When Teaching Your Children How To Read I Would Stick To The Basics
And not try and bring in new any ideas for teaching reading. The tried and trusted methods of teaching reading have already taught many, many children so why experiment with new ideas. The number one idea you should be using is reading in bed as often as possible. This way your children get into the habit of reading and hopefully they end up with a love of reading. With so much competition for your child’s free time they need a love of reading so they will keep reading.
Another good idea for teaching reading is phonics. Phonics has been teaching kids to read for well over a century and it is very effective. Phonics are a road map to reading, they are the code to deciphering the written word and once your children know phonics they should be able to read anything. I like the Montessori method of phonics but there are many good phonics programs available online and off.
After your children have mastered phonics they can read nearly everything but they don’t always understand what they are reading. That is where you or a good dictionary comes in. To save your sanity it is s very good idea to teach your kid’s how to use a dictionary or else they will be asking you what this word means all the time. Another good idea for teaching reading is to ask your children to tell you about the story they have just finished reading. This way you will know if your kid’s reading comprehension is progressing the correct way. So the good ideas for teaching reading are reading in bed as often as possible, phonics and reading comprehension.
Teaching reading takes time and effort and the best practices are usually what the students like to do. If you are teaching at home you have more freedom and can use whatever best practices you like. But if you are in school you have to follow the politically motivated school rules and they are not always in the best interest of the child.
So sometimes you just can’t use the best practices in teaching reading.
Teaching reading using phonics has been around for over a 100 years because it is possible one of the most effective best practices in teaching reading. But it is sometimes not in vogue and then teachers have to put up with whatever best practices are currently circulating around the school boards.
To me the best practice in teaching reading is the Montessori practice of teaching reading. If you have problem readers or student who are getting left behind then bring in the Montessori sandpaper letters and watch the students transform. The only problem is it is not really designed for the classroom. But if you can arrange the classroom in groups with a good reading student in charge of the groups you can use it.
The best students will learn to read no matter what best practice is in use. So we have to concentrate on the students who are having trouble learning to read. And that is where Montessori comes in or you could try a internet based phonics program as they are also very effective.
