Teaching Phonics and Reading at home

Teaching a child to read independently is the most important life skill that you can teach him.

Learning phonics is the first step to reading. Most parents will send their kids to phonics enrichment classes. However, even if you pay money to send to such classes, the teachers will still tell you that you must practice with your child at home.

I have been teaching my boy phonics at home for about 8 months. I am a full time working mummy, and I can only afford to teach him about 15 minutes a day. Checkout my blog about my method of teaching, as well as the teaching materials.

http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/

It was tough at first, I took more than 1 month to teach my boy to read 3 letter words with the vowel "a". He is the type who cannot sit still and cannot focus even for a few minutes. He also needs many repetitions before he can understand or remember the technique. I had to think of fun and interesting ways to teach him. It takes a lot of patience. He progresses slowly and steadily, and now he has become very comfortable with the routine of studying for 15 minutes a day. He enjoys learning with me also because this is the time of the day when he has my undivided attention.

At the same time, I also let him read 1 page of the Ladybird Keyword series (available at Popular Book Shop)every day. Now after 8 months, he is able to read Books 5a and 5b, which have pages of about 100 words. This series is excellent at building up his confidence to read. Here’s the photo of a page from Book 5a. He can read it on his own the first time. He is 3 years 11 months old.

I think any parent who can read English, is capable of teaching their child to read at home ! Teaching your child to read is also the best way to bond with them.