Teaching Pre-Readers

I am a home schooling mom and proud of it. We decided to home school before our oldest was born. Since I knew that I was responsible for all the teaching, I made decisions early on to have early exposer to educational toys and programs. I figured that the more the kids absorbed from their environment early on, the easier it would be to teach them later.

Even if you plan to public or private school your children, it still pays to give them a head start.
Everyone knows the whole "Raise a Reader" read to your child bit, but what other educational things can you do to help introduce those early reading skills?

Play With Letters
Children can memorise their name long before they can learn to read. Use fridge magnets, flash cards, ABC blocks to make family members names for your child. Help them become familiar with the look of their name. Help them to see that letters are for more than a song.

Sing Rhyming Songs
Our brains retain so much information. Have you ever noticed how quickly we can memorise a song? Now try to memorise a poem? Not so simple, is it? Learning rhyming songs gives your child something to relate to when they learn to read. My son figured out rhymes on his own just from songs and games.

Let Your Child See You Reading
The more your child sees you reading, the more they want to know how to read. I am guilty of not doing this as much as I'd like to, but any little bit helps.

Pick Educational TV Shows
I'm not one to let the kids sit in front of the TV all day, but there is noting wrong with some entertainment, especially if they are learning at the same time. I am a HUGE fan of Leap Frog DVDs. We bought the Letter Factory when my son was 1, and he knew his phonetic alphabet before he could talk!

Incorporate Reading In Activities Your Child Loves
If your child loves to colour, colour letters. Love building with blocks? Try building word buildings. We used to sing alphabet songs while we pushed our kids on the swing. It all adds up!

Visit Educational Websites With Your Child
There are many websites out there with pre-school games. Here is a list of my favourites :
http://www.starfall.com
http://www.jumpstart.com
http://readingeggs.com

It is never to early to lay down foundation to help your child read. Investing in our children is part of parenting, right?