VANITY: Teaching Readin

[Jamestown1630]

My husband and I saw a TV news segment about Common Core this evening, and the strange way it appears to teach mathematics. Somehow, we started talking about how we learned to read and write.

I can't remember much at all; I seemed to just 'absorb' it somehow. I recall learning to sing the ABCs (a good way to learn the letters) and I recall learning to write the letters. But I don't recall anything about the technique that was used to teach me to actually recognize words and read. (This would have been in the late-1950's, early 1960's.)

Does anyone know of any books or teachers' guides that were used to teach reading and writing, during the first half of the 20th century?

All I know is that my teachers did a great job; and I have never understood the difficulty so many young kids have now, acquiring basic literacy.

I remember my grandmother telling me about McGuffey's Readers; but I don't know much about those, or their value as to teaching from the very start.

(A friend of mine recently acquired an illiterate neighbor, and was trying to teach her how to read. A good technique-book would be useful there, as well. I'm wondering what the home-schoolers use; and this would also be a good addition to any extreme-prepper's kit.)

Thanks for any suggestions,

JT

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Do as your grandmother said. :)

McGuffey's Readers are still available and still very good at teaching reading.

You want to start with McGuffey Primer.

[happyhomemaker]

Taught my two to read using “Reading Made Easy” Started at around 6.5-7 yrs and it took about 3 weeks of 10 minute lessons.

http://www.valeriebendt.com/reading/

Also “Better Late than Early” explains how starting reading lessons “later” is better than pushing early reading

http://www.amazon.com/Better-Late-Than-Early-Education/dp/0883490498

[PLMerite]

“In fcat, you can siltl rogneczie wdros eevn if tehy are wertitn in the wnorg oerdr.”

I thought the Quaaludes had finally kicked in.

[FrdmLvr]

When they stopped teaching phonics was when the trouble began with kids not being able to read or write. That started as far back as about the mid-60’s in some school districts around the country. Rudolph Flesch wrote “Why Johnny Can’t Read” to explain what was happening to the educational system, focusing on reading.

I taught my own kids to read using a method called “Alphaphonics” by Dr. Blumenfeld. The lessons are self-contained in one book that goes step by step. It’s a very natural approach. The book is still available today, and it’s only about $25.

Another great thing Alphaphonics offers are lessons for preschoolers (in the same book) for teaching the alphabet where the child actually learns the letters and doesn’t just memorize the alphabet by singing the song, they actually learn to recognize the individual letters by themselves, out of order. It’s a great
method.

http://www.amazon.com/Alpha-Phonics-Beginning-Samuel-L-Blumenfeld/dp/0941995003/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418869724&sr=1-1&keywords=alphaphonics

[Mears]

I taught school 1954-56

We used the Dick and Jane books.

Reading was very phonics oriented.

.

[Romulus]

Whole word reading is a path to illiteracy. Phonics must be learned as a fundamental skill.

I was taught phonics, so early that I can’t remember. I have no memory of not being able to read.

[WhattheDickens?]

I home schooled my kids (1 graduated summa cum laude in math/music, the other other about to graduate in computer science)
1. Read aloud to your children/grandchildren every day.
2. Read more aloud to your children/grandchildren every day.
3. Keep them away from electronic screens until after they are 2 years old.
4. Limit screen time to 1/2 hour/day til 5-7 years. TV destroys attention spans — trains the brain to expect new input every few seconds.
5. Abeka has a great phonics book. Readers, though, not so great. Use the library.
6. Know that many boys are not neurologically ready to read before they are 6 - 10 years old. It is NOT a learning disability! There’s a reason boys didn’t start school until they were 7 or 8 for most of history. My son didn’t read until he was 9 years old. He got the basics of Newton and Bernouli at 7 and aced college English at 16.
7. When kids start reading, have them read the periods (voice goes down at the end of a sentence), commas (pause), and question marks (voice goes up). They will have no problems with fragments or run ons if they can do this — natural grammar. This also helps kids who have trouble reading in later years. I’ve seen it help kids with a 4th grade reading level understand Mark Twain.

