The Best Learning to Read Homeschool Curriculum is the one that works!
Learning to read, it’s the reason some people start homeschooling and it’s the fear that stops others from homeschooling. We are seven years into our homeschooling and I have 3 voracious readers. None of which I can take much credit for, though: when they were learning to read, they each learned differently. The best learning-to-read homeschool curriculum is the one that fits your family. Having an autistic student, one with dyslexia, and one who was an early reader meant we used a variety of programs and methods to learn to read and they all ended with the same results, a young person who could read and loves doing so.
The best advice I ever received was that there wasn’t a magical program that would work for everyone, but that there is value in using a program to systematically introduce the letter sounds and blends to the child. That one piece of advice gave me the freedom to try different things for each child and to remember that the end goal was most important, not how we got there.
Reader #1- My Early Reader and Practice Child
My oldest has the privilege of being my practice child, we both learned together what it was like to teach a child to read. At times I pushed too hard and expected results too quickly. She was an early reader. Our homeschool experience started with preschool at home learning a letter of the week. After we made our way to Z, I started again with some different pre-reading activities from Raising Rock Stars and a Hooked on Phonics set from Goodwill. It had audio cassettes!
After introducing a few letter sounds to her she picked up reading quickly and we dutifully read through the Hooked on Phonics books to cover everything. She was easy-peasy. She was taking beginning chapter books to Kindergarten to read in her free time and dressed up as Samantha the American Girl for the book parade in Kindergarten which she attended for 1 semester before returning to homeschool.
Reader #2- The Autistic Wiggle Worm
He never showed the readiness signs for learning so he did not do formal preschool at home like his sister. Because he had an IEP attended a Special Education class for Pre-Kindergarten and was introduced to the letter sounds at school, he easily made the connections when he started homeschooling in Kindergarten. He worked through the 1st-grade reader from My Father’s World during his Kindergarten year to learn the blends and sounds. He needed to see the structure of a traditional classroom to understand how to focus when it was time to learn at home.
His favorite book practice reading was Farmyard Tales from Usborne. It’s a collection of stories with 2 reading levels on each page. The beginning reader can read the larger print and the parent can read the smaller print to add details. The story works if only the child reads as well. The stories each follow a similar format and have familiar phrases repeated in each story, and they’re always sweet and fun stories.
Reader #3- Dyslexic “Late” Bloomer
I laughingly call my third reader a late reader, but really he wasn’t. He was just a late reader for our house, and ahead in much of his other learning. Because of this disparity in his learning, we did have him evaluated very early for dyslexia by a psychologist. The testing did confirm that he was dyslexic. What I didn’t realize until I did more research was he showed the strengths of dyslexia as early as 12 months old! As a toddler, he was building towers of blocks that were structurally sound. He didn’t experience the frustration of his towers falling over until he was 5 and had a baby cousin to knock them over. He continues to struggle with the writing and spelling challenges of dyslexia despite overcoming the reading challenges.
We tried the programs his siblings had used but the letter sounds weren’t sticking. All About Reading is highly recommended for students with dyslexia, so we tried it. It uses the Orton-Gillingham approach which is proven for dyslexic readers. It takes very little prep work and is quite hands-on. We took it at his pace and started making progress. Some lessons he understood right away and others took a full week to learn. Eventually, something clicked and he knew he could read! Now he’s racing ahead trying to keep up with his siblings.
Building Fluency and Stamina
Once each of my students had mastered the basics of learning to read we switched to using Sonlight’s leveled readers to build fluency. These grade-level book sets each contain a variety of real books for the student to read at their level. I love the real literature in the pack and the variety genres included. The book pack also comes with a reading schedule and comprehension questions you can use to assign readings and check their understanding.
We visit the library frequently and they each receive their own library card when they can read independently. Each time we visit I help each child pick out books that interest them. I have noticed my boys tend to lean more toward non-fiction while my daughter prefers fiction. Graphic Novels and Comic books have been very popular at our house as well. The small bits of text are less overwhelming to new readers than a full page of words. Did you know Calvin and Hobbes is written for a 5th-6th grade reading level? More publishers are printing visually interesting non-fiction: one of our favorites is Science Comics.
Family Habits
Reading is a part of our family culture. Dad spends time each evening reading bedtime stories to the family. At times it’s either literature I select from our school list or his own favorites. Children can comprehend several levels above what they can personally read. Hearing classic stories encourages the kids to want to read more stories on their own. “Just one more chapter,” is a commonly heard request before bed. Some recent favorites he has read include The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes, and The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson. On road trips, we also choose audiobooks to pass the time.
Learning to read doesn’t have to be a stumbling block to homeschooling. What matters is that they learn to read eventually. It can be a joy to experience the discovery together no matter when it happens. Creating a family culture of sharing stories together and offering a variety of styles allows children to feast and discover.
What is your favorite way to teach reading? What scares you about teaching reading?
