Teaching Preschoolers: How to Raise a Good Reader
By Mimi Rothschild
Reading is one of the most important skills that a child will learn. If you home school your child, you will probably look for ways to make your child a good reader for life. While many children can learn to read early, most successful reading lessons take place gradually over time, and when a child is developmentally ready. You can help your home school child learn to love reading if you supply your home school with a few essentials.
Something you might want to consider when stocking your home school library are books that teach reading in steps. There are many series of books that are designed just for pre-readers and young readers. Each book will introduce a new phonic sound and that sound will be added it to the next book. Children will love learning to read when they have books that are on their level. If you give them books that are beyond what they can understand, this can lead to your children feeling like failures. Keep your home school books simple and at their personal reading level.
Younger children that attend home school and are learning to read for the first time need to have plenty of practice. Give them that opportunity by labeling objects around the house. Surround them with words and books. Chances are that they will be reading before you know it.
In addition, you can help your home school children with their reading by example. It is true that children learn by watching their parents. Let them see you read a wide variety of reading materials. Provide your children with various forms of reading material. Even comic books have merit. Find what your children are interested in and enhance your home school lessons with their favorite topics.
Also, be careful not to make reading a chore. If your home school lessons are filled with lengthy book reports and projects, your children may lose interest. This is especially true for older children in home school. It is important to challenge your students without making them feel burdened by a book that has too many chapters or difficult words. When you visit your local library, many children sections offer books that are clearly labeled for age or grade levels. You can combine your home school lessons with reading that spans more than one subject matter, too. Know when your children have had enough. When your home school children are enjoying their work, they are more likely to succeed and enjoy reading for a lifetime.
________________________________________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, children's rights activist, author, and Founder and C.E.O. of online education company Learning by Grace, Inc. Rothschild and her husband of twenty-eight years reside in suburban Philadelphia with their eight children.
Feeling that “our current system of education has broken its promise,” Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. to provide families with Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children all over the world.
In addition to her twenty years of experience as a homeschool mother, Rothschild has written a number of books dealing with education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Home Education Websites Blog consists of helpful online content and activities for Christian homeschooling families.
Electronic reproduction of this article is permitted if content is published unchanged, appropriate credit is given, and the article title links to corresponding article webpage.
