Teach Children to Sound Out Words
Word Recognition Lesson Ideas for Beginning Homeschool Readers
May 2, 2008
Reading is one of the most fundamental skills every human being should possess or have the opportunity to learn. Teaching young homeschoolers to read can be both exciting and exasperating. When teaching young children how to read, it is important to keep lessons simple and to focus on perfecting one step at a time.
Teach Root Words and Word Families
Children should learn to sound out words -- not just memorize them. Start with shorter words and allow the child to master root words first. Children will later be able to recognize root words as parts of larger words which have prefixes, suffixes or endings. Focusing on word families is also a great tool to use when teaching a child to read.
Teaching Children to Sound Out Words
There are some easy to follow steps that can be used when teaching phonics. These steps work well with children at an early age, however they can be applied to later readers as well.
Here are a few different ways to teach your homeschooler to sound out words.
Step One: Teach all of the letters of the alphabet and be sure the child can identify them by sight. It is important to also have the child learn and review all letter sounds. The child must be able to connect the sound each letter makes with its appearance. This can be accomplished through the use of flashcards and early learning phonics games.
Step Two: Write some simple two and three letter words on large flashcards. Begin with three to five words, so that you don't overwhelm the child. Try to use easy high frequency words such as cat or bat. There are many high frequency word lists available such as Dolch Word Lists.
Step Three: Teaching by example is an effective method. Slowly sound out the words for your child. Have him practice the words along with you. Once the child has caught on, illustrate the concept of word families to him. Change the first letter in the word to form another one. For example, change the c in cat to b to make bat, m to make mat or s to make sat. Be sure the child understands the how the word changes with each new letter.
Step Four: Use letter blocks or magnetic fridge letters to help illustrate how letter sounds blend together in order to form words. This can be used to illustrate word families and consonant blends later on as well.
Overall, it is a very rewarding experience to teach a child to read and it should be fun for both parent and child. In addition to learning words, it is important to encourage children to read short picture books and attempt to sound out the words on their own. For children, the feeling of self-gratification can be a wonderful motivator that will keep them reading well beyond their homeschooling years.
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