My DS read his first easy reader (one of the Brill Kids very easy readers) from front to cover last night!!! lol
Before last night, he would give up after a few sentences. This is the first time he went from beginning to end, I really couldn’t be prouder. A few notes (sticking points, interesting observations etc):
I worried a lot about what he ought to be demonstrating :wub: Some parents on here will remember me posting about him not liking me reading to him etc. Well what worked with that was changing the books to ones he liked and easing him into a new story by discussing pictures first and talking about the story during play time when there was a connection. Basically it’s important to get support/advise from here so you can keep modifying what you do until you get the result you want.
For me it was a multi-attack approach :biggrin: My husband almost lost his mind with the resources I kept buying (but hunny it’s to make it easier for YOU I would say, so you don’t have to look for and print materials!) Sometimes DS would get tired of one thing and I could use something else more. LR, My Montessori House, Youtube, YBCR, Preschool Prep and Reading Bear combined made the biggest impact I think (we used more though! Jolly Phonics is one that DS loved on a personal level I have to say, he would NOT sleep without reading it and singing with the actions for months). But I do feel that this really upped his screen time. And I don’t think it was the only way AT ALL, I just didn’t have a clue what I was doing and also my DS was full time carer of my son so I needed to make it easy for everybody to keep up with.
Somethings took months of repetition and then when he got it, he was flying. E.g we spent months doing first line section of Reading Bear (words with A), ages doing the slow sounding out, before we could move on to fast sounding out, before he could sound out on his own, before he could blend, before he recognised most words I mean I thought it would take a year or more to finish RB at the pace we were going. But E words went much quicker and he seemed to know all the I words (at this point he was asking me to move on :wub: ) I know this is standard from what I’ve read here, but I found it surprising non the less.
DS knew a lot more than he was willing to demonstrate. Again standard. But annoying non the less! I gave up very early trying to ‘show off’ his skills because he made it very clear that was never gonna happen. But I knew that he knew somethings that he was not prepared to show me just for the asking. The rule of focus on input forget about output i.e. no (or little) testing was important. I think it was really only with Reading Bear that he usually had to sound out, but even then I didn’t force it if he didn’t want to. I would definitely say I encouraged him even when he resisted, sometimes he just needed sometime to get used t something, but if he persistently refused I would leave the matter. I have to say that I feel a key element to his getting to where we are now is keeping his stress levels low, he is a VERY attached baby (still breastfeeds even) and we use gentle discipline techniques. A stressed brain doesn’t function as optimally, so I feel this was really important.
Native reading was pretty important in our journey especially running my finger under the words while reading, getting him to read a few words when I was reading to him, reading out road signs, food packets etc. We had flash cards of sight words stuck on a display and generally lying around Books always lying around and handy. We spelt out words during his bath time, LeapFrog fridge magnets that sound out phonics), a Jolly Phonics poster by his chair next to the dining table so he could play with it while or after eating. One thing I would love to have done but didn’t get round to was labelling stuff around the house, plan to get round to this eventually for him or 2nd baby whenever we have one! I know it sounds like a lot, but it just became part of our lives, part of parenting him. Quite frankly we don’t know any different as DS is our first child, so its just what it took for us to live our parenting philosophy.
Moving forward what’s next: More reading practice so he can read for longer periods of time, and slowly building his reading levels and comprehension (vocabulary building). We are more focused on math and french now and I want to really establish that as well (maybe Mandarin too). Very important to me is getting his day to have a more consistent rhythm, with time to practice life skills and build academic readiness like using worksheets, number/letter stamps and sitting still! I would also like to be more consistent with bible studies, and finally to take music lessons further than what we do with LMs. But all in all I am pretty confident I can cover our aims.
I have to say that discovering EL has completely changed our family and approach to parenting and I have loved every minute of it. You guys on this forum are AMAZING and I cannot thank you enough for every resource and book recommendation made on here. My DS is never going to be a stereotype. In fact he’s not going to be ‘ordinary’ (as the word is understood) and I am just fine with that. Why have him be ordinary when I can give him the gift of having the skills, talent and work ethic to pursue whatever dreams he has?
