What We’re Using to Teach DD (age 4 1/2) to Read

Animal Antics:

If you’ve read our blog for a while, you know that DD knew
all her letter sounds at age 3 and started putting words
together just a bit before she was 4. She wasn’t yet ready
to read, though, so we did lots of games and she would read
one word on a page or one word at at time in games and such.

She’s now had the patience and interest to sit with me to
read. I spend approximately 10 minutes every day sitting
with her to read.

I also read aloud to the kids, but that’s a separate activity.

We started with Bob Books, but she wasn’t as interested
in those as she was with Animal Antics (pictured above).
She worked hard to finish the entire pack (of 10 books).
I think she did well with the fact that those books built
slowly… A cat. A fat cat. A fat cat sat. A fat cat sat on a
mat. (You get the idea.)

I’ve had the difficult job of trying to figure out what
homeschool curriculum we should bring in our suitcases
to have available for the next 4-6 months before we get all
our stuff (ugh… the joys of an international move!!). I think
I’ve decided on the reading component. I’ll share these with
you in case someone else finds it useful to see what we use
to learn to read:

She really likes the Starfall Books (the books are also
online and a bit animated, but I’m having her read them
aloud before I show her the website). Those are the first
picture below. She read two today!!

I’ll bring set two of the Bob Books. And, I plan to buy set
two of Animal Antics when we’re in the States (I borrowed
my friend’s set for LD when he was learning to read, so I
don’t own those. But I’ll definitely purchase them as I also
have ED who will use them as well.)

And, I’ll bring some readers from Reading A to Z website. A while
back I downloaded these for free when they had a week-long
free trial.

As you can see, we spend a long time on the easy readers.
Because both my kids have started reading on the early side,
I found it useful having lots of different reader sets and using
all the easy ones before moving up in difficulty. I don’t rush
forward into more difficult concepts (silent e, etc.) until they’ve
had lots and lots of practice and success with the easier ones.

Starfall Books:

Bob Books Set 2:

Reading A to Z Website: