Teach your child to read in 5 simple steps.

Sorry but there are no 5 simple steps to teach your child to read.

And ignore anyone who tells you that there are 5 simple steps to teach your child to read!

Teaching each individual child how to read will be a completely different experience so there really isn’t just one simple way to do it.

This is one of the biggest frustrations amongst our clients and amongst parents that I speak to. They just want their children to be able to read. They just want to click their fingers and see their child reading.

It doesn’t work like that.

There is no magic formula to teach a child to read.

Do you know what there is?

There is hard work, effort, consistency, dedication, perseverance and a good attitude.

There you go - I’ve given you your 5 simple steps.

Effort

Consistency

Dedication

Perseverance

A good attitude

At any age, YOU must have all 5 of these if you want to support your child to be able to read.

Then you need to follow a tailored programme of study (not a generic one!). A tailored programme of study that is bespoke and created only for your child. This plan will have the books that your child will be reading and these will be updated frequently. This plan will have a spelling curriculum for your child. This plan will have a phonics curriculum for your child.

Once you have your plan. Go back to the 5 steps I told you about.

Are you putting the effort to to read with your child every single day for at least 30 minutes?

And don’t come at me that you don’t have time. You do have time. You can do 15 minutes at breakfast and 15 minutes at best time or whenever you have the opportunity to see your child.

Are you being consistent and reading with your child every day?

And don’t come at me that your child should be doing this at school, after all isn’t that what you send them there for? I don’t know why you send your child to school? It could be for many reasons but it is definitely not your child’s teacher who will be responsible to teach them how to read. Your child’s teacher has 20-30 + other children to teach. Take responsibility and ownership over your child’s reading. Trust me, no one else will ever care as much as you do!

Are you dedicated to your child being able to read well?

Or do you want to hand that over to someone else to? It’s up to you as your child’s parent to be dedicated to them learning how to read.

Do you persevere even when things get hard?

Do you persevere when your child just simply tells you that they don’t want to read? Do you persevere when your child is just not in the mood? Or do you just give in and give them what they want to do instead. Reading everyday is a non negotiable in my home. We read and there are no excuses there.

Do you have a good attitude about reading?

Do you speak positively about reading or are you negative about it? Do you praise your child as they read or do you tell them that they ‘should know that word’ or that they ‘should be quicker’ or that ‘you’ve done that digraph with them a million times!’ Your frustration will become their frustration just as your enthusiasm will become their enthusiasm.

Need support with teaching your child how to read? Book your Emerald Curriculum Sample Lesson and Sample Week today.