Inquiring Minds Homeschool

Learning is lifelong

Menu
  • Inquiring Minds Homeschool
  • About
  • Blog
  • History Planner Free Template
  • Homeschool Refresh
Menu
Homeschool Preschool Reading

Homeschool Preschool Reading, Part 2

Posted on June 24, 2018 by Lisa

Homeschool Reading: The Preschool Years

Should I be teaching reading in my homeschool preschool, you ask? And how?

This is Part 2, which delves into my recommendations for the best books, apps and games for emergent readers like your preschooler and mine. If you haven’t seen Part 1, it’s here. I explain my philosophy of reading and some key elements of what skilled reading is. We also get into some great ways to develop a love of reading in your child before even attempting to teach a single letter sound or sight word.

Welcome to the Homeschooling Preschool series! This post will talk about reading with your preschooler – how to gently introduce beginning pre-reading skills through read alouds, toys, apps, and phonics readers. Stay tuned for our other posts about math, science, social studies, music, foreign language, and art!

Check out the previous post in this series:

  • Homeschooling Preschool: Playtime
  • Homeschooling Preschool: Sensory Play

Strategies for Beginning Reading

In this post, we’ll cover some great strategies for getting your preschooler ready to learn to read. Each child responds best to a different mix, but these are great habits to get into as a family AND are all beneficial for future reading success:

  • Start here: Read alouds with rich language, fun characters, and engaging stories
  • Manipulatives and toys: Let your child explore, then hang on to them for skill practice later on
  • Early reading apps: Only if you’re OK with screen time. Skip this one if not!
  • Some kids might like: Beginning phonics readers, for when your child is curious about what words say
  • Probably save for later: Workbooks I used (sparingly) during my years as a reading teacher

Homeschool Reading Recommendations

Start Here: Read Alouds

As I discussed in my last post, read alouds are the #1 way to get your child to love reading and books. You can explore vocabulary, talk about feelings, discuss why characters act the way they do, and model more difficult syntax or “book language”.

Read Alouds for Preschool

My #1 recommendation, if you have NO other books in your home (but of course you do) is to pick up the hilarious and clever Pigeon books. Pigeon is every young child’s alter ego. He knows what he wants and is not afraid to ask for it. And ask… and ask again! Your child will love saying “NO” to Pigeon even while identifying with him.

These are deceptively “simple” books. The characters’ facial expressions and body language are well developed despite the “simple” drawings. The emotions are clearly portrayed through facial expressions and body language. Even the speech bubbles have character!

Got room in your life for more Mo Willems? Of course you do! The Elephant and Piggie series is perfect for modeling great reading habits (especially tone of voice and dialogue), and when your child gets old enough to start sounding out words, they are great books to pick up again. My son, newly five, is in this stage now. He loves “doing” each character’s voice and expressions!

We really relied on our local library system for Elephant and Piggie access, as there are a great many books in the series! But we found ourselves checking out the same ones over and over again, so here are the ones that are our absolute faves.

If you have to pick just one, my vote would be for “Waiting is Not Easy“. That phrase has saved my sanity as a parent many times! My son learned very early on to say it to himself when he found it difficult to wait for something. And I say it to myself!

Books are a key way for our kids to learn about social relationships, emotional regulation, and situations that might occur in their everyday lives. When they see Elephant struggling with sharing a favorite dessert, or Piggie’s disappointment that her best friend doesn’t like her taste in food, they can relate!

Manipulatives and Toys

Young children are naturally curious and love to play. Giving them letter themed toys and manipulatives is a great way to pique their interest in the alphabet. At this stage, you don’t have to teach anything – just let them explore and familiarize themselves. When they start to ask questions or request to spell specific words, you can demonstrate it. They’ll start to catch on!

One of my son’s favorite games was to spell ‘nonsense words’ using the bath foam letters linked below. He would sit in the bath and arrange the letters in the most ridiculous sequences. He’d say “Mommy, look at this one!” and I would try to sound out whatever it was, even totally non-English sequences like R J W I G N. “Rejwigen? What’s rejwigen??”

Over time, my son began to move from spelling random sequences to approximating words he actually heard or wanted to spell. But he still enjoys a good laugh at nonsense words!

Any set of ABC blocks or magnetic letters would probably work for this category. Here are a few faves that we’ve come across in our household:

A Few App Recommendations

If you don’t do screen time for your little one, feel free to skip this section! We do 5-10 minutes a day, typically after dinner. It’s always helpful to sit with your child while doing these games – although your child will probably be able to do a lot on his or her own, it’s even better when you are nearby to answer questions.

Top recommendation for younger children: Endless Alphabet

Endless Alphabet is super fun! (The company also makes Endless Numbers, another favorite of ours!) Each letter wiggles and says its sound over and over as your child matches it up to where it needs to go. The payoff is a funny vignette featuring adorable characters, and a new vocabulary word. My son’s favorite was “gargantuan”!

