Teaching Reading...With Books! ;)

Over the past couple of years since I started teaching homeschool classes in my home, I have been asked many times about how I teach reading. I have tutored other children to read for a long while now, and while I won't tell my secrets for how I do it, the main thing I tell parents is to read to their children! I have been reading to my children every day of their lives from the time they were in my belly! The more you read to them, the more they hear what reading is supposed to sound like. It will broaden their vocabulary (especially if you tell them what words mean while you read) and bring an understanding of how dialogue works. Children will learn how to change their voice to fit the characters, just by listening to how you do it!

Get a library card if you don't have one! Get books weekly from the library. There is an extra level of excitement to read when you can pick out new books :) Let your children see you read...maybe make it an important part of your bedtime or morning routine. Teach them how to treat books and what the cover is for. Teach them what an author and illustrator is and that the words on the page correspond to the pictures they see. These are little things but they will begin to have a love for reading the more you do it and the more you find topics that interest them. Reaseach topics they like and check out the books to look through for information. Children need access to books at all times if they are ever going to be able to learn how to read and enjoy doing it. Even if it isn't something they like to do, they need to know how to do it, and how to use books for certain purposes. What a valuable gift you can give to your children just by using a little bit of your time every day!

I love catching my chidren reading, loving what they are reading about, and inventing new ways to read the book :) I ask them about what they are reading and get interested in it like they are. We might even read it together at that moment. I also try to find books that are similar to what they are reading so they can recognize the same characters or events in the story. All that being said...read, read, read. In my experience, the best way to teach reading is with books!

*Mar 2019