[email protected]

My son just turned 6 today. :)

He has mentioned a few times in the last two days that he wants me to help him to learn reading.

It caught me by surprise.

I thought he would learn reading the way like other unschoolers through playing more games since he likes games. I didn't expect him to make this specific request.

Now I am a little bit at a loss about what to do.

Should I get some phonic DVDs?

Does he expect me to "teach" him reading?

How should I help him to learn reading?

What came to my mind:
Get leapfrog DVDs (he enjoyed it when he was a baby and learned letters through that)

Find books to read for him? (but what kind of books? books on reading? or books he may enjoy?)

I would appreciate some input on this.

Thank you very much

Jihong (Joy)

Sandra Dodd

-=-Should I get some phonic DVDs?-=-

No.

-=-Get leapfrog DVDs (he enjoyed it when he was a baby and learned letters through that)-=-

Nah.

Get some 3x5 cards and write down words he already knows. His name. Names from video games he likes, or movies, or games. Kepe a pile of words he knows. Maybe make some of words kind of like those. If he can't read them, don't make a deal about it. Play with the cards sometimes, and sometimes don't. :-) Maybe rearrange them on the table or the floor by the length of the words, or in alphabetical order.

Just play with them, and he will be reading single words, and you'll be showing him what he already recognizes.

Maybe you'll play once and there will be 20 cards and he'll be done.

Maybe you'll play twenty times and there will be 300 cards.

Don't attach yourself to one vision of it or another, but you will have done something, and he will see some patterns. He might not be ready "to read" yet, but he might be ready to sort what he can read from what he can't.

Maybe you could draw two cards from your set and make a sentence with them (not by writing it down, necessarily, even just talking). If you pull "Orion" and "zombie" you could say Orion hid from the zombies or something.

Make it a game, not "a lesson."

Sandra

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Meredith

"whatismyusername@..." <whatismyusername@...> wrote:
>> What came to my mind:
> Get leapfrog DVDs (he enjoyed it when he was a baby and learned letters through that)

There are a bunch of kids' PC games which doing "reading" sorts of things - Reader Rabbit and Playschool Preschool and a Dr Seuss game and others. Hunt around on Amazon and you'll find a bunch. But pick games which look fun rather than for "educational" content.

You could also suggest things like putting the captions/subtitles on tv and movies. Does he have any video games which involve reading? I found Mo ignored most of the text on video games and just figured things out without reading things for a long time, but now she likes captions on games with mostly spoken dialog. She's a big fan of captions in general. You could point things like that out to your son and mention that its reading.

> Find books to read for him? (but what kind of books? books on reading? or books he may enjoy?)

If he likes you to read to him, read him books he enjoys. He might like it if you read "younger" books to him so he can memorize them and "read" them back on his own. A lot of kids use that as part of how they learn to read. Or, if he likes to tell stories, offer to write them down for him so you can read them back to him and he can read them to himself and others.

He may want to read but not be ready to read - Mo went through that with riding a bike, wanting to before she could manage the trick of it. Give him chances to play with words, but also reassure him that he doesn't have to read right now. Has he said Why he wants to learn to read? Sometimes kids get the idea they Should from tv or friends or relatives, so its good to check in on that and find out what his motivation may be.

---Meredith

ceci

=== He has mentioned a few times in the last two days that he wants me to help him to learn reading. ===

I've been planning to take my DDs (2.5 and 5) to a Korean-style karaoke place -- private room just for our party.  That was becaue they love to sing and dance and perform, but I imagine it would be a fun way to practice reading if your son likes singing, too!

Ceci


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Mica

Perhaps your son could choose, from the multitude of options that are
possible, and inspiration might arise from the circumstances that inspired
his request.

Your son has already begun learning how to read. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt
to mention that while you're playing games using the skills he has already
gained (you mentioned letters, Sandra mentioned cards of his known words).

My boys made obvious to me the remarkable differences between children's
paths to reading. While one went from letter game cards and the alphabet
and one or two words from a favourite book to deduction and whole word
recogntion around 4-5yo; the other had fewer letters for longer, no
alphabetic order (which is not necessary for reading but I remember learning
it at the time reading was taught when I was in school), and some word
recognition from gameplay until he was around 8, when he asked for reading
lessons to fill in a gap he felt compared to other children.