What wonderfully fantastic news!? CONGRATS to you and your little one! I know it took months and months of hard work on your end, so good job sticking with it! And good job to your Little One for cracking the code!
Yes! I agree, “layering the learning” was KEY for us, too! You can absolutely use just one program or two (little reader and probably reading bear as a free supplement would be my top choices) but it goes so much faster and sticks so much better if you apply the immersion method to literacy! Everywhere they look there are words in their naturally occurring environment, they cannot HELP but learn!
Moving forward what's next: More reading practice so he can read for longer periods of time, and slowly building his reading levels and comprehension (vocabulary building).
Yep, now comes the steps of staying consistent to get him fluent. As long as you stay in your routine, you’ll do great! Keep on introducing those words. Not that you want to buy any more materials (haha) but to ensure DD was moving along, we went through the Hooked on Phonics “Learn to Read” Series. From our previous work, she was already able to go up to about 2nd grade with very, very minor issues. (WE only worked on the decoding part of the program, I did not have her read the long books. We would take turns as appropriate with the easy readers, but there are short stories in their books that she built her way up to reading over time. In the beginning, she could only do half a lesson, but towards the end she was able to do one or two at a time., like you noticed, gaining momentum and things went faster. Using a curriculum once we finished with the LR curriculum helped ME stay on track and ensured I was hitting all the bases. After that, we moved up to Master Reader using the computer program only (I would often play it in front of them) and now she is doing the story cards. After that, I plan to do the old school Hooked on Phonics “Your Reading Power” SRA reading comprehension program. It’s a bit dry in terms of illustrations, etc, but it is very comprehensive. It’s out of print, but it is “classically solid.” Learning to read and comprehend doesn’t really change with the times, so the materials are still good and you can get them on Ebay. I passed over buying the set at the thrift shop once and regretted it ever since! I just wanted to share that with you in case you get stuck for ideas at some point.
I already recently learned that the Ladybird Peter and Jane series goes much, much higher than I originally thought (I was under the assumption they were more like “Dick and Jane” sight words readers). They are actually graded readers that go up level by level. So, that is another option we are looking into now. I would like to do a very detailed blog/video review of the master reader program soon, so keep an eye for that if you are interested.
TmT, thanks so much for your encouragement and advise, you already know that I was basically trying to walk in your footsteps :yes:
I have been reading through loads of posts here and on Well Trained Mind and Sonlight forums to get an idea of how to proceed (obviously without purchasing too much more :biggrin: ) and really would appreciate a preview of your HOP review. I previously planned to get it but then thought I could try Daddude’s and Robert Levy’s approach of just getting stuck into children’s books (whilst using something like the Kumon Reading list for levels). I currently use BFIAR and planned to eventually move on to Sonlight, with Saxon for math, and I’ve read Abeka’s Language Arts programme is very good, but I’m not 100% sure how to get DS ready to bridge over to these comfortably, or if he’ll need a bridge if we just keep reading (although I like the idea of him having some structured LA programme to get him used to the idea.) - to this end I was thinking of starting Reading Eggs tomorrow (quite cheap and also has a comprehension programme) and maybe when he’s older consider JG Reading? What more do you feel can HOP add to these, esp their Master Reader program? And do you currently follow or plan to follow a core curriculum with your LOs whether you homeschool or afterschool? Thanks in advance T
That’s wonderful! Congratulations! I have to say ditto to almost everything your wrote. my son is 26 months too and just read his first easy reader by himself (I helped him when he got stuck a few times). He can read about any cvc word even if it’s a nonsense word and many sight words. Yes it took a lot of practice. Yes, we used multiple approaches. One thing that helped probably the most was that he is obsessed with basketball so I made him powerpoint presentations with real and nonsense cvc words with basketball pictures in between. He asks for it every day and it gave him a lot of practice! Anyway congrats…have to go help him off the potty. lol
Thanks Mybabyian! Still feeling pretty chuffed about it, he read two easy readers tonight (with a bit of help also) and is breezing through Reading Bear - decoding words like a dream
Still trying to get clear on my focus moving forward (slowly getting there) but I suppose its a nice problem to have! Lots on here to help me.
