How Do I Help My Child to Read
Update February 2010 Editor's note: If you enjoyed and appreciate Roland's book My Daughter Does Not Want to Clean Her Room: a Handbook for Parents and Kids, you'll love the new book he is working on. Here's a little preview.
Learning is supposed to be fun. No, I don't mean party fun, balloons, exciting visuals, rock music in the background, excessive excitement, hype and entertainment. False fun--mixing in balloons, loud music, clowns and animals in costumes, excitement, and pizza and sugary junk food--is what adults do to make something appear to be fun.
Learning is supposed to be fun. No, I don't mean party fun, balloons, exciting visuals, rock music in the background, excessive excitement, hype and entertainment. False fun--mixing in balloons, loud music, clowns and animals in costumes, excitement, and pizza and sugary junk food--is what adults do to make something appear to be fun.
.
Nor do I mean having a little child move a mouse around to click on images on a computer screen (when their methods fail miserably, educators always reach for the ploy of saying they didn't have enough money for computers).
Nor do I mean having a little child move a mouse around to click on images on a computer screen (when their methods fail miserably, educators always reach for the ploy of saying they didn't have enough money for computers).
Finally, when I say that learning is supposed to be fun, I do not mean dumbing down the curriculum or teaching the test, so that the material becomes stupid and boring.
When I say learning is supposed to be fun, I mean true learning is a discovery process that is quietly exciting. Learning is natural, easy, and occurs when you least expect it. Kids learn at lightning speed. Within a few months they can walk, talk, and do all manner of interesting things.
I will give you a couple of examples from my own life.
When I say learning is supposed to be fun, I mean true learning is a discovery process that is quietly exciting. Learning is natural, easy, and occurs when you least expect it. Kids learn at lightning speed. Within a few months they can walk, talk, and do all manner of interesting things.
I will give you a couple of examples from my own life.
.
School wasn't that great when I was a kid (and it's far worse now). But when I had an interest in something, I could learn at lightning speed. I knew all the baseball player's averages, for example. I could tell you the make, model and year of any car on the road. And I knew the frequencies for every major shortwave broadcaster from around the world. Why? Because I was interested in these subjects.
I know you can think of similar examples from your own life: things you were genuinely interested in, and how much fun it was to learn about them effortlessly. I never studied cars in school, or shortwave radio, or baseball; but I knew more than my parents or any of my teachers about these topics.
I know you can also think of areas where your kids just naturally have an interest, and they can spend hours learning informally. And afterwards they are not frustrated or fatigued.
.
Let's take reading, for example. Many public schools are still using the wrong teaching methods for reading. Usually it's some variation of the so called whole language thing (I'm sure they have given it some other name now so that it is disguised). This horrible method makes kids try to recognize whole words instead of using phonics.
When my son was about three, I was at the radio station waiting for my radio program to start. I happened to notice a little brochure someone had left on the table. It was an ad for a certain phonics video. I live life intuitively, and something wordlessly told me to pick up one of the brochures. Following my intuition, I went ahead and ordered it.
There was something magic about this video (I've since done some research and other parents have confirmed it). My son watched it a few times, and knew the letters and sounds (just by watching and listening).
I can't even tell you how he began to read. I got him a couple of books (like Goodnight Moon). I spent some time with him, and one thing led to another and before you knew it, he was reading.
He had a library card before he was five years old. He read The Boxcar Children, The Hardy Boys, Children's Highlights magazine, and Junior Classics.
For specific proven practical strategies. read: Helping My Toddler and Preschooler to
I know you can think of similar examples from your own life: things you were genuinely interested in, and how much fun it was to learn about them effortlessly. I never studied cars in school, or shortwave radio, or baseball; but I knew more than my parents or any of my teachers about these topics.
I know you can also think of areas where your kids just naturally have an interest, and they can spend hours learning informally. And afterwards they are not frustrated or fatigued.
.
Let's take reading, for example. Many public schools are still using the wrong teaching methods for reading. Usually it's some variation of the so called whole language thing (I'm sure they have given it some other name now so that it is disguised). This horrible method makes kids try to recognize whole words instead of using phonics.
When my son was about three, I was at the radio station waiting for my radio program to start. I happened to notice a little brochure someone had left on the table. It was an ad for a certain phonics video. I live life intuitively, and something wordlessly told me to pick up one of the brochures. Following my intuition, I went ahead and ordered it.
There was something magic about this video (I've since done some research and other parents have confirmed it). My son watched it a few times, and knew the letters and sounds (just by watching and listening).
I can't even tell you how he began to read. I got him a couple of books (like Goodnight Moon). I spent some time with him, and one thing led to another and before you knew it, he was reading.
He had a library card before he was five years old. He read The Boxcar Children, The Hardy Boys, Children's Highlights magazine, and Junior Classics.
For specific proven practical strategies. read: Helping My Toddler and Preschooler to
+++++
Now available in Ebook. For a donation of any amount receive the ebook as our gift.
