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Phonics is one way to teach children how to read. Using letter-sound associations, it helps children learn to decipher new words. It is not the only way to teach reading but it is the best way. It has proven to be effective when taught systematically.  Yes, that is very important. You want to reap the full benefits of phonics instruction, you need to teach it  systematically.

Not only does phonics teach children how to read, but it also contributes to their spelling and comprehension.  Phonics is most beneficial to those who are just learning to read and children who have trouble reading. The best time to start phonics instruction is when your children are at the kindergarten age.

So, what is the best way to teach phonics?

• Teach children that letters and combination of letters represent different sounds. Teach them how to blend the sounds together to make words. Don’t just teach “c” is /c/, “a’ is /a/ and “t” is /t/. Teach them how when put together, it becomes the word “cat”.
• Use “explicit” instruction rather than embedded, implicit or analogy instruction.
  Here are some examples of direct instruction:
  -  Show the child the letter “b” and tell them that it represents the sound /b/.
  - Teach them how to write it and while they write, have them say the sound /b/.
  - Put a picture of the letter “b” on the wall, and have them throw a ball at it while chanting the sound /b/.
  - Play “sound bingo”.

  Here are examples of non-direct teaching that you should avoid.
  - DON’T show them the letter “b” and tell them that it is called “bee”. Teach them the sounds, not so much the letter names. Letter names won’t teach them how to read.
  - DON’T equate the letter “a” to apple, or “b” for “ball”.  You need to relate the letter to the sound, not to a word or object.
  - DON’T have them color or circle pictures as a way to identify letter sounds. Only do it after they already know how to recognize the letter-sound association, and they can hear and isolate the sounds. Using pictures can be confusing too. You might have a picture of an owl but your child might call it a bird instead. And although “owl” begins with the letter “o”, it doesn’t begin with the /o/ sound but rather the /ow/ sound.”

• Make sure you have a plan how you are going to cover the complete phonemic code. Don’t teach haphazardly. Have a system. For example, first give them a foundation of basic, simple letter-sound relationship. Then, advance to blends, consonant digraphs, vowel combinations, r-controlled vowels and other complexities.  There may be 26 letters but there are 44 sounds.
• Teach in small chunks at a time. Give children time to practice and master what they’ve learned before moving on.
• Pronounce the sounds correctly. For example, /b/ is not “buh”. The sound should be short and crisp. If you add the “uh” to every sound, it will be more difficult for your child to learn how to blend the sounds to make words.

Learning letter-sound association is only one tool to helping your children learn to read, but it is a very effective tool.

If you are looking for a software that will help you teach phonics in a systematic way, take a look at ClickN Read Phonics. The lessons are all ready online. It will feel like a fun game to play on the computer. It generates a report after each lesson so you know whether your child has mastered the sounds yet or not. You can repeat the lessons as many times as you want.

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The last few weeks I’ve been a bit more diligent in teaching my son (who just turned 4 years old) to write. In school, learning to write alphabets can be boring. The teacher writes the alphabet at the top of the page, and the students fill up the rest of the page.  This is definitely NOT the best way to teach a young child to write. It is too boring for them. Before they can finish 1 row of alphabets, they would have already diverted their attention somewhere else. Forcing them to finish the work makes things worse.

Below are pictures of what I’ve been doing with my son, just in case you’re looking for some ideas on how to teach early writing.

Instead of writing rows and rows of the alphabet, I have him do “rainbow alphabets”. Tracing the alphabets in different colors makes the work more fun.

Here is how I have him practice writing the alphabets.  He has to fill in the missing letters. As you can see, I’ve written the words at the top of the page so he can use them as a guide. So it is not just a writing exercise, it is also encouraging his observation and deductive skills. This exercise helps in his reading too.  I believe learning to write this way is more meaningful because he is “creating” words rather than just writing an alphabet over and over again.

On the right page, he was practicing to write the letters “m”, “a” and “t”. I just wrote a whole bunch of words that began with those alphabets, and then let him fill in the blanks to complete the word. Again, not only did he get writing practice, but also phonics.

On the left page I was giving him practice differentiating the letters “b” and “d”. He was a bit confused, not knowing whether to write the “line” first (as for the letter “b”) or the “curve” (as in the letter “d”). I drew an arrow to the left of the alphabet and asked him, if her were standing there looking at the alphabet, what would he see first, the line or the curve? If her saw the line first, then he should draw the line first and vice versa. That helped him a bit to remember how to write “b”s and “d”s.

Of course, the key to all this is praise, praise, praise. As you can see the many stars he got after he completed the work.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money buying worksheets. A simple lined book will do. You also don’t have to spend a lot of time teaching. One page a day is good. It really takes considerable effort for their little hands to manipulate the pencil. My son will complain how his hand hurts after writing. I have to remind him to not hold the pencil too tight. I will then massage his hand a little just to make him feel good and to show I care That stops him from whining and motivates him to do some more work. Hehehe.

