So my children can all read, taught them early :wub: 
and now a friend has asked me to tutor her 5 y old boy.
I am just not sure which way to go, is it too late to try and teach him via flash cards, and native readingā¦ so pretty much using the whole word approach? Or the more traditional way of a is for appleā¦ sooo boring!
I guess i will try and do a mixture of both but is he really too old for flashcards?
Why oh why canāt parents teach their babies to read? - its soooo much easier?
I would try āThe Ordinary Parentās Guide To Teaching Readingā. I would first have him/her learn the letters and their sounds wiht something like the letter factory. They do it in the book but it takes many lessons and most kids could get it from the letter factory in a week or less. Once they have that I would move into the book at the point after you start learning the letters. Iāve used this book before and it is really simple and great results.
Phonics need not be boring, and it is well-known by researchers who follow the scientific method (as opposed to education school orthodoxy) that it is the superior method of teaching children to read. My advice would be to find try several phonics methods with the kids, and keep on with the ones that appeal to them.
If the idea of paper flashcards appeals to you (and them), you can try a set of phonics flashcards to print out in the URL in my sig. It takes a while to prepare these, but many have reported good results with them. The digitized version of this will soon come online at readingbear.org, and you can already start using the warts-and-all development version at http://watchknowreader.busedge.com/ .
Another good resource for starting kids reading is Starfall.com. A similar excellent resource is Literactive.com. These are both good supplements to a serious phonics program.
FWIW, H., who is 5 and who can read very well, still loves to look at both Reading Bear and Starfall. But then heās on a āreverting to babyhoodā kick, playing with refrigerator magnets and reading the complete Curious George book.
I donāt think it is too late to use flashcards though 5 year olds are more likely to learn with a left brained approach which means it may be better to stick the flashcards up rather than flashing them fast - labelling things for example. Native reading also teaches things besides reading itself - children learn to read from left to right and top to bottom and that reading flows, so I would also use this method with him. But I would also do a phonics programme - Doman himself says that older children learn best if you teach them their favourite words first though - 5 year olds are not that interested in the cat that sat on a mat and would rather learn about rockets and dinosaurs and adventures. If you can find something that interests him a lot then teach him those words even if the phonics is advanced as keeping his interest is more important and will lead to faster learning than teaching a solid phonics base (I would still try to give him a solid phonics base but within his interests rather than within a programme that is just teaching rules cause that is what comes next)
I think the right brain teaching along with left brain teaching is the best way to go. Remember, as children get older, they donāt use their right brain as much. But you want to keep doing things w/ them to encourage the right side of brain. It will help w/ their memory and so many other things. I bought some computer games that helps w/ āwaking upā the right side of the brain. I now have all my children doing them.( I just got these games). I have 3 boys 5, 9, and 12, and I have all of them doing these games. I, myself, have a horrible memory and I hate it. Anything I can do to help the boys make school and learning for them easier I will do.
Just google āright brain learningā and you will see a lot of info come up including the website that sells the computer games. "I canāt remember the site offhand). Also, I play a game w/ my 5 yr old. Itās super good for his phonics.
I only do this w/ 3 letter words. I say, āGuess what word this isā, and then I make the sounds of each letter. Like for cat, I say the sounds C A T, with a short pause between each sound. Other words: mom, dad, car, pen, etc. At first he wasnāt too good at it, but now heās awsome. Now, when we are reading a book and we come to the word ācatā we sound it out together, even kind of slowly, and he says, ācat!ā right away.
Good luck
I teach DD to read after school. Errrrā¦ not really I teach her. We do online reading together on beestar. I like the simple presentation: text has nice simple fonts the pictures and graphs are to the point not distracting. DD loves this online learning way and always canāt wait to do the exercises.
Lisa
I would try the montessori method.
