Teaching Kids to Read

I love love love seeing my kids sitting around reading for pleasure! As a homeschooling mom, I didn't push reading like a crazy person. With Joel, we tried "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and HATED IT! I threw it across the room in frustration. It did not work for either Joel or Michael. Instead, I like to make sure they recognize their letters FIRST, then know the SOUNDS that go with the letters. Then they can sound out words. After that, we cover sight words and weird rules as they come up.

Joel just read The Hunger Games and loved it. Michael likes Calvin and Hobbes. Hey, comics still count as reading!

Some people are mean about WHEN a kid learns to read. Does it matter, if you are homeschooled and there is nobody to make fun of you? I think not. I'd rather NOT push my kids and then have them ENJOY reading instead of PUSH them for my OWN benefit and then watch them hate it and struggle along. That's just me. I don't feel the need to compete with other parents. I know we rock.

 My baby is so cute when he snuggles up with a book! He used to hate reading, and I tried all sorts of genres on him to get him to read. Then he saw me reading The Hunger Games and asked about it. I decided to let him check it out. No nightmares, and he read it within a week. Ah, the value of a good book.

This is a sight I will sorely miss someday: my boys quietly reading in our family room. Maybe someday I'll have ALL my kids reading in the family room together, alongside Aron and I!

What are YOU reading today?