When did your child read?

JLR1228

My dd is 32 months and loves books, and has really been showing interest in wanting to learn her letters and even start writing. I'm encouraging her, don't want to push it and make it miserable for her. So I'm just curious for those with older kids, when did they start really learning to read? Did you teach them or did they learn in school? 

Emerald27

We're planning to homeschool this year for our first year of preschool. DS will be 3 in October. I'll be teaching DS to read very slowly by teaching/reinforcing letter sounds (the C says "kuh"...like cat) as he learns his letters.

If she's interested, no reason to wait! You could do some simple research on teaching phonics to preschoolers to get an idea of where you might like to start. Once she learns the sounds that the letters make, she can start very slowly to put the sounds together into short CVC words.

ETA: getting DS interested in letters has been a challenge for us! He just loves numbers and counting and such, but shows very little interest in letters. :P

Eskimokisses13

By 3 my daughter knew all her letters (upper and lower) and the sounds that the the letters made.  Letters and their sounds were her major interest - she sounded out the word "sale" on a sign shortly before 3.  However, real interest in reading took some time.  At 4.5 she started showing real interest in reading (prior to this it was just too much for her, she would sound out random words on her own but didn't want to really work on it) so we started working on the BOB book series for reading.  I highly recommend them; they are great for beginning readers!  There are a ton of ideas for activities to go with the BOB books on Pinterest if you are interested activities to go along with them. 

My daughter's absolute favorite things:
- Leap Frog's Letter Factory: she loved that show when she was younger!
- Leap Frog's Letter Factory game
- Different versions of Swat the Alpha bug game.  In the summer the kids love playing this game on the driveway with sidewalk chalk and water guns
https://thefilesofmrse.com/archives/828
- Right now her favorite game is alpha scavenger hunt (find things that begin with different letters)
- BOB books

At 32 months I don't know that I would have them doing Alphabet tracing sheets, but you could try something like this - https://kidsmatter1.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html (the tracing in sand photo)
I love that idea but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.  DD would usually practice writing on her magna doodle or with sidewalk chalk - because that is when I would think of it. 

sunnyday016

She has had lots of interest in letters and letter sounds since she was about 3. She is almost 5.5 and knows a good number of sight words and can sound words out. Her interest has waned with us at home, but I know once she's in kindergarten (next month!) she will be reading quickly.

LindsayF24

I think it all depends on the kid and you should follow their lead. DS turned 3 yesterday. He's known all of his letters since 2 and in the last couple months shown a serious interest in reading. He asks me to spell words, memorizes words, etc. He can currently read about 10 words, but I'm sure he's just memorized them.

shannm

Totally depends on the kid. My DS was into letters and books super early. That is what he thought was fun. We didn't push it, that is what he chose. He was literally reading at three. DD has NO interest in letters and just recently started sitting still for books. She recognizes the letter O while DS at this age was spotting letters on road signs while we are in the car. Just go with the flow and keep it fun.

LSU628

It varies from kid to kid. My DD loved to play with the Leap Frog alphabet fridge magnets that do the letter sounds and songs. Her montessori teacher around 3-31/2 started sight words with her. My mom was a K teacher and worked a lot wiht her on phonics and letter sounds. By 4 she was sounding out words and now at 5 she is full on reading. I am seriously impressed with her reading skills, but I know she needs to balance out her math/writing so that's what I'm hoping her K teacher can help her learn.

DawnJM25

I agree that it totally depends on the kid. DD is almost 3 and knows letters, numbers, colors, can spell her name and a few other words. I didn't intentionally "teach" her these things, she was just interested, and we have an alphabet floor mat and puzzle that helped her learn letters.  DS is a totally different kid.  Even though he's a little young still, his interests and skills are already different than DDs.  We're just going with it and trying to "nurture their interests."       

zbeesma86

DD has been showing interest as well.  We are letting her do her thing. I've bought some puzzles with alphabet letters, she has a couple iPad games, and she loves Super Why!

Also those foam bath letters. She looks forward to bath time and singing the ABCs and picking the letters and sticking them on the wall in order.

She can pick out maybe 10 letters at this point? We are just having fun with it.

FabulousMrs.P

My DD has known all her letters and numbers since about 1.5 years old.  (She mostly taught herself...watching super why and just asking me what they are.) Still not reading yet, but she has so many stories memorized that she can trick people into thinking she can read. We figure when she is ready, the reading part will come.

TiffanyBerry

Reading comes in such a long array of spurts.  DD enjoyed learning the alphabet game for a while.  Then she wanted to write her name, so we learned some letters for that.  Then she wanted to write other people's names.  Then she enjoyed "reading" her books to her stuffed animals. Now she's on to the stage of trying to come up with her own rhymes (not always successfully!) and she likes to try to figure out words that start with a particular letter.  She's 4.  She's not 100% on the sounds each letter makes (which, really, is quite complicated!) or 100% on which letter is for a particular sound (which is also quite complicated!), but she's 4.

I follow her lead - she BALKS if I try to "teach her to read" (even a word or two in the books we read over and over). So, most of her literary skills are coming from her wanting to learn to *write*, rather than "read" (but there's a highly overlapping skill set!).

I find that if I pay attention to what she's wanting to do, and encourage that, it progresses on its own.  Now she talks about reading as something she doesn't do yet, but might do in a year or two.  This is progress for her!

bluejayway

My older daughter just turned 4. She knows all her letters, but is nowhere close to reading. She likes to point out letters, and ask what words start with, and likes to ask me to write words down for her, but has no interest in sounding out words. I know she will get there, so I don't stress anything. I think just take your time, but if there's a definite interest, than go for it. My daughter is much more interested in physical play right now (hanging on bars, trampoline, climbing on rocks) so I'm just kind of going to let the reading thing happen more naturally, as we get into school.

emberlee3

DS is 5 years old.  He has known his letters for a long time, but he only reads a few sight words at this point.  His interest has waxed and waned.  He started kindergarten, and I think he has a good foundation with early literacy skills.

DD is 2 yo.  She can sing the alphabet song, and she knows what letters and numbers look like, but she doesn't recognize individual ones yet.  She loves to memorize books and "read" them to me or to herself.

I didn't learn to read until first grade, and I managed to become a doctor, so I don't really stress about it.

Tink112011

My DS has no interest in letters or learning to read (Granted he is still young at 2 yrs 9 mo).

That kind of suprises me - he is very sharp and advanced with verbal communication, reasoning, and emotional intelligence.  But reading?  Letters?  He doesn't care!

shipsshoessealingwax

My son started to show an interest in letters at 17mo & can identify a few now along w/ their sounds, but is nowhere near reading!