Every parent feels that sense of accomplishment once they hear their kid start reading on their own. It has been one of my personal goals with my child to have her be able to read and love reading books at an early age. Which is why I made sure to shower her with all the books that will pull her into the right direction. I taught my kid to read at an early age. This is one of the parts of our homeschooling journey that I really very much would like to have a do over if I can.
Don't get me wrong, the little person learned to love reading and learning. It was just that I had the worst time in teaching her how to read when all the energy I spent teaching her the letters one by one could have been used for reading literature to her. I even crocheted the entire alphabet for her. It was a fun plaything for a while and it did help her recognize the letters more easily. It was fun and all, but there is a much easier way to teach children how to read.
My daughter was already 5 years old when we learned about the Charlotte Mason Method. By that time, she was already reading on her own. She learned how to read by listening to me repeat each letters in phonics over and over again. Oh, and by watching Alphablocks on youtube.
An easier way to teach a child how to read is by reading aloud great literature to them even at a very young age. At 3 years old, children would love listening to A. A. Milne's books. This is also the perfect time for them to eat up some light poetry.
Reading aloud gives more fun bonding time for the parent educator and the little learner. When my daughter was still in my tummy, I used to read my books to her. I read somewhere that the baby hears the mother's voice from inside the tummy. It strengthens the mother-daughter bond before the baby is even born. Reading aloud to your kid during the early years helps keep that bond stronger.
Another benefit of read alouds is that kids get to hear the actual pronunciations, tone, and diction firsthand. You get to avoid that monotonic, syllabicated reading on their first try reading sentences on their own. They learn that comma means to pause, and period means it's the end of the sentence which means they have to pause a little longer before reading the next word.
I may have started reading aloud a little late for my kid, but I sure am going to continue this for a long time. Before learning about the Charlotte Mason method of teaching, I only read bedtime stories to my daughter before we go to sleep. Now, our homeschooling journey allows for several read alouds for the entire day. 80% of the books we read are read aloud to her on short 15-20 minute sessions.
Not only will it reinforce the bond between the parent and the child, it will also help build the listening skills of the learner. Some of the books in our homeschooling journey are read by my kid already but there still are books like Shakespeare, or Columbus and a lot of Tagalog books that she still need help with. I know some homeschooled kids that are in their teenage years and the parent-educator still read aloud to.
I don't see any harm in reading aloud to children. If anything it gives more benefits. My kid enjoys it, I love it, we both are having fun with our lessons because of the read alouds. Some parents and educators alike tend to stop reading aloud to their children once they see that the kid is already an independent reader. But it is crucial that the practice of reading aloud to children be continued even after establishing good reading habits to the child.
If you are not yet reading aloud to your children, you should start doing it. You can start with simpler books like Mother Goose or The Velveteen Rabbit. Classics like The Tale of Peter Rabbit is a good book to start too. Once you built up your confidence, you may push forward with other classics like Heidi, The Little Woman, or Black Beauty. I assure you, it will be fun.
