I have found several early reader books like the Dick and Jane books at a thrift store. Actually, I've found reading books of all ages there.

I assume you mean the early reader books that say level 1, level 2, etc. are the ones she doesn't consider real books. They are small paperback books. It may help to show her that the Dick and Jane book is just a lot of short stories put into a single volume.  Stack a few of the early readers up and show her that they would make a nice big book if they were bound together. She seems bright. My youngest couldn't be convinced that Bob Books were real books, so she isn't the only one to think about small books as nonbooks.

You may also be able to find a collection of early reader stories in a single volume at your local library. Book stores carry books of that sort, too.

I am one who believes that kids will let you know when they are ready to read. Some become interested earlier than others, so imho, it is fine to teach them to read early. It's the pushing thing that is a real issue. Here's how I think of it- if the child is pulling me along, how can I be pushing? I'm just being supportive of their need to learn. *smile*

 

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Hi, Maria! Definitely follow her lead! She's ready! Everyone has one's own process, but here are the steps I took w/ my DD.

1. Reading to her. I would choose a simple word (like "he") for her to memorize and read each time it came up in the text.

2. Phonics. Letter of the Week ( http://www.letteroftheweek.com/ ) I started with the letter curricula, starting with A ( http://www.letteroftheweek.com/letterA.html ). Did some of the steps, but mostly just reviewed the phonetic sound and printed pictures from the Internet of things mentioned in the curricula (usually from the science section). So this is where my DD really started grasping phonics. We didn't even get through the alphabet, and she just grasped the rest by asking questions. Then we were off to step two.

3. Starfall.com helped her independently (with the computer's help) work on her phonics and reading.

4. A friend gave us the ABeka readers. Simple books with simple words (paper format). Before we knew it, she was reading the simple words and beginning to tackle bigger ones.

5. We just found these free downloadable readers: http://www.readinga-z.com/newfiles/tour/tour7.php . Haven't tried them much yet, but DD is excited about them. (Paper format--print on your own.)

I know this isn't exactly what you were looking for, but I hope you can use some of the info! You're in for a fun ride!

Emily

Take her to the library and let her pick. Our children's section has the early readers (from just barely starting to small chapter-style books where the chapter are 2 or 3 pages and the book has maybe 3 or 6 chapters total) tagged with different color labels - white, green, yellow, red moving up in skill level. Once DS was reading at least somewhat independently, he'd pick something that was an appropriate color and worked his way up to the next color. That way, they weren't all the slick looking paperback readers - some were even hard covers.

Something we did when DS was starting to read was to buddy read. I'd do a quick glance at whatever he wanted to read and pick a word that got repeated a bunch (like dog or stop). That was his word. I'd read along until I got to that and he'd read his word then I'd continue. We'd stop if he wanted to know a particular word and then move on. Then we added words so he'd do 2 or 3 per book. Then we'd alternate words, then sentences, then paragraphs and chapters. All the while, how much or how little we did at any given time was up to him - sometimes he just wanted to be read to. Other times he wanted to read aloud to me. And eventually he decided he wanted to read silently to himself. He is 6 1/2 now and reads quite well (and notice there was never any curriculum or lesson plan involved - he did read lots of signs though - stop, exit, etc).

Our library has a group of book called Rookier Readers. On the back cover they have the level..A B C...Start with you reading the c and have her try the A

Rookie Reader is from Children's Press a division of Scholastic Inc