We talked about different ways he could choose to learn (from my experienced
and theoretical knowledge and imagination), the ways I'm suited to help
directly and the ways that I could help indirectly - and he chose to try
learning the "code". At that point we spent a few minutes a day on a page or
two at a time in a couple of fun books that presented phonemes. Within two
months he was happily independently typing to others in his online games (he
had already been communicating by typing in what he had asked us to write
down - the words he wanted to say) and reading whatever he likes.

The books we found just right for him appeared coincidentally at the time:
one I happened upon at an op-shop for AU50cents
http://www.librarything.com/work/details/4657373 and the Dorling-Kindersley
Phonics book borrowed from a friend
http://www.librarything.com/work/4602176/book/24868645

I've heard of children who enjoy drawing, painting and collage focussing
some creations on their phonemic gleanings. I've heard others riff
poetically with phonemic emphases. Someone else whose child loved baking
cookies obtained cookie cutters in letter shapes and baked special words.

Mica

On Mon, Oct 24, 2011 at 5:01 AM, whatismyusername@... <
whatismyusername@...> wrote:

> **
>
>
> My son just turned 6 today. :)
>
> He has mentioned a few times in the last two days that he wants me to help
> him to learn reading.
>
> It caught me by surprise.
>
> I thought he would learn reading the way like other unschoolers through
> playing more games since he likes games. I didn't expect him to make this
> specific request.
>
> Now I am a little bit at a loss about what to do.
>
> Should I get some phonic DVDs?
>
> Does he expect me to "teach" him reading?
>
> How should I help him to learn reading?
>
> What came to my mind:
> Get leapfrog DVDs (he enjoyed it when he was a baby and learned letters
> through that)
>
> Find books to read for him? (but what kind of books? books on reading? or
> books he may enjoy?)
>
> I would appreciate some input on this.
>
> Thank you very much
>
> Jihong (Joy)
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Joyce Fetteroll

On Oct 24, 2011, at 12:35 AM, Mica wrote:

> I've heard of children who enjoy drawing, painting and collage
> focussing
> some creations on their phonemic gleanings. I've heard others riff
> poetically with phonemic emphases. Someone else whose child loved
> baking
> cookies obtained cookie cutters in letter shapes and baked special
> words.

But I would keep the vision firmly planted on the child, not on
reading. Find *fun*, challenging, intriguing things to do rather than
reading things to do.

Creating cookie words sounds fun because it's such a funny, unusual
concept that kids might find delightful because it's surprising and
unexpected in life. If it's done for reading purposes it would quickly
become unfun. It could quickly taint cookie baking. And painting,
drawing, collaging.

Joyce

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

alma

When my older son was 6 he asked the same. But, in discussion with him, it turned out that the boy next door (same age, but at school) had implied my son was stupid because he couldn't yet read.

Just something for you perhaps to consider.
Alison
DS1(9) and DS2(6)

--- In [email protected], "whatismyusername@..." <whatismyusername@...> wrote:
>
> My son just turned 6 today. :)
>
> He has mentioned a few times in the last two days that he wants me to help him to learn reading.
>
> It caught me by surprise.
>
> I thought he would learn reading the way like other unschoolers through playing more games since he likes games. I didn't expect him to make this specific request.
>
> Now I am a little bit at a loss about what to do.
>
> Should I get some phonic DVDs?
>
> Does he expect me to "teach" him reading?
>
> How should I help him to learn reading?
>
> What came to my mind:
> Get leapfrog DVDs (he enjoyed it when he was a baby and learned letters through that)
>
> Find books to read for him? (but what kind of books? books on reading? or books he may enjoy?)
>
> I would appreciate some input on this.
>
> Thank you very much
>
> Jihong (Joy)
>

maltmanjamie

There's a bunch of karaoke sites online - most offer some free songs, and then monthly fee options for more songs and more options (like recording videos, etc)

Google: Online Free Karaoke

Its funny - if a child is specifically asking for them, some of the Doman methods we were talking about in the other thread related to reading could be a good idea. Just keep it fun and pressure free. :)

