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3 & 5 year old wants to read really bad
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Hi Ladies!
I need advice and may be some guidance here. A year ago I bought MFW K for my 4 year old because he requested that he wanted to do “School” and he wanted to read since he was 3. We have been doing the lessons really slowly. Well, now he is very annoyed as he puts it that he can’t read yet and my 3 year old is requesting to read as well. When my husband and I buy books for them, they hug them and “read” the books. It just breaks my heart that he is not reading yet. I bought Delightful Reading and I have been reading it to see how it works. Boy oh boy, I wish ad this when my my 5 year old was 3. Do you think I should just put MFW on the shelf and just start doing the Delightful Reading?
He will be in 1st grade in the fall, I bought all of the readers for him from pathways and the books we will be doing for Rome and for the Visits. I showed him his new school books and he is so very excited! I need to get him reading.
Thanks,
Sarai
My dd turned 5 in October and has been pining to read and write for a long time. She has been on our schedule since she was 3, but what it looks like is a few minutes of preK per day, meaning some days I read a story and that’s it. Her abilities do not match her desires yet, so we go very slowly. I started Delightful Reading but stuck with phase one for a long time(learning letter sounds through play with plastic letters). A few months ago we moved to step 2, and hit a wall, so I stopped after 2 lessons. Just last week she noticed the word “at” in a story I was reading to her. Hooray! Now we will go back to lesson 2.
I thought she was going to have many problems and be a struggling learner. I am seeing that due to her age, I should reserve my options until she is older. Writing has been much the same. She will draw loops for an hour in her notebook while the older kids “do school”, so I know what you are saying. It is difficult, but the slower I go, the better it works for her!
I can’t decide if I want to do cursive now or stick with printing.
My 2-yr.-old repeats the letter sounds as we work, so he is unofficially included. He has his own set of letters and blocks that are for school time only which keeps him out of his sister’s materials.
Delightful Reading is a good way to go.
My 5 year who will be six next week want to do it all. He wants to read, write, do math, science projects, etc… I read the bible to all of my children ( 5 kids; ages: 15, 13, 5, 3, 1.5), picture books, etc… He has been writing but we have been doing it slowly. One day he took one of his brothers sheets that had cursive in it and he started doing it. It actually looked pretty good.
When I was doing the MFW K he kept on telling me more mommy, so we would do like 2 or 3 days worth of work and then he told me that we doesn’t want to do it like that anymore because he can’t read. I am wondering if he wanted to do so much more at one time for the end result for him to read. We are doing math u see as out math and he is on primer and really likes it. He tells me when he is done and we do something else.
Yesturday, I pulled out the upper and lower case alphabets that we have and we just went over letters that he does now and he was soooo happy about doing “school” this way. He said to me that he was so happy! My 3 & 1.5 year old were doing it with him joyfully. My older children have never said how happy they were when they were learning to read when they were younger. oh, how I wish I could go back in time and teach them how to read like it is being laid out in the Delightful Reading.
I would follow his lead. If he is wanting, ready and able to encourage but not with pressure.
My second child started “school” when he was almost 5 because he wanted to do everything with his older sister (they are very close in age).Somedays he would stay the entire lesson, other days he would run off and play. He is in K now and doing 1st grade math (hejust “gets it” right now but I expect him to slow down too) but taking it slower with reading, but loves to draw and write… somedays he wants to do more, others he wants to just play.
I understand waiting until 6, but if they are excited and ready I say go for it and just kerp an eye on them if they need breaks or a different pace than scheduled
I think part of the issue that gets muddy with “no formal lessons until age 6” is what constitutes a formal lesson. IMO, a big part of it is whether teaching is led by a child’s interest or a parent/teacher leading child through a program before they are ready. Is telling your child what sound a letter makes school or play? It depends on if they ask or if a teacher offers the information in a formal classroom or equivalent.
I needed the encouragement to relax and am now enjoying a more natural approach.
My youngest wanted to read when she was 3 and her 5 year old sister was learning. Since she really wanted to learn and new her letters, we started. I only offered if I had the time and if she didn’t feel like doing it that day, it was fine. So, she was getting to learn but there was zero pressure for either of us. As things progressed, she was picking it up quicker than her older sister. Eventually I stopped offering and waited for her to ask, and then if I had time we would work on it. I was hoping to give my oldest the chance to catch on and get ahead (that didn’t work)!! When DD was 4 I would ask her if she wanted to do school with us and she would often say “no”, but spend the whole morning looking at and working on reading books. At that point, she basically taught herself.
All that to say, if they really want to, give it a try if/when you have time. Be slow, short and gentle. If they don’t want to for a day or more, don’t make them. Just follow their lead. I they need to spend lots of time on a step, no problem, they are young and have lots of time. They (you) may find out that they are not really as ready as they are eager (especially since they have an older sibling doing school). Or, you may find that they are ready, grasp the concepts and become readers!
Hope that was helpful. It is fun to have them eager to learn!
My approach has been to follow the child’s lead. To me ‘formal lessons’ is when the parent/teacher decides what to teach, and when, and expects the child to follow. By that definition, none of my children have had ‘formal lessons’ about reading, but I have two very advanced and competent readers.
My DD (now 8) was was playing letter games at age 3. She would ask me to give her a word, and then she would tell me which letters it started and ended with. She also enjoyed the Starfall website. Just after her 4th birthday, she had me reading our set of easy phonics readers to her. Within about 3 months, she was reading books like Charlotte’s Web. DH jokes that she just magically learned to read. I just gave her whatever she asked for, with no pressure to continue when she didn’t want to.
DS (now 6) knew that Big Sister had started reading at age 4. So on his 4th birthday, he looked at me and said seriously “I’m four, so you have to teach me to read now.” (They do EVERYTHING together!) So I started some very relaxed lessons, only when he asked. I figured the novelty would wear off quickly. He kept asking, so I kept teaching, and he was also reading fluently within about 5-6 months.
When the child is ready, I don’t think there is anything wrong with giving them the instruction they want. On the other hand, just wanting to know, doesn’t mean they are ready to learn it. My next DD is currently 4. She knows she is the only one in the family who can’t read. She desperately would like to be able to read too. She occasionally asks me to teach her. So we sit down and talk about letter sounds or read one of the very beginning reading books together. It lasts about 10 minutes. Then she doesn’t ask for days/weeks. She has a very different personality from my older two, so although she would like to know how to read, she isn’t ready to actually put in the effort to learn. Which, of course, is completely fine with me. We just play with it a bit when she asks, and then leave it.
Joanne
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