What can parents do at home to help their children learn to read?

“Parents want to help their kids learn how to read but don’t want to push them to the point where they hate reading.” (MADER, 2020)

Here’s an article from the Hechinger report dated March 30, 2020. This article outlines important points to keep in mind and what to look for in school curriculums and how to assess if their child is having difficulty with reading. I very much agree as parents, we can help our kids learn to read by making reading FUN.

Here are some ideas parents can use at home: (MADER, 2020)

  • Challenge kids to find everything in the house that starts with a specific sound.
  • Stretch out one word in a sentence. Ask your child to “pass the salt” but say the individual sounds in the word “salt” instead of the word itself.
  • Ask your child to figure out what every family member’s name would be if it started with a “b” sound.
  • Sing that annoying “Banana fana fo fanna song.” … that kind of playful activity can actually help a kid think about the sounds that correspond with letters even if they’re not looking at a letter right in front of them.
  • Read your child’s favorite book over and over again. For books that children know well, have children use their finger to follow along as each word is read. Parents can do the same, or come up with another strategy to help kids follow which words they’re reading on a page.

What kinds of activities do your kids like to do that helps them learn to read while having fun?!

How do you incorporate learning to read with daily life?

works cited

MADER, J. (2020). What parents need to know about the research on how kids learn to read. HECHINGER REPORT.

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