I am so excited about Storyteller’s new milestone that I just have to share what has been happening these last few weeks! We started formal reading lessons about 1 ½ years ago at the beginning of her kindergarten year so she’s been “reading” for some time now. But something clicked recently and she began actually reading! And yes, I’ve learned that there is a difference between the two stages. Teaching your child to read is one of the scariest tasks I’ve had as a new homeschool mom. But watching the progress and then seeing the light bulb go off for her as been absolutely amazing.!
Back in Kindergarten
Up until now, she has rarely wanted to read outside of her formal reading lessons. We actually call it a game which has helped encourage her to play. We used the first level of All About Reading for kindergarten. It was a struggle for most of the year. It took her close to 12 months to complete it. Part of the problem was consistency. It really helps to do short 20 minute sessions several times a week. We were lucky if we did a reading lesson 3 times a week and there were plenty of weeks when we only brought it out once or twice. I had a problem being consistent because she just didn’t want to do it most of the time. Luckily, All About Learning Press (the makers of All About Reading) have many tips for overcoming all of the obstacles we encountered. I think we eventually used all of the them! Looking back on the struggles we had, I should have made a stronger commitment to do it at least four days a week or even just put it away for a bit. I know now that not every kid is ready to jump into learning to read right at the beginning of kindergarten. Homeschooling gives us the freedom to follow the clues our kids are giving us about their readiness. I just didn’t realize it back then.
What a Difference a Year Makes
Now Storyteller is more than half way done with 1st grade. We’ve continued with All About Reading since we finished level 1 on a positive note. I really enjoy the program and she was doing well with it by the end of her kindergarten year. This year the reading lessons have been going far more smoothly.
All About Reading Level 2
We were about half way through level 2 when something clicked a few weeks ago. I’m not sure exactly why or how but she just started picking up books and reading them. When she came across a word she didn’t know she would often figure it out through the context of the story or the pictures. She often remembered it throughout the book and even when she encountered it days later in a different book. She is just starting to learn vowel teams and many of these words have vowel combinations that she hasn’t learned yet.
Up until this point, she would take 3-4 days to get through a reading lesson. All About Reading recommends doing 20 minutes a day and stopping even if the lesson isn’t completed. You just pick up the next day where you left off. Level 2 is broken into 57 lessons so the program is definitely not designed with the intent of getting through a whole lesson each day. Now that something has ignited the spark of reading for her, she is sailing through these lessons in half the time. The pace quickens even more when we get to lessons that introduce sounds that she is learning on her own.
The Quest for Good Books
I tried encouraging her to read stories outside of the reading lessons but we weren’t successful. It was incredibly frustrating to try finding early reader books, particularly ones with her favorite cartoon characters. The stories that come with All About Reading are interesting, fun, challenging and yet fully decodable. I spent so much time looking through the early readers at the library and each time I walked away disappointed. They are just so lame. The sentences and stories are much shorter than what she is reading in her lessons but the words contained many sounds (particularly vowel teams) that she hadn’t learned yet. I don’t mind feeding her a few words that she doesn’t know yet but it just seemed like too many. I stopped trying to find extra books for her to read.
One of the first books she read by her own initiative was one that I said had too many new sounds that she hadn’t learned yet. She wanted to read it anyway. I was so surprised at how fast she figured out the new sounds without much help from me. Now, she picks up many of the books we bring home from the library even if they’re not the early readers. She loves reading to her little sister!
She’s been reading for 1 ½ years through All About Reading but this is the first time that she’s actually wanted to read regularly outside of the lessons. She is figuring out words based on the context of the story and remembering new sounds that she is learning through this process. Teaching your child to read may be one of the scariest tasks for a homeschool parent but it’s also one of the most rewarding. What an exciting time it has been for us to witness this milestone!
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[…] once she realized that these are books that she will be reading. I have been so thrilled with the progress she has been making but she is terrified of reading chapter books. The small print and number of words per page is […]