My one semi-quibble with Endless Alphabet is that sometimes letters have more than one sound (think G in “Grover” vs. G in “George”) and the letters don’t always say the right one for that particular word. That is why I recommend this app for younger children, who need to learn that letters make sounds, rather than for older children who are gearing up to learn more structured phonics.

So far, we love everything produced by the folks who make Endless Alphabet. If you see a package deal where you can get more than one of their apps at a discount, I’d consider it!

Top recommendation for older preschoolers: Teach Your Monster To Read

Free on your computer and available for handheld devices, this game is a winner. I recommend it for older students because it really is a learn-to-read game, starting with letter-sound correspondence but also introducing sight words (“trickies”) pretty early on, and it progresses quickly. Many parents find that their children benefit from going through the entire game twice so that they are solidly getting the practice they need. It won’t teach your child to read all on its own, but it will help demonstrate to your child how to learn to read – how to blend sounds together and pull words apart, and how to recognize words that can’t be sounded out.

Beginning Phonics for Preschoolers

Once your child shows an interest in learning to read, you can gently (GENTLY) start to introduce phonics. There’s no need to worry if your child isn’t interested yet! But a great series to start with, for when your child seems ready, is Bob Books. Bob Books systematically introduce a few new sounds per box set and gradually increase in difficulty. It’s planned out extremely well, and the books are short enough that even younger readers can have the feeling of successfully reading “an entire book”!

While children can & do learn letter sounds out of order, it can be frustrating for a new reader to pick up a “phonics book” only to have a jumble of different skills to practice, some of which are easy review and others are too difficult.


There are MANY more Bob Books – but these are the best for preschoolers. Once your child has mastered these and is ready to move on, the set continues! I’ve even see companion workbooks, both on Amazon and for free on other websites – but I’d reserve those for older students, not preschoolers.

Speaking of workbooks…

What About Workbooks?

Generally, I am not a fan of workbooks – unless your child loves them! For kids who don’t love them, there’s no faster way to turn them off to learning than asking them to do a workbook page or worksheet. At least with worksheets, you can customize and print exactly what your child needs to work on – whereas the workbook can “take over” and waste your child’s time on skills that are too easy or too difficult.

If you’re looking for beginning phonics for a child who happens to enjoy workbooks (or wants to copy an older sibling), I recommend Get Ready for the Code. It’s meant to be a fun introduction to phonics, which is more systematically approached in the Explode the Code series, which I have used with many reading students over the years.

But again, there is probably no need to get a workbook for your young child. Spend that money on high quality books that your child will want to read over and over again!

Summary

Homeschool reading instruction for preschoolers really isn’t “instruction”. It’s fun, playful immersion. The best way to encourage lifelong reading is to model good reading habits yourself, and READ ALOUD often as a family. Have fun with it!

Some Awesome Books to Read to Kids

What’s your favorite book to read aloud to your little one? Post a comment below!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Free Challenge

Free Planner

Free Unit Plan Chart

Recent Posts

  • Ready for camp today! @the_renaissance_child #stemlearning #stemeducation #electronicsforkids #summerstemcamp
  • Check out my new article on the @pandia_press blog (<—link in their bio) . As a science educator, I believe in giving students the most complete, accurate, up to date information that we can, in a developmentally appropriate way. Deciding not to mention topics that are “controversial” is not an educational strategy I support. . I have taught in religious environments and gotten pushback on evolution - and I’ll tell you what I told the kids: . Science is science, and religion is religion. I am not here to tell you what to believe in or argue with your pastor, rabbi, priest, imam etc. . Science is not a belief. You don’t have to believe anything in order to understand it or learn the information. There is no ultimate conclusion that science “wants” you to reach, which is why there are scientists from every religion, country, language, etc who can study and communicate about it. It’s not the purview of a specific culture, government, ethnicity or gender. It’s a method for learning about the world - above all, asking questions and trying to make sense of what can be observed directly or indirectly. . Science is not a moral code and has nothing to say about living a good life, though its outcomes (like antibiotics and higher crop yields) can benefit millions. It’s not a substitute for character development or moral instruction. Many scientists continue to believe in the religions they were born into. . Feel free to ask me anything about evolution or any other science topic - I love to research and explain, and I’m teaching an evolution course right now with the museum so I have access to great material and experts. So ask away (-: . But first go to @pandia_press profile and check out the article (-: #scienceeducation #scienceeducator #homeschoolscience #evolution #teachingevolution #whyteachevolution #homeschoolcurriculum #secularhomeschool #secularhomeschooling #secularhomeschooler
  • Book club – After many years of teaching children to read, I’m enjoying raising my own reader 📙📘📗📕 Books we’re currently enjoying: the Frank Einstein series, James and the Giant Peach (have lost count how many times he’s read it), and the Nick and Tesla series. The book in the picture is Greetings from Somewhere which is a good beginning chapter book series or a gentle intro to studying places around the world. #raisingareader #homeschoolreading #homeschool #secularhomeschool #booksofinstagram
  • Perler bead science – plant cell . My son loves perler beads, so they’re a natural modeling tool! I made this with his help, looking at various diagrams for guidance. It’s a conceit we will revisit many times, esp once we get a good microscope! #handsonscience #secularhomeschool #homeschoolscience #perlerbeadscience #plantcellmodel
  • Follow trains are a great way to connect with other homeschool families, and this one is for the secular homeschoolers out there. ✨ It can be hard to find secular families in the homeschool world, so here’s what you do: ✨Follow @that_secular_mom ✨Ask for image and script ✨ Follow accounts using this image with the tag #secularmomfollowtrain ✨Like and comment on images. That’s it!! #secularhomeschool #secularlife #homeschooling #homeeducation #hsmom #secularmoms