Cheers,
Jamie (the Dad)

--- In [email protected], ceci <catfish_friend@...> wrote:
>
> === He has mentioned a few times in the last two days that he wants me to help him to learn reading. ===
>
> I've been planning to take my DDs (2.5 and 5) to a Korean-style karaoke place -- private room just for our party.  That was becaue they love to sing and dance and perform, but I imagine it would be a fun way to practice reading if your son likes singing, too!
>
> Ceci
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Pamela Sorooshian

A parent who watches their child - observes that the child is interested in letters and sounds and words, would be adding to the child's fun life by making letters with cookie dough. I remember DOING this, with my kids, as a matter of fact. We made dough and rolled it into long skinny snakes and made letter shapes out of them and baked them. Great fun for kids to make letters that were special to them - their initials, initials of pets, etc.

We also had magnetic letters on the refrigerator - lots of them. Just there and sometimes for months, maybe years, nobody touched them. Then, suddenly, I would notice someone was making words out of them. When the kids were a little older we had magnetic poetry words. And, again, sometimes nobody would touch them for months and then somebody would get interested and sometimes that would also get others interested and we might have a week or a month or a year of a lot of interesting refrigerator-writing. These refrigerator things are particularly 'passive' on the part of the person (mom) who stuck them on the fridge, but I see no problem with offering stuff. If you have a kid who is sensitive to things seeming schoolish or like forced lessons, then be careful because even such passive stuff might transmit a sense of anxiety or urgency to your child.

You don't NEED these kinds of things in order for a child to learn to read�.there is plenty of opportunity to engage with letters, sounds, and words in naturally-occuring ways in a family life that is filled with all kinds of interesting stuff.

Joyce's warning about it being done "for reading purposes" might be misunderstood to mean parents should not do anything to support a child learning to read. Making cookie letters might be done for reading purposes, meaning that a child is showing interest in moving toward reading - by being interested in letters, sounds and words. The issue is whether this is the child's purpose that a parent is recognizing and facilitating, or the parent's purpose without regard to the child's actual level of interest.

ON the other hand, if baking was already an interest, saying, "We could make letter shapes," might be a way for a mom to find out if that is an interest. A kid might respond enthusiastically. Or the kid might start making insect shapes instead and, for an unschooling mom, that would be just as cool as letter shapes.

I think that it is fine for parents to introduce things with the underlying hope that it will interest the child. I mean, why else would we introduce them? And letters, sounds, words, and reading are pretty likely candidates for being of interest at some point, so offering fun ideas that involve those should be a natural for unschooling parents. Play word games in the car or while waiting in line�sing and make up songs �play with rhymes. Get over or at least hide anxiety you might have about kids and reading, and let creating an environment in which letters, sounds, and words are considered fun and interesting and plentiful be a natural part of creating a stimulating and enriching life, in general.

The danger/warning is that parents who are anxious about reading will try to push these things on kids who are not interested. Kids will sense the parental anxiety and that can cause, as Joyce said, the related activities to also become "tainted."



What


On Oct 24, 2011, at 3:33 AM, Joyce Fetteroll wrote:

> Creating cookie words sounds fun because it's such a funny, unusual
> concept that kids might find delightful because it's surprising and
> unexpected in life. If it's done for reading purposes it would quickly
> become unfun. It could quickly taint cookie baking. And painting,
> drawing, collaging.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Rippy Dusseldorp

Happy 6th birthday to your son Jihong!

I thought of something that might be helpful to you. I have a laminated alphabet chart (with capital and lower case letters) that sits on a recipe stand on the window sill of our living room. It's a beautiful piece of art and it makes me happy to see it. My children play with it often in all sorts of cool ways that I never imagined.

Neither of my children are reading, but are having great fun with the process. Gianluca (6) likes to sound out words and he uses the chart to help him figure out words that have lower case letters. He already knows most of his capital letters and tries to sound those out without the chart. He also uses it to write words out. Last week he wrote 'lfnt' which I deciphered to be 'elephant'. He *loved* that I could read it.