MrsObedih and mybabyian
Congratulations!! What a wonderful gift to add to the holidays
As for moving forward… If I ever had another child I would flash them letters, blends and the digraph sounds. My son memorized these through foam magnets and other games we played and is able to read everything.
Congratulations again and please keep us updated!
Thanks for this post, I have been taking notes as my 19 month old is having a verbal explosion at the moment and reading more and more words. I need to keep the camera away and just give her input!!!
I mostly just read her books and do LR and now and again review YBCR books and DVDs. I’ve tried to show her Reading Bear but because its new to her we dont do much.
Are the Montessori House, Preschool Prep, master reading programme and Jolly Phonics all programs that you have to buy to get access to? Im keen to find as many free extra options to help her progress at this stage. Its very exciting tho isnt it. Yay for all the littler readers out there!!
Thanks Mela Bela!! We’re using Preschool Prep for blends and diagraphs. At this point DS is learning very quickly and I want to have enough resources to engage him for the next months if possible. He brought a book to the kitchen while I was cooking and started reading aloud, pointing to each word. He likes to read fast as well, he doesn’t like to pause after each word really blown away by what EL can achieve.
Hi Kiwimum, glad it was of some value to you! I haven’t had the chance to record him yet, I’m trying to create the impression for him that its a pretty ordinary thing (compared to for instance the song and dance I break into when he goes potty), but I will try to record him doing it soon. It is pretty exciting so I understand following baby around with a camera Unfortunately they are all paid items but Montessori House was not too expensive. Preschool Prep though really opened the EL doors for us. I got it on sale but it was still an ‘ouch’ buy. That said we didn’t really use it so much for the reading … I mean, he knew phonics so never used that DVD, the sight words dvd1 was great, dvd2 he learnt very quickly by the time we got to dvd3 he knew most of the words - I presume from me running my finger under the words while reading. Their readers are pretty good though, I much prefer their readers and BK readers to Bob Books which have ridiculously small print (on same page as pictures) and so far DS is not inspired by the storylines in them, whereas the others are about things that hold his interest. The first DVD of Montessori House really helped with his blending (that and the printable books are not too expensive at all), really helped, so by the time we started doing Reading Bear he had some previous experience of blending. Can’t say I know too many free options other than starfall and literactive which read out stories. But I strongly recommend the Native Reading book (even just the free chapters on author’s website, which is all I read of it) those tips were really invaluable, esp running finger under words while reading (just a habit now) and having them read words they know during story time and all over the place. Your LO will be there soon no doubt!!
Kiwimum-
Your LO reminds me so much of mine when she was younger, utilizing the combination of signs and verbal language in reading!
One thing I will say as Alex also went through a huge verbal explosion! It is definitely up to the parent to continue signing after her verbal ability blossoms, if you are interested in keeping it:) we continue to sign as we read, even now. We also have a ‘game’ where we only sign conversation, which is a lot of fun. It also definitely becomes sign language rather than signing whilst speaking!
A really cute thing, which if you have not seen yet, I have little doubt will soon be evident: signing for emphasis lol if she says or asks for something, and doesn’t feel as though she is being heard or her request is taking too long, she will emphathetically sign as well lol
As if, okay, I can see that Mom is not appreciating the severity of my desire/need!
Right! So, definitely, definitely go for the Preschool Prep DVDs, primarily the Meet the Phonics series. We only watched the Letter sounds once, as Alex already knew her letter sounds confidently…if you are positive she does, you COULD skip that one, although it was nice just to assure myself and introduce the series. The Meet the Blends and Meet the Digraphs are fantastic! Truthfully, I watched them without her the first time and was convinced they were slow and boring…BUT! Alex adored them, and I have yet to see a kid who was not captivated!
