Kumon for early reading?
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Anonymous
OP, you can find 5-15 minutes while baby is napping to go over letter sounds, or, if she's 100% solid on all the letter sounds, then start on early phonics: C + A + T, etc. There are early reading books that she can start out on, and if she's ready, the she's ready. If she's not, then wait a few months and try again later. |
Anonymous
| Why push a preschooler into early reading? |
Anonymous
If you had read the thread, you would know that OP is not pushing. |
Anonymous
Thanks. She learned all the letter sounds a long time ago, from leapfrog videos which she was obsessed with for a while. So I looked into Kumon and that doesn't seem like a good fit for her, and I also looked into the Teach your child to read book, but I think that's a bit too complicated for us. I decided to just get a couple BOB books and a set of sight word flash cards see how she does with those. And to the other poster - my daughter has been telling me for months she wants to learn to read. I am not pushing her. In fact I've been dragging my feet on it. |
Anonymous
I agree - we actually ordered it and were disappointed. I think your approach sounds good. |
Anonymous
OP, I am a PP who recommended the Teach Your Child To Read book, and I think that your approach sounds good. She is clearly highly motivated to learn to read. She just needs a bit of help getting there. |
Anonymous
You are looking at this as if you learn verbal/language/composition and then you move on to reading. That somehow because she's "ahead" of her peers, which I don't doubt is true from the anecdotes you provide above, she no longer needs to focus on preschool things. The reality is that, across the course of her life, her verbal/language/comprehension skills are what will set her apart from her peers. For the vast majority of adults from literate families, decoding is a given. All of us can sound out whatever words we need to be able to sound out in the course of our daily lives. I can't remember the last time I encountered an educated adult whose decoding was weak enough to slow them down or inconvenience them. However, I notice all the time when other adults don't express things well, either in writing or in spoken words, or when they read something and fail to understand them at sufficient depth. In addition, I see the opposite, people who are amazing speakers or writers, or who can read and synthesize and retain information in impressive ways that I envy. For many of these people, these skills are what make or break their careers. So, if your daughter has strong verbal/language/comprehension skills that's fantastic, keep strengthening them. Keep talking to her, and reading to her, and asking and answering questions, and telling stories, and engaging in dramatic play. Give her chances to talk about math concepts while you build with blocks or cook, or science concepts while you explore the world or watch her baby sibling develop. Know that at this moment in your daughter's life she is in the perfect place for this kind of language growth. Now, it might well be that if you do all of that, your child will figure out reading "on her own" (which doesn't mean really on her own, it means that she'll figure it out in the context of all the wonderful language rich activities your doing), when she's 4 or 5 but not yet in K, and that's great. It happens pretty frequently to bright verbal kids. Independently figuring out reading is one possible sign that a child is bright and well supported at home, so it's cause for celebration, but it can also have its downside as kids who read early can be a little bored in Kindergarten, and can learn to zone out or skate by in the classroom. Equally likely, your child will enter Kindergarten right on the verge of a breakthrough. She'll have a rich vocabulary, and lots of knowledge about sounds and how print works. The first few lessons on reading will be enough for reading to "click", and she'll be like a ball rolling down a hill, picking up momentum along the way. Unlike a child with weaker language skills, she won't hit a lot of roadblocks and will soon be above grade level. By the time the curriculum shifts from "learning to read" to "reading to learn" in 2nd or 3rd, she'll have caught up with the kids in the category above (that is, the kids with equally strong language skills who happened to decode early), and in the meantime she'll have learned that school is a fun place where you learn important things. There is also a slight chance that she'll encounter trouble learning to read. Now you might think "see, I can eliminate that chance" but it just doesn't work that way. If, in fact, she's wired for dyslexia (which she isn't, dyslexic kids don't generally have all their letter names at 3), or a language disability that impacts reading (again, you'd see it now), or has low intelligence (again, you'd see it now) then reading instruction at 4 would simply be a lesson in frustration. |
Anonymous
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Good grief. OP is planning to spend less than an hour a day teaching her daughter -- WHO WANTS TO LEARN HOW TO READ -- how to read. That still leaves plenty of time in the day for the wonderful language-rich activities.