The alphabet chart was so popular, I made another one for my daughter. The number chart (listing numbers 1-100) is also popular in our house and I've made one for each of the children now.

Rippy (Gianluca 6, Gisele 5)

JustSayin

I'm not sure why there would be anything wrong with getting some simple books (ones on subjects he likes would be cool, but any kind is fine) and sitting together and just simply reading them together. While you read them point at the words you are reading. Or have him read the words he can and you fill in the rest.

Just say, "hey, I got these books and you said you wanted to start reading, you want to sit with me and see how we do?" If he gets uncomfortable or bored, stop and have a laugh about it. If he loves it, keep going.

I remember years ago, before I had my own kids, reading with a friend's daughter in this way. She could have done it all day long. I honestly think I "helped" her learn to read just by sitting with her and helping her work through the sentences and words in her books (her mom was very young and had no patience for it. I was young too but I guess I had more patience).

Anyway it was fun for both of us - it was ages ago and I still remember it.

--Melissa

--- In [email protected], "whatismyusername@..." <whatismyusername@...> wrote:
>
> My son just turned 6 today. :)
>
> He has mentioned a few times in the last two days that he wants me to help him to learn reading.
>
> It caught me by surprise.
>
> I thought he would learn reading the way like other unschoolers through playing more games since he likes games. I didn't expect him to make this specific request.
>
> Now I am a little bit at a loss about what to do.
>
> Should I get some phonic DVDs?
>
> Does he expect me to "teach" him reading?
>
> How should I help him to learn reading?
>
> What came to my mind:
> Get leapfrog DVDs (he enjoyed it when he was a baby and learned letters through that)
>
> Find books to read for him? (but what kind of books? books on reading? or books he may enjoy?)
>
> I would appreciate some input on this.
>
> Thank you very much
>
> Jihong (Joy)
>

bobcatpris2000

> How should I help him to learn reading?


When my daughter wanted to learn how to read, I told her she probably already knew how to read lots of words and didn't know it. We started looking for words when we went places. She was surprised by how many words she did know, like stop, exit, do not enter, welcome, open / closed, order / pick-up, men / women, trash, and caution. She asked about a few food labels and words around the house, but didn't want much help after that. I didn't offer unless she asked, but I'd sometimes casually talk to myself and say a word, like if a door said "Push" or "Pull".

She also started guessing what signs or labels must say, by the context or place she saw them. If she guessed wrong, I'd say something like, "Oh, that starts with a 'L'. It makes the "laa" sound. And she'd guess again. And she really didn't want me to point out all the letters and get her to repeat it or any teaching help like that.

I also offered to put word name labels on things around the house. She only wanted a few things labelled, and then promptly took them down.


Priscilla

Pamela Sorooshian

On Oct 27, 2011, at 6:27 PM, bobcatpris2000 wrote:

> I also offered to put word name labels on things around the house. She only wanted a few things labelled, and then promptly took them down.
****

We used post-it notes to label things and then the kids goofed around with them and moved them, to be funny. Also, we left post-it note messages (simple words or drawings) in strange places like inside cupboards or under the toilet lid, etc. (Actually my mom did this and then the kids started doing it back to her at her house and doing it at home, too.)

-pam



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BRIAN POLIKOWSKY

My daughter Gigi is five years old and I read a lot to her. She names calves with dad ( we live in a Dairy Farm) and the calves name  are picked to start with the same letter as their mothers. She is always asking what does this name start with and related questions.

She also loves her Facebook account that I created for her. She writes little notes to her cousins that she loves. They write back. She knows how to write many things  likes, of course, cows, calves, calf.
She loves writing them and is getting better and better each day at it. She too wants to read and I have pointed out to her that she already knows a lot of words. She is happy for now. 

I did the same when my son wanted to read. I pointed out how much he already knew and that he was learning everyday ( he really knew a lot!) I also sat with him and read and helped him write while he was playing an online game and he wanted to communicate with other players. That was why he wanted to read so much. With me there  he was getting what he wanted and learned to read that way. He needed me less and less until he was reading fluently. He still asked me to spell things out as he wrote because he likes use correct spelling. He rarely does that now and usually when he is hand writing.

 
Alex Polikowsky

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