If you are debating which ones, since you are doing LR and YBCR, you can skip the Sight Words ones if you like! She will like them, but they are redundant.
I should also mention, if you have an IPad, Preschool Prep has both individual apps for their series, as well as a video app where you can download the videos to the IPad and watch. This was very useful!
And here is a fun hint: the Preschool Prep website sells a laminated placemat with all of the letter characters, blend, and digraph characters. We have a plethora of EL placemats, and that was one of Alex’s favorites at Cloe’s age. She would eat and blend at the same time!
Kerileanne
Thanks for tips and advice, I’m going to take your advice and download the Preschool Prep onto my Ipad. Its not as much as I thought it could be. I watched the free download and yeah it does seem slow but maybe cos it all different Chloe will enjoy it over time. I agree its worth a shot anyway, so thank you.
Chloe has started to sign for emphasis, mostly with the word “please”. It really had to say no to her when she asks for something verbal and then add the words and sign for please in front of it. :yes: :yes:
Thanks for chipping in Kerileanne! Just to say Kiwimum that I back up the suggestions given. I never used the Preschool Prep apps so had no idea how much they cost, but if I could give one EL gift to my loved ones it would be Preschool Prep the ultimate package. It works quickly too. We had huge success with colours, shapes, numbers and sight words 1/2. I’m sure it’s doing a good job for Douglas with blends and diagraphs, he started reading just as we got into those DVDs, in addition to Reading Bear I’m sure it’ll build his ability to keep decoding more words. Glad you’ve now got those apps in your toolkit! Lots of well wishes
Thank you Mela Bala. My son is very proud of himself.
Preschool prep has been great for us too. He really picked up the sight words fast with their dvds and he asks for it everday.
Preschool prep was what pushed James over the edge to truly being able to read. So I can’t praise it enough.
The 3 sight word apps are 99c in the US and are amazingly worth it. Well there are 6 sight word apps. One is the flashcards and the other is a game. But under $6 was worth it for me to have James learn 45 sight words within weeks. As soon as he knew all those words he was able to read the first set of preschool prep sight word books with amazing fluency. He loved the books. Initially I wasn’t sure how much he understood. But then when he was reading I was picking up subtle clues as to his comprehension. Things like him coming across a word at the end of sentence and not knowing it what it was but “guessing” the word by context or the picture, even if it was not quite the right word, showed his comprehension. Later I saw his earliest decoding skills come into play when he came across another unfamiliar word and he would figure it out by sounding the first letter out.
James had been a very strong sight word reader for about 6-9 months. I was still doing phonics on the side but he was being lazy and not decoding because it was challenging. He was also learning new words rapidly and remembering them after one or two times. So after the first set of preschool prep readers were read with ease we started going nuts with early reader books from the library. We like the DK my first reading series, My First Readers (James loved, and devoured all the Biscuit books) , Green Light Readers, some Scholastic readers, Rookie Readers and many other series. Our favourite series is a shared reading series, whose name slips my mind right now. I would read the more difficult left page and James would read the easier right page. We were bringing home about 20 of “level one” readers. (I say level one lightly because some series have level two that are very easy or Pre-levels that are quite hard)
After months of these types of books James has become a competent reader at a American kindergarten/grade 1 level. But we have reached a kind of plateau. I have found that many books are quite easy and not challenging for him. But when I try and move up to a higher reading level James struggles with his stamina. He balks at too many words on the page, finer print, longer sentences. I think he is losing comprehension mostly. I really think it is an age thing for him developmentally. He can understand when I read it. But he seems to almost forget the sentence from beginning to end. Time seems to be the best fix.
So now we stick with the less challenging books. Or I read much more challenging books and I pause frequently and have James read any shorter sentences. He seems to loves it when a book is what he call a “mummy read, JJ read” book.
