How, When & What to Teach

With Hannah, I taught her the alphabet, colors & shapes before she turned 2 (but not reading). I tried to teach whole words to Hannah right after she turned 2, but I fizzed out on that. I started teaching phonics and whole words right after she turned 3. Children are capable of understanding the English language by the time they are 1, so don't let anyone tell you that you're child can't learn to read before they are 5!!

For ages 2/3 and up:

1. Colors, Shapes and Letter Names/Alphabet - in no particular order
2. Letter sounds
3. Simple phonics with Whole Words added in.
4. Blends
5. Magic E
6. By this time they are reading everything with little help from you. Great job!

For all of these I would play the games listed under Games - Explanations. All of these games can be adapted for any thing you are teaching (with the exception of Magic E). There are over 30 games so please scroll down to the bottom and click "older posts". Find that game that is right for you! That game can be played over and over and over...

Just a note: You do NOT need to teach the letter names first. Children do not need to know the letter names to know how to read, they need to know the sounds the letters make. I always taught the letter names first because I wanted to, and that's how I figured it was supposed to be done.

For ages under 2:

Buy or borrow Glenn Doman's books. They are WONDERFUL!! Just because I couldn't keep it up doesn't mean that you can't. Do what is best for you and your child. Anything else (in my opinion) just won't work. It's not going to work if it's not fun :)