Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an early reader. One of five and I can tell you right now he has a HUGE advantage over his siblings. He learned how to read fluently and at a very high level by mid year of K. He reads everything and all the time. The amount of content and knowledge he has accumulated is huge. His vocabulary is also impressive for a first grader. He has learned so many science and history facts that he is light years ahead of many kids. His spelling is also at about a high school level now because of how much he reads. He corrects his oldest siblings spelling already. I have a couple late readers and the difference between the kids is very clear. It did not even out at 3rd grade. My point is, early readers often learn more and more about the world and have much higher knowledge than their peers.

Yeah, I agree with this. All the kids may eventually know how to read by 3rd grade but it does not actually even out. The early readers have a head start on other things and it carries through.

+1.

And you have more broad experience than an actual teacher with hundreds of students who learned to read at different points in their lives, so you know better. Got it.

Being smart and advanced is not always a good thing in ES since there is only so much teachers can do to differentiate. Most schools have mixed group classes so unless there are many students on your kid's level, your kid won't get much attention. My son started kindergarten reading on a 3rd-grade level. He was never instructed on his level, not even close. They would only instruct one grade level above so he spent most of ES just reading books on his own. His teachers met with his group once a week so maybe 20 minutes. All of that independent reading did help though. He improved his own reading level from year to year. By third grade, he was reading on a 9th-grade level. He's in HS now. Honors English and history and AP for both next year.

It depends what kind of early reader. Teaching your kid K curriculum the summer before K probably won't give them a head start in the long run. Those are the kids that people are talking about when they say it "evens out."

However, because humans exist on a spectrum there are many kids who don't even out and stay at the top of their class. These are often the ones who taught themselves to read very early. Not because the extra years of reading matter necessarily, but because it is a mark of intelligence/aptitude.

If your kid is asking, go ahead and do some fun reading activities with them but there is no advantage to drilling an average child. As a PP said, all that does is make it so they are potentially bored in K when they could have been stimulated. There are some kids who you couldn't hold back if you tried, and you'd know if you had one.

I taught mine with the 100 lessons book right after he turned 5 and it's gone well. I chose that because he was trying to memorize all the words by sight on his own and getting them wrong (ie saying cat when the word was can)... The book incorporates some phonics which helped a lot. We had some issues with him not really learning much of anything in K that resulted in him skipping a grade ahead (not DC area). We move a lot and plan to put him back with same aged peers by late elementary, when some sort of acceleration should be available by then for him to continue to be challenged. Otherwise it's been wonderful to hand him a chapter book to read and occupy himself quietly for an hour or more. He can read anything he wants and has (imo) a large knowledge base for his age.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an early reader. One of five and I can tell you right now he has a HUGE advantage over his siblings. He learned how to read fluently and at a very high level by mid year of K. He reads everything and all the time. The amount of content and knowledge he has accumulated is huge. His vocabulary is also impressive for a first grader. He has learned so many science and history facts that he is light years ahead of many kids. His spelling is also at about a high school level now because of how much he reads. He corrects his oldest siblings spelling already. I have a couple late readers and the difference between the kids is very clear. It did not even out at 3rd grade. My point is, early readers often learn more and more about the world and have much higher knowledge than their peers.

Yeah, I agree with this. All the kids may eventually know how to read by 3rd grade but it does not actually even out. The early readers have a head start on other things and it carries through.

+1.

Anonymous wrote:I have an early reader. One of five and I can tell you right now he has a HUGE advantage over his siblings. He learned how to read fluently and at a very high level by mid year of K. He reads everything and all the time. The amount of content and knowledge he has accumulated is huge. His vocabulary is also impressive for a first grader. He has learned so many science and history facts that he is light years ahead of many kids. His spelling is also at about a high school level now because of how much he reads. He corrects his oldest siblings spelling already. I have a couple late readers and the difference between the kids is very clear. It did not even out at 3rd grade. My point is, early readers often learn more and more about the world and have much higher knowledge than their peers.

Yeah, I agree with this. All the kids may eventually know how to read by 3rd grade but it does not actually even out. The early readers have a head start on other things and it carries through.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My early reader was bored in Kindergarten and first grade and by third most of the kids had caught up. There wasn't really any advantage of teaching her to read before Kinder although knowing letters of the alphabet and phonics would've been helpful.

Public school or private, PP?

Public

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are horrible at teaching reading in early grades because the schools don’t know how to choose curriculum and expect teachers to teach 3-5 skill levels in one class. You’re much better off teaching reading, writing, and basic math yourself. You could even homeschool for a few years and have the kid join public in 2nd or 3rd and be light years ahead of their peers.

Speak for yourself! I am a teacher in a public school with, easily, 8 different reading groups in my room. I am a rockstar at differentiating in reading and math. My own kids read before kindergarten and did really well in school. One is still in high school and the other in college (on a full ride).

Anonymous wrote:I have an early reader. One of five and I can tell you right now he has a HUGE advantage over his siblings. He learned how to read fluently and at a very high level by mid year of K. He reads everything and all the time. The amount of content and knowledge he has accumulated is huge. His vocabulary is also impressive for a first grader. He has learned so many science and history facts that he is light years ahead of many kids. His spelling is also at about a high school level now because of how much he reads. He corrects his oldest siblings spelling already. I have a couple late readers and the difference between the kids is very clear. It did not even out at 3rd grade. My point is, early readers often learn more and more about the world and have much higher knowledge than their peers.

Did you actually teach him to read or did he do it on his own?

I have an early reader. One of five and I can tell you right now he has a HUGE advantage over his siblings. He learned how to read fluently and at a very high level by mid year of K. He reads everything and all the time. The amount of content and knowledge he has accumulated is huge. His vocabulary is also impressive for a first grader. He has learned so many science and history facts that he is light years ahead of many kids. His spelling is also at about a high school level now because of how much he reads. He corrects his oldest siblings spelling already. I have a couple late readers and the difference between the kids is very clear. It did not even out at 3rd grade. My point is, early readers often learn more and more about the world and have much higher knowledge than their peers.

Anonymous wrote:My early reader was bored in Kindergarten and first grade and by third most of the kids had caught up. There wasn't really any advantage of teaching her to read before Kinder although knowing letters of the alphabet and phonics would've been helpful.

Public school or private, PP?

Op I really liked this book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671631985/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_D0GB2M5HW1E940FK7HYT?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I’d do only as much as kid is interested in.

I think it’s pretty clear from the responses: you will do this just so people think you and your kid is smart and they get the reputation for being smart, which usually pays off in terms of teachers liking your kid. It doesn’t actually make the kids smarter though. We are all so human and predictable here.

My early reader was bored in Kindergarten and first grade and by third most of the kids had caught up. There wasn't really any advantage of teaching her to read before Kinder although knowing letters of the alphabet and phonics would've been helpful.

I started teaching DD at 3.5 and she was reading fluently by 4.

I think it’s made a huge difference in her academic life. She was always expected to be advanced by teachers and she responded in kind. Easily and happily, I might add. I don’t know if she would have been in the same place anyway but I certainly don’t regret it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every child should be reading before k, no downside

Ummmm there are a lot of downsides.

I’m a teacher, and my son taught himself how to read. I joke that I’m grumpy about it because I would have loved for him to enter school with no reading ability. He’d be so busy all day, and would have to work so hard!

I don’t understand your response. What’s the downside?