We started All About Reading Level 1 several months ago with 5yr. old dd. She knew all her letter names and sounds, so this was the next step for her. After a couple lessons though, we put it aside for awhile because she just wasn’t ready to continue. She was having some difficulty understanding how to sound out words.
She just wasn’t getting it, no matter how much we tried. I didn’t want her to become frustrated or unsure of herself, so I decided to let her learn at her own pace and set aside formal reading lessons for awhile.
We started our Nursery Rhyme unit and read lots and lots of books. She helped me “teach” her little sister using All About Reading Pre-Level 1.
 |
| Sight Word Sheet from You Can Read program |
Fast forward a couple months and she was starting to recognize familiar words such as off, on, mom, dad, etc. So this past week we started back up with our reading lessons. Much to my surprise she remembered quite a bit! The assignment for the day was to read two stories in Run, Bug, Run! I wasn’t sure how this was going to go— if she was really ready for reading on her own.
I was shocked when she started reading! I mean, not sounding out the words but reading! We have a new reader in the house! I can’t tell you how proud she is of this accomplishment.
She carries this book around the house and will read her stories to whomever will listen. She also sits and reads them over and over on her own! So now we will be moving through the rest of our AAR lessons. She’s so excited to learn!
If you are wondering if you child is ready to read, check out this Reading Checklist.
Linking up to:
Weekly Homeschool Wrap-Up
Moments to Remember
You might also be interested in:
Organizing All About Reading
Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this post. If you choose to use them, thank you for supporting this site.
Aw! How cute she is in the last photo! You can see her excitement! Congratulations! It's QUITE an accomplishment to start reading!
What an exciting milestone!! She looks sooooo happy : )
I'm so happy to read this! When we stop ourselves from pushing our children, especially when they are not ready, and let them go at their own pace, they not only succeed, they feel proud. My son has Down syndrome, and sounding out words is very, very difficult for him (not uncommon in DS children). So he learns by sight reading, whole language, and a few phonograms sprinked in. I have to take a hands-off approach, not push him, let his teachers and aide work with him, and above all, want him to love reading!
your post is giving me hope!!!! i'm so ready to tear my hair out and already my little one is saying she hates reading…breaks my heart!
SO great!! I love when they pick up the book and realize they CAN read on their own! It's a huge milestone! Great job MOM for knowing when to "let it go" for a bit and when to try it again:)
@ Lisa – love reading is the goal!
@ Leah – yes, there is hope! An older child of mine wasn't weren't ready to read until age 7-8. It was so hard not to push when I saw all the other hs kids around her reading. I did the same thing and just read, read, read to my child. It's a fine balance knowing when to encourage them to try something hard and when to back off. ((HUGS))
I just got my AAR level 1! We are using AAS and are switching from our current phonics program to AAR. It's always good to hear and see how others are using it!
Don't you just love when something finally clicks? She looks so delighted with herself!