Our Homeschooling Journey: Reading Time

Now that I am five, you need to read me a book before sleeping time.

That was what my daughter said on the night of her birthday. It was her birthday but it felt like I was the one who got the best gift ever! This was one of the things I wished I could have done with her in her earlier years. Reading before sleep time tough back then seemed impossible because sleeping at night has been a struggle for both of us, I can't seem to find a way to add reading time in our sleep time routine. Imagine my joy when I heard her say that she wanted to have storytime before she goes to sleep. I envied my friends whose kids enjoy listening to them while they read a book to them. Now, my kid enjoys listening to me while I read a book to her!

It was really timely because I have been teaching her how to read for over a year now, and our next target is for her to be an independent reader. As of right now, she is partially an independent reader, save for some really difficult words. We are now way past CVC and basic sight words. She is slowly learning 3-4 syllable words.

When I decided to embark on our homeschooling journey, I knew from the start that one of the most important skills she needs to acquire is reading. I thought that once she knows how to read, and truly understands what she is reading, teaching her other things - even speaking Tagalog - will be a lot easier. Besides, when a person knows how to read, their world will be a lot wider even when they are just within the confines of their own home. Especially during these times, my daughter's books have helped a lot in passing the time. With reading, we are hitting two birds with one stone - she is training how to read and we have an activity each day.

Teaching a toddler how to read though, is not an easy task. It requires a lot of patience, determination, and creativity. I shared a video about the basics on how to teach a toddler to read a couple of months ago. I can still remember the time when I was beginning to teach her how to read. There were months when I got stuck with the phonics, I did not know how to move on to the next level. I know she's ready for it, I just don't know what is the right step to move on. When teaching a toddler, it is important not to overwhelm them. They might get confused and that could result to them losing interest. I knew I needed to take it slow, but I also needed to move on to the next phase when she is showing that she is ready.

Before she became an independent reader, We went through a lot. Let me share to you some fo the lessons I learned in this part of our homeschooling journey.

1. Admit when you are lost and do not hesitate to ask questions.
   I noticed my daughter is getting tired of the CVC word activities I prepared for her. It is an indication that she already has a full understanding and memorization of the different phonics. At that point, our reading activities still evolve in the phonetic pronunciation of words (c-a-t, cat; b-a-t, bat; etc). She is ready for the next level, only I don't know what IS the next level. To the Homeschooling Facebook groups, I went. I still can't find the answer I was looking for. Then I remembered I have a friend who used to be an online ESL teacher for kids, and is now homeschooling her kid. I admitted to her that I was lost and that I don't know what to do next. She then guided me to the next step. It turns out that the answer was right in front of me. Letter blending. It was the missing piece of the puzzle, and once we got through that, our reading lessons were a breeze.
2. Spend time reading to your kid and with your kid.
   Kids are great at mirroring grown-ups around them. This is why reading to them is a great way of teaching them proper pronunciation and intonation. When you read to your kid, remember to point at the words in the book. This is so that they can follow the words that you are reading, thus indirectly teaching them how to read while having them listen to a story. You'll cover reading and comprehension in one go. While it is important to read to them, take the time also to read with them. It helps build the mindset of loving reading when kids see that grownups also pick up a book every now and then to read. Kids do what they see after all.
3. Create a sense of excitement about reading
   Every time I get the chance to go out of the house, I make sure that I bring home a new book for my daughter. It might have been a habit of mine since I myself love buying myself new books back when I was still a corporate slave. It's like my reward after a hard day's work. Now, I reward my daughter with a new storybook, coloring book, or activity book every chance I get because she's been inside the house ever since the pandemic began, save for some weekends when kids are allowed to go out to the park. Instead of buying her new toys or gadgets, I get her excited with books. I mentioned in my blog before that parents have the power to influence our kids, I am using that power to influence her into loving reading.
4. Listen to your kid's cues
   When we are homeschooling, we are practically the drivers in the journey but we will have to rely on the signals that our kids are giving us. Let them guide you to which direction you need to steer and the speed you need to maintain. That's the beauty of homeschooling, we can follow our own pace, the kids can learn at their own time, using our own style of teaching. My goal when I started teaching her was for her to learn to love reading. Not just for her to learn how to read. Love is a very complex feeling and we need to be careful with it. If we feed it too much to her, she might feel overwhelmed. Thus, my husband and I took it slow and we were careful not to be to pushy when it comes to her reading time. It was a long and winding road but as of now, we can say that she enjoys reading a lot. (She even cries when she forgets to read a book during the daytime.)
5. Make it a routine.
   It will be much easier to establish reading time if it is done regularly. While it is simpler if there's a schedule to follow, it is also important to be flexible. Like I said, always listen to your kid's cues. There are instances that she likes to read longer than the allotted time, and there are times when she doesn't feel like reading at all. For her to love reading, it is important that we don't force her to read when the alarm goes off. Yes, I set an alarm for reading time but I still check to see if she is in the mood for it. Besides, she has more activities that take up her time like painting tutorials, story writing, and so much more.

Reading is like opening a portal to another world. I loved reading as a kid and in a way, it has helped me with my academics as well as my storytelling. I can see it in my daughter right now. She is becoming quite a storyteller and illustrator and I can see her stories are sometimes based on the stories she read in her books. Our study time has been a lot easier too. I make it a point that I am right beside her when she answers her quizzes but she insists that she do all the reading and answering by herself. It sure looks like soon she will be an independent learner.