Maybe she is not ready

[s.av.sum1]

I have started using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. We are on #9. The child is suppose to sound out simple words like SAT & AM and then say the word. She can sound them out fine but she never gets the word. Am I doing something wrong or is she just not ready?

Thanks for your help!

[4given]

Hmmmm... I wouldn't be able to tell you whether she is ready or not ready.

I am using this book with one of my sons and we did have those troubles, too. He is currently on Lesson 86. You may have already tried these suggestions... Have your daughter sound out the word slowly, several times. If this doesn't help her to "hear" the word then, maybe you could say the word slowly for her (after she has sounded it out, of course). Perhaps hearing you sound it out would help. It may just take a little extra work, in the beginning, to help the light bulb come on.

I don't know if any of that helped. Just wanted to let you know that we had the same hurdle in the beginning and we have successfully come past it.

[Lorelei Sieja]

Not all children can learn to read using phonics. Phonics is the preferred method currently popular, but there are other methods. The best method is the one that works!

I would suggest two possibilities. Put the course down and try again in a year. Or, try the sight-word method.

There is an EXCELLENT book, called "how to teach your baby to read". It is sold at amazon.com, also on my blog, also available in libraries. I used it with my oldest daughter, and she was reading at age 2 1/2. She might have read sooner, but I didn't hear about it until she was already two and a few months.

It is important to note, that when you teach a child to read using the sight-word method, you still need to teach them phonics at some point. But sometimes learnign that "cat" says cat is easier for some children than learning that this C says "Kuh" and A says "aaa" and T says "tuh" and put them all together you get "kuh-aaa-tuh" and that means cat? Huh? Are you kidding? <G>

Using the teach your baby to read book (by Glenn and Janet Doman), your child learns to read hundreds of words by sight, and reads a book from cover to cover, and THEN you teach the alphabet. Then when your child learns that "c" makes the "kuh" sound, he already reads many words with a c in it - he already knows that cat, car, cup, and cot all start with that same letter. It's just easier for some children to learn this way.

By the way, if you want yet another approach, the program Sing Spell Read and Write combines sight-word and phonics, I'm told. I used it years ago, and successfully taught two daughters to read using it, but it may have changed a little since I used it.

Just my two bits. Good luck with your youngster!
Lorelei

[s.av.sum1]

Yes I thought about Sing Spell Write, but I did not want to change the approach to soon. I also cost about $230 so trying to decide what i should do. I may just use the book for a few more weeks and see what happens. If it is still not working I will change what I am doing. Thank you for your input.

[Jill]

I've discovered that once a child is ready to learn something, it's much easier and quicker than trying to "force" it...no matter what method you use.

We had the same issue with spelling. Both my kids were great readers and loved to write stories, but their spelling was embarrassing (to me at least.) I tried several different spelling programs, but none seemed to work, so I always ended up giving up on spelling and focusing on other subjects. Finally, this year, my 6th grader decided she wanted to learn to spell. She has flown through the lessons and improved her spelling in an absolutely amazing way. My 4th grader isn't there yet, but after seeing how my older one has done, I'm not worried.

Your gut feeling that she isn't ready may be right. In that case, you should put it away and try again later. Just because you teach it, doesn't mean she'll learn it. She'll learn it when she's ready. Some kids are ready early, some later.

Best wishes.

[Jazzy]

I totally agree with Jill.

It sounds like your daughter is having trouble with blending, and that's something that will come in time. I would drop the lessons for a few weeks and then start again with simple games and activities to test her readiness before using the program again.

My daughter started reading about a month after her 5th birthday. I used alphabet fridge magnets to play little games with her. We'd start by pointing out different letters - Which one is A? What sound does it make? Show me which letter makes the "t" sound.

(I only used a few letters at first - A and a few consonants like C, M, S and T because you can form words with them. I focused on the words in the BOB books.)

Then I'd put 2 letters out (for instance S and A) and show her how to blend them. SSSSS AAAAA SSSSAAAAA SA Then I kind of test her to see if she could do it. When she could we'd go to 3 letters SSSSAAAA SA SAAAT SAT

I hope this makes sense...

Anyway, once I saw that she could do mat, sat, cat, etc. we started her Abeka phonics program and she's doing fine with it.

We only spent a little bit of time on it - maybe 15 minutes a day at the most.

You can play lots of little games like this by using a dry erase board, making letters out of playdoh, writing letters in sand, etc. Varying it up a bit keeps it fun, but also keep it simple so you don't stress yourself out.

If the games are frustrating to your dd, drop them - they aren't necessary!

I think readiness is a bigger determiner than what curriculum you use. If you wait a little bit, you'll probably be able to pick up with 100 Easy Lessons again.