How do children learn to read if we aren't teaching them?

There are lots of activities that one might not associate with "learning to read" and yet they are activities that are helping a child learn to read. I believe that children who are non-readers (and early readers) should be read to every day. This is probably the single most important thing you can do to help your non-readers and early readers. As you read, you might casually put your fingers under the line you are reading to direct their eyes to the text, and you might occasionally point out a word or a phonetic example...but don't let it detract from the story. Always, always it should be fun and an enjoyable time...not a time for uncomfortable quizzing.

You can also make sure reading/writing is a daily part or your and your children's lives. Point out signs along the road, the words on the products you buy, whatever print is part of your daily life. Play the abc game as you drive through town. Model the sounds as you write out a grocery list..."Let's see...potatoes...starts with 'p'." and so on. Look for every opportunity to point out print...in a nonchalant sort of way.

One of the biggest helps with my children was to have them "write" a story or keep a journal. They would dictate, I would write, sounding out letters and modeling as we went. Then they could copy it in their own hand (or not) and then I would read it to them, they would "read" it to me, to their dad, to their teddy bear, to anyone who would listen. Always, always, it was done in the natural course of the day and without pushing. I have not yet met a child who wasn't eager to have you write down their story or a few sentences telling about their trip to the zoo, or jumping in the autumn leaves, or whatever is important to THEM.

Choose one or two of your child's favorite stories and read them over and over. Your child will know the story so well that they will have essentially memorized the story. Then let them "read" it to you over and over again. Over time, your child will tune in more and more to the words as they say them...especially if you are casually underlining the words with your fingers as you go. They will feel successful, and ultimately this is one more "brick in the wall" towards learning to read. Once they are somewhat successful and you are confident that they are recognizing the words to the story in context, you can write sentences on cards that they read to you 'out of context'...or out of the story. Later, use just words from the story.

In our family we have a regular time of the day when we read scripture together. I have the scriptures on CD, so we listen and each child follows along in his/her own set of scriptures. This way they hear a good model read, and also learn little by little to track the words. As they begin to be able to do this, I would make a bookmark out of clear acetate with a red line on the edge, so that they could use this to underline the place where you are. (At first you will have to do this for them.) It's important that it be a clear bookmark, because the eye naturally scans ahead as you read, and you do not want to prevent this from developing in the child by using an underliner that blocks the words in the next line. This is also one of the main reasons my children read well. Even my late readers very quickly began reading beyond "grade level" once they "clicked' and began to read. This is because they become used to reading words that are beyond the typical grade level.

My motto is "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass". Each of these little daily activities...and others that you find along the way...will build interest and capacity in your beginning readers. Of course your example is also key. I think it is practically impossible for a child to grow up in a truly literate home...where literacy is truly valued and modeled...without becoming literate themselves.

I also find that sometimes, it needs to be the right model as well. My child that took the longest time to learn to read was my first son. We did all the things that I've mentioned above and more, but by age 10-11, he was still not really reading fluently or independently. He would check out some small chapter books from the library and really struggle with them. (I had to keep reminding myself that he WOULD eventually read so as not to pressure him or make him feel that it was something he couldn't do.) It wasn't until my husband heard about the book Eragon and wanted to read it that my son took off with his reading. He watched my husband read this book and it also became dinnertime conversation (my oldest two girls had already read it.) As soon as my husband was finished, my son picked it up and read it straight through in less than a month...and then went on to read the next two in the series. Since then he has been an avid reader who carries books around in the pockets of his cargo jeans. I and my two oldest girls read constantly, and were great models, but not the 'right' models for him...he needed his dad for his model.

I had children who learned to read as early as age 4, and as late as 11 or 12, and everything in between. I have 5 of my own children whom I've taught to read. (I also taught 1st grade for 3 years and taught many children to read in the public school system.) With my own children, from a very early age, I would read to them, and add the other activities as they began to show interest and readiness. Not all children who are taught in the TJEd model are late readers, but some are and we don't stress about it. I believe that had my son been in public schools, or had I pushed him to read at the "norm" age for reading, he would have felt like a failure, he would perhaps have been in remedial reading classes and such, and he would have been turned off to it long before he was ready to learn. THAT would have been a huge hurdle for him to overcome...some children never do really overcome it.

These are just a few thoughts on teaching your child to read and are by no means comprehensive. I hope one or two of these ideas are helpful to you.
-Roxane