Question: My have been worried that my child is seven years old and is not reading yet. A veteran homeschooler is advising me to not worry about it; that he will read when he is ready. I feel like I should be trying harder to teach him how to read. How should I handle this issue?
Answer: The beauty of homeschooling is that you, the parent, are the teacher and administrator. That means that you need to make your own decisions about issues such as when to teach reading, for the most part. While veteran homeschoolers have a great deal of information to pass on, we are not your child’s parent; you are. You will have a better sensing about when your child is ready to read. You may also have a different view on educating, and may be drawn to a different style of homeschooling.
Personally, when I began homeshooling, I was given some information on curriculum that I wish I hadn’t followed. You don’t want to look back and have regrets based on your following someone else’s lead. So while a veteran homeschooler may have very useful advice, please be aware that you only have to follow it, if you really want to.
When it comes to teaching your child to read, a 7 year old non-reader isn’t anything to freak out about. But considering that most children have begun to read by then, chances are that you won’t be damaging them by giving them instructions in reading.
My recommendation is to make sure you have followed the course of pre-reading readiness. That means that before a child should be taught to read, he must be read to on a regular basis. Have them sit on your lap and track the words with your finger, so he can start see how the process of reading works. Also, make sure he knows the alphabet, and the sounds that each word makes.
At this point, you may want to introduce reading games and software to help the child learn both phonics, and standard sight words. If you keep it fun, and low stress, then your child will learn to read before you know it.
A final tip, if he gets to be 8 or 9 and is still a reluctant reader, find his favorite television show, and cut off the sound, using only closed captioning. I have advised this trick for several boys who refused to read, and it only took a few sections before they were reading happily.