And if she's bored in kindergarten because she already knows how to read, they can deal with that problem then. |
Anonymous
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Thank you for your thoughts 11:24!
I've actually mulled over all those scenarios you talked about - the possibility of her being bored in Kindergarten, or it turning out that she struggles a bit initially in learning to read. At this point, waiting to kindergarten is a whole year and a half away, and it seems like a long time to wait to learn something she really seems interested in learning. And as I said, her mind works so much like her father's, with all the quirks. Incredible memory, understanding and application of context, attention span, independence, initiative, reasoning skills, and comprehension. But she does things backwards often, and can very stubborn when it comes to receiving instruction because she wants to do it her way, so usually the only thing we can do is to let her figure it out on her own. All traits of my husband as well. |
Anonymous
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My son sounds like your daughter. He is five now and will be in kindergarten this fall. For over a year now we have been gradually teaching him reading. He goes through phases where he is really interested, and for 2-4 weeks we spend every night practicing with him reading an early reader (with help). Bob books have helped with this. We point out familiar words, practice writing words in books and on the fridge magnets, etc. Plus we read a ton to him and do other things that naturally build vocabulary and comprehension. He even went through a phase where he was reading Dr. Seuss books in the car on the way to school every day. That being said, after the excitement wears off, we stop cold turkey with the "instructional" component. Bob books go away. I stop asking if he wants to practice. Etc.
I do not push him to pick it back up. He has gone 2-3 months between these sessions. We still read to him plenty and we do everything else you can think of to naturally develop his literacy. But we do not "teach" during these gaps. We start back over with the Bob Books and more "instruction" when he gets excited again. Each time its a little easier, move a bit faster through the materials, but as soon as it becomes too much, we back off again. This has been a rotation for us about a year and a half. At this point, he has got a good handle on CVC words and between 10-20 sight words. Slow going. I was fine with him wanting to learn early, but I was not fine with pushing it too hard. This has worked for us. He will be a bit ahead, but I don't think he will be reading independently by kindergarten. Right now, he wants to focus on learning all the characters in star wars more than he wants to read. |
Anonymous
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In the op you say she's "expressing some interest." But then you go on to describe normal 3yo behavior with regards to books. You also say you are not a good teacher, not patient enough, and your dd is stubborn when it comes to be instructed.
No. Kumon is a bad idea. As is any form of direct instruction by you. You go on further to say she is a sponge and loves learning. Great. Let's keep it that way. She is doing fine being read to and playing with books. Why mess with that? She has already learned the alphabet this way. You say you were hoping for her to pick up reading on her own. She will if you let her. She is still 3. Give her until at least 5! Some kids pick it up earlier. They are just better at decoding. You've got a good thing going with the love of books. It is not a race. |
Anonymous
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The best thing (and easiest) that you can do is to run your finger over the words as you read to her. Sandra Boynton board books are great for preschoolers and beginning readers. EXCELLENT! But also read a lot of picture books with more advanced vocabulary.
READ, read, read to her. And run your fingers over the words as you read. She won't look all the time but she will look sometimes. Also when you are in the car, point out signs that have the business name on them. Wendy's and Panda Express and Hilton. Whatever you have around. Point out the signs EXIT and sound it out with her. |
Anonymous
leapfrog learn to read series with Tag Reader. You can actually start at the Tag Jr. Level. Hooked on Phonics. I also second the preschool prep recommendation. |
Anonymous
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starfall.com is great for teaching reading. a lot of american expats use it to help their kids learn to read in english.
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Anonymous
Snort. The child is almost 4, and she wants to learn to read. I really don't understand DCUM's resistance to this. |