Fast forward six years I have a new set of little readers learning phonics and I have decided to go about the process very differently than what I had in mind as a young, first year homeschooler. We read. A lot. From Fancy Nancy to Katy and the Big Snow, Curious George, The Salamander Room and Owl Moon. We discuss the difference between fiction and non-fiction, what the characters are doing, the conflicts and solutions, setting of the book and who wrote it. We read the same books multiple times and bake recipes that correspond to what happened in the book, when able. We use the Five in a Row curriculum as a supplement to the rest of our curriculum. My first and second graders have learned to love books separately from learning to read. We use a curriculum to teach phonics and do a lot of extras to teach reading skills. They are learning to read words, lots of words, based on learning word families, blends and sight words and we incorporate lots of fun ways to teach them to read words (words not books). The end result is that they are learning to read and in that they are asking to read from books. Not the other way around. I want them to want to read not simply do it as another subject in school. Emma is excited that she can now read most of her Fancy Nancy books by herself. We know that most curriculums require reading from books at an early age, but our approach to homeschooling is to instill a love of learning in their hearts and I believe that by teaching them to read and introducing books to them separately is developing a love for books without the pressure of preforming. It delights me so much to hear them reading to themselves or being thrilled to find new books at the library because they see books as exciting and informative rather than a chore. Emma reads at night in bed because she wants to, because she's excited about being able to read words and wants to read those words she knows in a book she enjoys. And that gives me confidence in how we are approaching reading with this second set of young readers
"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." ~Anna Quindlen