I hope I have helped to give you some teaching ideas. Do leave a comment if you have other ideas or if this has worked for you too.

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My 3 year old son is using this program and loves it. Why don’t you give it a try too.

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Here’s a list of skills that you can help your kindergartner with:

• Recognize upper and lower case letters.
• Learn consonant sound and short vowel sounds.
• Identify rhyming words. If you give them two words, they should be able to tell you if they rhyme or not.
• Be able to produce rhyming words. Give them one word and ask them to think of another word that rhymes.
• Give exercises to identify initial sounds. You can show a bunch of pictures and have them pick out ones that start with a certain sound. Another idea would be to have a row of pictures and have them select a picture that has the same initial sound as the first picture. You can also write several letters underneath a picture and have them circle the correct letter that represents the initial sound of the picture.
• Teach them how to write their name.
• Teach them to count up to 30.
• Help them learn 1-1 correspondence. In other words, not only do the know how to rattle off numbers but they can relate it to quantity. Together you can count the staircase, apples, candies, chairs, cars etc….
• Teach them to recognize numbers up to 20.
• Learn how to recognize patterns. You can do this easily with a pencil and paper. Just draw simple drawings like “moon”, “star”, “moon”, “star” ___? Ask them what comes next.
• Play board games that use a die. Teach them how to recognize the number of dots on the die without counting.

You can give your children a few minutes of fun playing online games.  There are online phonic programs and also online spelling programs you can use. Children love animation and if the program is enjoyable, they will learn quickly. Plus, different forms of learning will break the monotony.

Have fun playing around with words and numbers.

When you talk about homeschooling, a lot of people imagine children sitting together at a table, scouring over workbooks under the watchful eyes of mom or dad. This is the not entirely true. There are different methods of homeschooling, and the method you choose will decide the curriculum and your style of teaching.

Given below are some of the most influential and popular homeschooling methods.

The Charlotte Mason method
Charlotte Mason is known as the founder of the homeschooling movement. A homeschooler herself, she was passionate in her zeal to lay out the foundations for an effective a complete homeschooling program that is fun and educational at the same time. This method focuses on all the core subjects with emphasis placed on classical literature, poetry, fine arts, classical music and craft. Mason used a variety of books from classical literature, which she called ‘Living Books’. Since this method encourages a passionate awareness of literature, the child is read to daily from the ‘Living Books’. After this, the child is asked to narrate what she has heard. This process begins at the age of six, and by ten the child is expected to write her narrations in her book. Mason also advocated the use of ‘Nature Diaries’. After each short and interesting lesson, the child is asked to go to Nature and draw observations from Nature. Thus the child also gains a sense of respect for her environment. Mason believed that development of good character and behavior was essential to the complete development of the child’s personality.

The Eclectic Homeschooling
This is a mixture of various homeschooling techniques. Here, the innovative parents trust their own judgment and pick out the topics that make the best curriculum for their child. Such parents continuously look out for the best products that will meet the needs of their homeschoolers. Most Eclectic homeschooling curriculums are improvised. This means that the basic curriculum is ready-made. The parents then make changes in the curriculum to
accommodate the individual needs and interests of their children. The child’s gifts, temperament, learning style and interests dictate the curriculum. Eclectic programs include visits to the museum, libraries and factories.

Unschooling
A Boston public educator name John Holt laid the beginnings of the unschooling method. He believed that children learned best when they are free to learn at their own pace and when they are guided by their own interests. His message was to ‘unschool’ the child. This method is a hands-on approach to learning, where the parent takes definite cues from the children. There is no definite curriculum, schedules or materials. This method is the most unstructured of the various homeschooling techniques.

The Montessori Method
This method began in Italy, when it was observed that children have acute sensitive periods, during which they undergo periods of intense concentration. During such phases, a child will repeat an activity till he gains a measure of self-satisfaction. The Montessori method depends on a prepared environment to facilitate learning. All the materials used in this method are designed to satisfy the inner desire for spiritual development of the child. The materials used progress from simple to complex, and are rather expensive.

I hope these examples of different homeschooling methods have been helpful. Just remember that when choosing the right homeschooling method, be flexible and take into account your childrens desires and interest. The secret is to use the child’s desire for knowledge to further his education.

Don’t miss out on these awesome homeschooling freebies.

When you’re on the computer and your kid comes to you asking for some attention, why don’t you plop him/her on your lap and open up to the following website and read a short story. Reading to your children doesn’t have to take long. If you are very busy, you can still squeeze in 5-10 minutes of reading. Reading aloud is one of the best ways to teach children to read.

Magickeys Children’s Storybooks Online

p.s. You can sign up for my free e-course on “Teaching Your Children To Read and Spell“.