Try Jolly Phonics. It's a lot of fun.

We do it every day for 10 minutes with our four year old.

I think you DD will probably pick up reading on her own fairly soon. While its fine for you to assist - I think she sounds like she will figure it out on her own.

If she were truly obsessed you would not be posting. She would guide you. She sounds like she loves books. When she asks to learn to read, break out an easy reader and help her see the letters as sounds. I think most parents do this and don't need a special curriculum or program. You sound like you really just want to hear she is not typical. This is not the place to hear that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Actually not at all odd - I think they all do this around that age.

I don't remember either of my children doing this.

Your children didn't pretend to read/memorize stories?

Correct. I know another child who did, but my children didn't.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

I agree with this PP 100%. I think OP sounds like she desperately wants her daughter to be motivated and ready and is trying to convince herself that it's her daughter that wants to be taught whereas that contradicts DD being stubborn and wanting to do things her own way, etc. I have nothing against early reading and even parents who try to teach their kids to read early but something about OP's story sounds not right.

You guys are relentless with the belief that I'm pushing her. She wants to learn how to read, she tells me this every other day!!! She (nor I) doesn't really know what that will involve, but I AM willing to learn how to teach her if she expresses interest in learning. Once she starts, I think she would immensely enjoy being able to read. However, if it turns out that she's not enjoying the learning process, I'm not going to push it.

By stubborn, I mean that in general terms. She is a contrarian. She doesn't like being corrected and will insist on doing things her way. For example, if she puts her shirt on backwards, and I say "The tag goes in the back, let's turn your shirt around," she'll refuse and say "No I like it backwards," and will wear it backwards all day. If I try to teach her to the right way to hold a pencil or scissors, she'll say "No, I like holding it this way" and continue doing it her way. It's her personality, but yes, it can make it challenging to teach her things.

Also, if her obsession with books is totally typical for her age, that would honestly be a surprise to me. She is insatiable when it comes to books. After we read to her for 30 minutes at bedtime, she will often "read" to herself at night for up to 2 hours. The books we read to her now include Alice in Wonderland, The Little Prince, Winnie the Pooh short stories, the Magic School Bus series, Choose Your Own Adventure series, and on audiobook, the Magic Tree House series. If that is typical, OK fine then, she is a girl with a typical interest in books who is ALSO telling me she WANTS to learn how to read. What's the harm in following through with HER request?

-OP

Maybe her "obsession" isn't totally typical - but our kid did sit and pretend to read (often she had memorized a book because we read it together so much so she could actually read the book to me - even though she wasn't actually reading the words). I thought that was pretty normal for kids who are read to a lot. Sounds like your kid does more than that though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Actually not at all odd - I think they all do this around that age.

I don't remember either of my children doing this.

Your children didn't pretend to read/memorize stories?

Anonymous wrote:starfall.com is great for teaching reading. a lot of american expats use it to help their kids learn to read in english.

Thanks for this! It looks like a good resource.

You don't need Kumon. You need the library

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

I agree with this PP 100%. I think OP sounds like she desperately wants her daughter to be motivated and ready and is trying to convince herself that it's her daughter that wants to be taught whereas that contradicts DD being stubborn and wanting to do things her own way, etc. I have nothing against early reading and even parents who try to teach their kids to read early but something about OP's story sounds not right.

You guys are relentless with the belief that I'm pushing her. She wants to learn how to read, she tells me this every other day!!! She (nor I) doesn't really know what that will involve, but I AM willing to learn how to teach her if she expresses interest in learning. Once she starts, I think she would immensely enjoy being able to read. However, if it turns out that she's not enjoying the learning process, I'm not going to push it.

By stubborn, I mean that in general terms. She is a contrarian. She doesn't like being corrected and will insist on doing things her way. For example, if she puts her shirt on backwards, and I say "The tag goes in the back, let's turn your shirt around," she'll refuse and say "No I like it backwards," and will wear it backwards all day. If I try to teach her to the right way to hold a pencil or scissors, she'll say "No, I like holding it this way" and continue doing it her way. It's her personality, but yes, it can make it challenging to teach her things.

Also, if her obsession with books is totally typical for her age, that would honestly be a surprise to me. She is insatiable when it comes to books. After we read to her for 30 minutes at bedtime, she will often "read" to herself at night for up to 2 hours. The books we read to her now include Alice in Wonderland, The Little Prince, Winnie the Pooh short stories, the Magic School Bus series, Choose Your Own Adventure series, and on audiobook, the Magic Tree House series. If that is typical, OK fine then, she is a girl with a typical interest in books who is ALSO telling me she WANTS to learn how to read. What's the harm in following through with HER request?

-OP

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Snort. The child is almost 4, and she wants to learn to read. I really don't understand DCUM's resistance to this.

Fucking read the op. Mom says she is impatient, a bad teacher, and kid doesn't like being taught. Yeah, direct instruction is a bad idea.

Anonymous wrote:

Actually not at all odd - I think they all do this around that age.

I don't remember either of my children doing this.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have experience they can share with Kumon classes for teaching preschool age children to read? Are there any other reading enrichment programs for preschool ages?

Our soon to be 4yo (oldest) is expressing some interest in learning how to read. She's always been book-obsessed since she was a baby, and pretty insatiable in terms of being read to and having stories told to her. For several months now, she's been "pretending" to read - an odd display of sitting in her bed late at night, going through piles of books, sounding out words, but not actually reading from the book, reciting from memory or making it up based on the pictures she sees.

I've made some weak disorganized attempts to teach her how to sound out simple words. However, I don't think I'm a good teacher, and I don't think I'm patient enough. Also, our daughter has always been especially stubborn when it comes to being instructed - she likes to do things HER way, even if it's the wrong way, and nothing I do or say can change her mind. We've made no progress. On the other hand, in general, she is also a freaking sponge, takes in everything and LOVES learning - it just needs to be on her terms, her way.

I was actually hoping she would just eventually pick up reading on her own, without me having to teach her, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. So hence I'm considering exposing her to something like Kumon. Any advice appreciated. TIA.

It probably will happen - but just not yet.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have experience they can share with Kumon classes for teaching preschool age children to read? Are there any other reading enrichment programs for preschool ages?

Our soon to be 4yo (oldest) is expressing some interest in learning how to read. She's always been book-obsessed since she was a baby, and pretty insatiable in terms of being read to and having stories told to her. For several months now, she's been "pretending" to read - an odd display of sitting in her bed late at night, going through piles of books, sounding out words, but not actually reading from the book, reciting from memory or making it up based on the pictures she sees.

I've made some weak disorganized attempts to teach her how to sound out simple words. However, I don't think I'm a good teacher, and I don't think I'm patient enough. Also, our daughter has always been especially stubborn when it comes to being instructed - she likes to do things HER way, even if it's the wrong way, and nothing I do or say can change her mind. We've made no progress. On the other hand, in general, she is also a freaking sponge, takes in everything and LOVES learning - it just needs to be on her terms, her way.

I was actually hoping she would just eventually pick up reading on her own, without me having to teach her, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. So hence I'm considering exposing her to something like Kumon. Any advice appreciated. TIA.

Actually not at all odd - I think they all do this around that age.

Anonymous wrote: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.

I agree with this PP 100%. I think OP sounds like she desperately wants her daughter to be motivated and ready and is trying to convince herself that it's her daughter that wants to be taught whereas that contradicts DD being stubborn and wanting to do things her own way, etc. I have nothing against early reading and even parents who try to teach their kids to read early but something about OP's story sounds not right.