This is a pet peeve of mine LOL. I have to close friends of mine, who have children the same age as my son. I tried to share about early learning with them when we started, but they wanted to leave it to school. So ok thatās fine! But then when they saw Wes could read quite well (while we were at McDonalds heād read the playground rules, or instructions on a videogame) They got a bit more interested, but didnāt want to start, THEN they went to school and their child seem to struggle with reading and then they were on the phone wanting my secrets. I had to tell them, that the stuff I did with Wesley was more effective when the child is younger. I always don;t know what to tell them. I suggest things like:
Ok well yes hind site is wonderful to some mums and a slap in the face to others 
So the flash cards - I am all for it! He is 5 so only part left brained and still quite a bit right brained. Itās your delivery that will make all the difference, and being someone elseās kid this could be tricky. He needs to be relaxed and happy, or even sleepy. I would try an alpha/theta music cd ( right brained kids have one for $10 or so) for a few minutes and then flash quickly with enthusiasm. I have used this with success. Or give this job to mum to do while snuggling in bed with him last thing at night or early morning cuddles. On top of flashing his favorite words ( optimus prime, dinosaur and spiderman lol ) also flash the top 100 sight words in between.
Then he needs a strong phonics base so start by teaching basic letter sounds ( and short vowels) using whatever you like. I like iPad apps for boys this age particularly.
I looked at the Reading Lesson and really liked it ( waterdreamer I would love to hear more about it ) you can download the first 2 lesson free and see if you like it. 100 easy lessons was mentioned as an alternative but I personally donāt find the format enticing to meā¦nothing wrong with the program though
Then teach him how to determine the beginning sound of words, the end sounds of words and the middle vowel. Do lots of middle vowel practice.
Finally ensure he is strong in those top 100 sight words work on between 5-10 a week. Print them on colored paper and point to them randomly until he can say them instantly. Also use them for writing practiceā¦spelling words. Write them in play dough letters, sand writing, fridge magnets, cooked spagetti, mashed potato, tomato sauce, shaving cream, paint themā¦
After that itās advanced phonics when you get thereā¦ repost
Oh I should add my daughters teacher in grade 1 used flash cards to teach the whole class their phonics combinations, she did 10 or so each day, each set for at least a week, the kids had to repeat the sound after her, when they started to beat her saying the sound she traded it out for another sound combination. It worked, as I read with these kids ( as reading tester) I could hear them saying each of the possible sounds each letter or combination of letters made until they got the word right. This was a rather left brained flashing system ( active rather than passive) but still effective.
Any method will work as long as children are taught phonics. Yes, many children (about half) are capable of learning to read using whole word methods without much (or any) specific instruction in phonics. the ones who are successful will pick up the phonics they need subconsciously. I was one of these. However, many other children will founder later about third grade level reading
when they move into reading longer, more technical words that are not in their speaking vocabulary (and therefore they cannot guess them with the letter clues they have). Without good guidance at this point many children plateau at a low level of reading skill. Others just struggle through but are eventually successful. We should want to make reading and learning easier not more difficult.
Whole word literacy is quite possible for many children but not advisable as the sole method of learning to read. Both left and right brained learning are essential parts of the process. Phonics rules are also spelling rules and morph into grammar rules. Spelling and grammar are important as well. Of course, I prefer using my own materials (jonesgeniuses.com - Threshold to Reading) but I recognize there are many other effective literacy programs out there although few are designed for infants and pre-schoolers as ours are.
You donāt necessarily need to buy any product if you are willing to learn the 46 sounds in English and how they are represented by the letters of the alphabet. The alphabet has 26 letters and, for example, all vowels have long and short sounds (how do you know which to say?). There are also five Other Vowel Sounds represented by vowel combinations mostly. Vowels are the most important but consonants like C and G both have a hard and a soft sound. A few other things are needed as well. Learning how to teach that to a toddler is the tricky part. Make your letters really large. Childrenās visual acuity is still developing the younger they are. They cannot distinguish the difference between small letters, just cannot see well enough yet.