Teaching Your Preschooler to Read Now Will Produce a Good Student Later

After homeschooling our seven children for 19 years, I'm convinced I learned as much, if not more while being their teacher, as they did being my students. One of my most important lessons was teaching them to read early, long before they became "school age".

What most parents don't realize is just how fast preschoolers learn. I've heard it said in the medical community that children from the ages of 0 to 5 learn faster than at any other time in their lives, and from my experience I would agree. That's why I put such great emphasis on teaching them to read early.

I homeschooled our children from K-12, and as their teacher, I believed that learning should be fun, especially when it came to reading. Once kids realize there are rewards that come with learning something new, whether it's a verbal "Good Job" comment, a physical hug, or being excited about a topic of interest to them personally, they simply want to learn more.

Reading early is the groundwork for all other subjects. When a preschooler learns to read well, they'll be able to follow written instructions, look up words in a dictionary, read a recipe to you while you cook a meal, read a grocery list, or even read road signs and navigate a map. Later, reading washing instructions on clothing tags, emergency instructions on fire extinguishers or medication bottles, or many other things could actually save a life one day; maybe even their own.

By teaching your preschooler to read now, you're actually setting them up to succeed in their future endeavors. You're helping them to realize their potential and you're opening up a brand new world to them. The greatest detriment to any individual is the inability to read well. It gives them innumerable limitations like filling out medical history forms or job applications and it doesn't allow them to make use of the endless possibilities open to them, no matter what age they may be.

One final thought: You don't need to spend hard-earned money on any phonics programs. Use what you have. I developed all kinds of games and home-made techniques to help teach. You can begin by writing the word "at" on a piece of paper or chalkboard. Then add "b" to the beginning of the word and read the word "bat". Change the "b" to a "c" for the word "cat". Then change "c" to "f" for the word "fat". Continue on through the alphabet and replace the first letter with another letter to form a new word.

Your child will value the time you spend with him or her, and you'll have a blast watching that little mind grow faster than you believed possible. Pleasing you their parent and having fun doing it then become great incentives to continue to learn. The more they learn, the more they want to and that makes for an exceptional student in the future.