Educational Enchantment

Reading is the key to knowledge.

If you give your child the gift of reading you are enabling them to do anything they chose to do in life.
I hope to provide you with some simple tools which will help you ensure that your child or children have the key to a bright future.

I began teaching my 4 and 5 year old to read when they were 3 and 4 years old. I found that both of them were capable of learning to read and understand the concept that letters had sounds. They each had their own distinct learning style. My son who was 4 at the time relied on remembering pictures of items that had the sound of certain letters. For example, he would remember that an apple, begins with a short "a" sound, and when he would see an "a" he would think of the apple to get the sound. My daughter, however, would just relate the letter "a" with the short "a" sound.

I found that my daughter's attention could only be held for about 10 minutes, but that those 10 minutes were valuable.
I would strongly recommend a book called "Phonics Pathways" by Delores Hiskes. Here are a few sites which have this book. I don't know the reliability of these sites, I do know that you should be able to order the book through your local library or bookstore.

Book Titles
Educational Book Distributors Page

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After 3 weeks of the basics my five year old wanted to read "real books". This was a difficult task. I searched through all of the books that we had at home, which amounted to three bookshelves, and there wasn't a single book that only included the material that we had covered so far. I began helping him by letting him read the words in the comics that he knew as we came to them. He was overcome with pride as he successfully read those words. Still he wanted to read "real books" by himself without help. I was lucky enough to come across "Bob Books". I found these in a children's store and have since seen them in a few book stores.
"Bob Books" come in sets of 12 little paperback books that are color coded and numbered for difficulty. The first book in the first set is called "Mat". It uses short vowel sounds and consonants in short two and three letter words. It is simply illustrated but yet entertaining enough to hold the attention of a new reader.
I feel that "Bob Books" are a valuable tool to reinforce the sounds that your child has already learned and boost their confidence by showing that they can read.
Providing reading material that covers the material that has already been covered keeps your child from becoming frustrated and feeling like they aren't learning.

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Parents' Resources

I would recommend that all parents read the book "Why Johnny Can't Read" by Rudolf Flesch and his follow up book "Why Johnny Still Can't Read". Both of these books give you an insight into why children have problems learning to read and how to overcome them. They also provide some valuable teaching techniques.

I also recommend the The National Right to Read Foundation's "Right to Read Report".

If you would like more information on this you may e-mail me and I will try to provide the information you are requesting.

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An Educational Game