I also “backtracked” a bit and have been getting easy phonics based decodeable books for James now that he is decoding with compliance. We love the Usborne phonics readers series best. Pretty soon I plan to introduce a more systematic phonics system working with prefixes, suffixes, and more advanced phonics rules taking special note of rule breaking words.
i also need to work with grammar. James can read and understand grammar but his speech is a mess. James will say something like “JJ go your room to me cars your mummy to I you play” which basically means, when said to me “I will get my cars from my room so we can play.”
Wow. This was a little longer than intended but that is our reading journey, so far and for the future.
I agree the preschool prep apps made a huge difference here too. Jaykob just didn’t understand the concept of just remembering his sight words, odd considering he has a good size sight word memory for LR words! Anyway after watching the DVDs a number of times I downloaded ONLY 1 sight word app game and told him if he gets 10 right i will download another one for him. Took 3 days and now he can easily understand the concept of just memorizing words so learning is so much faster for him now. I kind of wish they had a few more apps!
His blending is good just from me helping him blend out loud over and over. He loves to guess the words based on the first sound and the picture and that is a fine strategy for him to be using now.
His stamens at age 4 is much higher and a whole book is no trouble. I could imagine that had he cracked the code at age 3 I would have lost patience with him lol
Korrale4kq and Mandabplus3 thanks for your input to the discussion!
Korrale4kq - thanks for so much detail about your LO’s reading journey, it was very insightful indeed. I am already seeing a strong trend of my DS wanting to read what interests him, in other words what he understands and enjoys. At the moment lots of animal books, particularly BK reader Day at the Zoo and Animal Sounds. I tried to follow your lead and head down to the library to see what readers we can pick up, I realise this is better than constantly buying books and waiting to see which ones DS will fall in love with. Intersting what you note about James’ grammer, Douglas is still pretty monosyllabic except for when he’s singing. I’m sure these things will naturally smooth out with time. I was thinking about using this http://www.kumon-english-rrl.com/ as a way of stretching Douglas’ reading level without using readers. I can already see that he gets impatient with a story if its not interesting, he’s not liked the Bob books much, they seem to confuse him, but he can read other books just fine. Charlotte Mason suggests using rich literature to teach children to read and I’m sort of basing my home-preschool on her philosophies, so this idea appeals to me. Although I appreciate that it may mean slower progress because the stories are more complex. Do you think this sort of approach might break the plateau?
I’m planning to spend time doing more Montessori style activities (hands on) and lots of outings to engage his interest in the world, so that he has more of a background and general knowledge to use to understand our stories.
I am really loving those reading lists. We have read many of the stories on the first list. I too believe in using rich literary sources, including but not limited to poetry, classics and non fiction. And Those are the books we read most.
But James isn’t always drawn to the books. There is such a variance in difficulty, format and length. I like that this list looks like it can take out some of the guess work of finding things at the right level for James.
At some point James really became smitten with readers, especially books with dogs like Biscuit, Noodles and Mudge. Most of the early readers are short and formulaic. Some are ridiculous and dont make any sense, so I try and avoid the worst. But once I find a series or a particular author I like I can often find some decent books James enjoys.
Glad you found the list helpful. I’ll check out the readers you suggest, I know Jim Trelease (The Read Aloud Book) says children love series, so maybe that’s why J fell so much in love. I want Douglas to have that sort of hunger so will definitely try the doggie readers you mentioned.
Yeah, I went through a period of buying loads of books and DS would pick about 3 of them that he wanted me to repeated read and would positively scream if I even picked up one that I was not instructed to read :wub: I figured out that he really didn’t like what he couldn’t follow without lengthy explanations from me so I’m trying to stick more with good reading lists, everything from BFIAR he’s loved so I reckon I’ll follow other than try to guess on my own.
Although I am really coming this close to buying Hooked on Phonics so I have a ‘final’ set of graded readers that will lead him up to age 8+. I’ll go to my local library and see what they’ve got.
and just give her input!!!