Whether or not you plan on homeschooling your children, you should make it your priority as the parent to teach them how to read. It is the single biggest factor in determining their future academic success, which indirectly also contributes to whether or not they will love school/learning. Do not rely on a school or a teacher to deal with this "hassle", as many children simply do not fit the one-size-fits-all approach offered in a classroom full of kids.
As I am embarking on teaching our fourth child to read, I thought I should share some things I have learned along the way.
I am a firm believer in the phonetic approach to reading. All of our kids have had very different learning styles so far, and some took longer to catch on than others, but I think it is imperative to take the time and effort to teach our children how to actually read, rather than just memorizing the meaning of a certain arrangement of letters.
Most public schools teach the "see and say" method, with some phonics thrown in here and there. The smart kids will pick up on it, while the slower ones will struggle with reading their whole lives.
The problem with English is that it is NOT a phonetic language. In Hungarian, for instance, everything is spelled 100% the way it is pronounced. Using the same 26 letters that we have in our alphabet, plus a few diphthongs and accent marks, they have a total of 42 sounds that make up every single word. One could read Hungarian perfectly just by knowing those sounds, without understanding or even knowing a single word in Hungarian.
English is not like that. The letter "a" alone can make a half dozen different sounds, while not being spelled any differently or having any accent marks. "ow" could say "owl" or "bowl". The words "read" and "read" have different meanings depending on how they are pronounced. Then there's "red" and "read"... you get the idea.
Nevertheless, a solid phonics foundation will help decipher most words, and the rest usually have uniform exceptions.
The phonetic steps to reading are:
1. Teach the vowels and their short sounds
That's "a" as in "apple", "e" as in "elephant", "i" as in "Indian", "o" as in "ostrich", and "u" as in umbrella.
I make a point not to tell the kids that vowels can make many other sounds, because I want to solidify certain basic concepts before moving on to all the exceptions. About 80% of words follow the strict one vowel/two vowel rules. But I do teach them the name of the letters: "A [ay] says a as in apple", etc.
2. Teach the sounds of the consonants
Again, stay with one sound per letter. For "c", it is enough to teach the [k] sound in "camel", not the [s] in "ceiling".
3. Teach consonant-vowel blends
Once your child knows the five vowels, start combining these with consonants he has learned, applying the one-vowel rule: If a word only has one vowel, that vowel usually says its short sound.
For example, "ba, be, bi, bo, bu".
This is the first step where kids have to blend two letters together, which is actually a major milestone in reading. Some kids will struggle for months trying to say two letters without leaving an unnatural gap in between, ("buh-a" instead of "ba"), while others will pick it up the first time. Be consistent in not allowing your child to add "uh" to the consonants, as this will only delay their blending. "b" says "b", not "buh".
There is no rush, just make sure to work with your child consistently and in small increments. If they or you are getting frustrated, it is high time to put the book down and try again another time.
It is important that kids get to where they can say these blends without having to sound out the two letters individually, i.e. "ba" instead of "b-a". It is helpful to ask the child to think of words that begin with those blends (such as "bag, bed, bit, Bob, bug)
4. Teach consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words with short vowels.
Once children have mastered the blends in step 3, all they need to learn is to add one more consonant at the end of a familiar blend, such as "ta-g". This is usually a pretty easy step.
5. Teach the long sounds of the vowels, and the two vowel rule
When your child is very comfortable reading CVC words, it is time to teach them the long sounds of the vowels. If you have been teaching your child the names of the letters as well as their sounds, this is a quick step because the long vowel sounds are also the names of those vowels: "a" as in "acorn", "e" as in "eagle", "i" as in "ice-cream", "o" as in "overalls", and "u" as in "unicycle" or "u" as in "rule".
Then explain the two-vowel rule: "When there are two vowels in a word, the first one is usually long and the second one silent", or our kids' favorite: "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking; the second one is silent - shhh!"
When the child has mastered the long sounds, practice reading words with two vowels, like "bake", "bee", "read", "Mike", "road", and "mule". Then practice how the difference between a short vowel and a long vowel can alter the meaning of the word, such as "rip-ripe", "Jan - Jane", etc.
6. Add beginning and ending blends
Next, rather just reading words that start or end with just one consonant, use consonant blends: "Blake", "flag", "camp", etc.
7. Teach sight words
There are a few words that, even with a phonetic approach, will still have to be memorized as sight words because they follow no obvious pattern whatsoever. Common first sight words include "the", "a", "I", "you", "to", "do", "from", "one".
You can make an endless number of phrases and sentences by combining these sight words with the simple one and two vowel words above, for example: "Blake fed the five pigs."
8. Teach diphthongs, exceptions, and special phonics rules
Time-wise, this last step will likely take up as much time as steps 1-7 above. Depending on which reading program you are using, there are likely a hundred or so of these listed.
They start with simple diphthongs like "sh" in "ship", "th" in "that", "th" in "think", "wh" in "what", "ch" in church, etc.
One common exception is that "s" sometimes sounds like "z" at the end of words, i.e. in "kids". Another common exception is that short words that only have one vowel at the end of the word usually say the long vowel sound, such as "we", "go", "be", etc.
Then there is a long, long list of special letter combinations, such as "ow" in "owl" or "bowl", "oo" in "moon" or "book", "ay" as in "pray" (y acting as a second silent vowel, rather than a consonant), etc.
At this point, it would definitely be best to use a successful, phonics-based reading program to make sure you cover all your bases.
During this final step, your child's reading will at some point take off to the extent that you no longer need to teach them these special rules and exceptions - they will simply figure them out and internalize them as they decipher more and more words on their own. Again, each child will have his/her individual learning style, and may do so sooner or later than another child from the same family.
Our two oldest (8 and 7 years old) both read at an adult level. This is a tremendous help and blessing, as I can simply assign them their daily school work, and they can work it independently. They also each read for a couple of hours every afternoon while I do chores or nap, and it is mind-boggling how much information and facts they take in during that time. John is on step 8 above , and probably won't be done learning all the special phonics sounds until he finishes up first grade next summer. Miriam is just starting on steps 1 and 2.
I have used and can highly recommend the following as my favorite reading programs:
A Beka "Handbook for Reading" A Beka also offers a plethora of related phonics items, which add up to several hundred dollars' worth. While nice to have for those who are independently wealthy, the "Handbook for Reading" is the only thing needed to teach your child all steps listed here. The teacher edition gives lots of tips and pointers for those new to teaching reading.
LFBC's "Beginner's Champion Phonics Reader" Same approach, not as colorful as A Beka. Good for students who are distracted by colorful pages with lots and lots of interesting pictures, or those who prefer a less "childish" approach.
Nothing fancy or expensive, and nothing that will require an addition to your house to store year after year. Patience and perseverance are the two main keys to teaching your child to read, and neither can be bought with money or ordered from a publisher online.
Bribing your student with gummy bears or other small candies for each correctly read column or line also helps greatly! :)