Archives

  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018

Categories

  • Blog
  • History
  • Homeschool Refresh
  • Homeschooling
  • Kindergarten
  • Math
  • Music
  • Play
  • Reading
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Writing

Recent Posts

  • Ready for camp today! @the_renaissance_child #stemlearning #stemeducation #electronicsforkids #summerstemcamp
  • Check out my new article on the @pandia_press blog (<—link in their bio) . As a science educator, I believe in giving students the most complete, accurate, up to date information that we can, in a developmentally appropriate way. Deciding not to mention topics that are “controversial” is not an educational strategy I support. . I have taught in religious environments and gotten pushback on evolution - and I’ll tell you what I told the kids: . Science is science, and religion is religion. I am not here to tell you what to believe in or argue with your pastor, rabbi, priest, imam etc. . Science is not a belief. You don’t have to believe anything in order to understand it or learn the information. There is no ultimate conclusion that science “wants” you to reach, which is why there are scientists from every religion, country, language, etc who can study and communicate about it. It’s not the purview of a specific culture, government, ethnicity or gender. It’s a method for learning about the world - above all, asking questions and trying to make sense of what can be observed directly or indirectly. . Science is not a moral code and has nothing to say about living a good life, though its outcomes (like antibiotics and higher crop yields) can benefit millions. It’s not a substitute for character development or moral instruction. Many scientists continue to believe in the religions they were born into. . Feel free to ask me anything about evolution or any other science topic - I love to research and explain, and I’m teaching an evolution course right now with the museum so I have access to great material and experts. So ask away (-: . But first go to @pandia_press profile and check out the article (-: #scienceeducation #scienceeducator #homeschoolscience #evolution #teachingevolution #whyteachevolution #homeschoolcurriculum #secularhomeschool #secularhomeschooling #secularhomeschooler
  • Book club – After many years of teaching children to read, I’m enjoying raising my own reader 📙📘📗📕 Books we’re currently enjoying: the Frank Einstein series, James and the Giant Peach (have lost count how many times he’s read it), and the Nick and Tesla series. The book in the picture is Greetings from Somewhere which is a good beginning chapter book series or a gentle intro to studying places around the world. #raisingareader #homeschoolreading #homeschool #secularhomeschool #booksofinstagram
  • Perler bead science – plant cell . My son loves perler beads, so they’re a natural modeling tool! I made this with his help, looking at various diagrams for guidance. It’s a conceit we will revisit many times, esp once we get a good microscope! #handsonscience #secularhomeschool #homeschoolscience #perlerbeadscience #plantcellmodel
  • Follow trains are a great way to connect with other homeschool families, and this one is for the secular homeschoolers out there. ✨ It can be hard to find secular families in the homeschool world, so here’s what you do: ✨Follow @that_secular_mom ✨Ask for image and script ✨ Follow accounts using this image with the tag #secularmomfollowtrain ✨Like and comment on images. That’s it!! #secularhomeschool #secularlife #homeschooling #homeeducation #hsmom #secularmoms

Recent Comments

  • LaDonna on Homeschool Kindergarten: Our Approach
  • LaDonna on Homeschool Kindergarten: Our Approach
  • autumn on Secular Homeschool History – Where to Start?
  • Hands on Pre-History: Make Your Own Dig Site - Part 1 - Inquiring Minds Homeschool on Homeschool Prehistory Study
  • Our Weekly Homeschool Routine - Inquiring Minds Homeschool on Poetry Teatime: Adding Joy to Homeschool Writing

Archives

  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018

Categories

  • Blog
  • History
  • Homeschool Refresh
  • Homeschooling
  • Kindergarten
  • Math
  • Music
  • Play
  • Reading
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Writing

Amazon Affiliate

As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Thanks for supporting this site!

© 2021 Inquiring Minds Homeschool | Powered by Superbs Personal Blog theme