[Senior1]

Your right, I remember learning the ABC song around kindergarden. Then, learned how to spell the word "yellow", don't know why.

Next I remember reading in the second grade about a boy hunting turkey. It got my attention.

can you imagine, teaching young men to make meat today !!! LOL

[outofsalt]

"Especially the ads and sports pages."

Ahh, yes, the ads... The sears catalog... underwear models... second only to National Geographic. Way down the list is phonics.

[blueplum]

I grew up with the Dick and Jane series of readers and a weekly magazine called the ‘Weekly Reader’ that was grade-specific.

some examples of the great illustrations in the Dick and Jane series can be seen here:

http://www.tagnwag.com/forsale/dick_jane_pages/matted/NWLS/index-nwls.html

[jimfr]

Having home schooled our kids we used “The Writing Road to Reading”. Basically phonetics but using three senses feel(writing), hearing and seeing. I personally hated (past tense) reading, a large part being the lousy John/Jane books. I read encyclopedias, science and nonfiction. As another said the desire needs to be there and it can be instilled.
Another person mentioned the need to memorize arithmetic facts and counting (seeing how ones progress to tens which progress to hundreds). Also, being a research scientist I whole heartily agree. Without these two, the kid will be totally lost. Also, when someone has problem later with math and has these two foundations, it is usually that they missed a simple small fact, and that tiny point needs to be found.

[MHGinTN]

I am one of those strange people who remember a great deal from early childhood (earliest memory goes back to before my second birthday, in 1947, before coming down with polio). I recall learning to read by recognizing signs, road signs, stop signs, billboards. It is as if a switch was flipped and the name Chevrolet that I heard on the radio was somehow the same as the word on the side of the car in the parking lot, the word Stop was that same funny sign with lettering on it. Sight recognition of words was the beginning. Learning that some words had more than one sound in it (more than one syllable) came next and learning the visual version of the sound. I could read at age four, not just recognize words but read sentences. Somehow the words were sounds, like music, to my still forming brain. As a kid, my favorite word was ‘cellardoor’ ... yeah, I know it’s two words, but to the just learning to read kid it is a musical ‘phrase’ as one thing.

[Mrs.Z]

Home-school oldie but goodie (I recently bought a new set for grandkids):

Sing-Spell-Read-and-Write

[Jamestown1630]

Thanks to all. I really appreciate the responses and suggestions.

I’m getting close to retirement, and will need an ‘avocation’. I think teaching kids to read is one of the best things that I could do with my ‘twilight years’.

Reading has been, throughout my life, my path to personal Freedom.

Thanks Again,
JT

[FrankR]

"Comic books were very big in our house, too."

Yep, me too. I had tons of Superman, Superboy, Batman, etc comics. A lot of other guys had collections too, and we'd have a monthly "comic book swap", and trade comic books for ones we hadn't read. Even swap, unless the cover was missing, then it took two cover-less ones to get one with a cover.

I remember seeing new words and looking them up in the dictionary. Learned a lot of words back in the early 50's that way. Of course, we didn't have the distractions of computers and other gadgets to read the books to us, so we had to learn. We even learned to write Cursive in the 3rd grade.

Today's youth seems like the steel balls in a pinball machine...just roll around aimlessly until you encounter a bumper, then go the other way...all while traveling downhill towards being in the hole.

[Jamestown1630]

Yes, I think I learned a lot of words just from curiosity, or necessity.

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

Dictionaries were important in my house, as well. And, I remember when someone gave our family a complete encyclopedia. I was about 12 years old, and spent hours surreptitiously looking up everything I could about human reproduction.....and in those days, the entries were just science, no politics or ‘special interests’; and no ‘how-to’.

(This is another ‘bugaboo’ of mine. ‘Sex Education’ belongs in the home, not in the schools.)

JT

[Talisker]

Once your 7 year old child can spout back the math facts, without thinking, he/she will be able to master math for the rest of their life.

Well there's one caveat - do not, under any conditions, allow them to try to understand how a number can approach infinity in their first calculus class. Just make them learn how to work the problem and find the answer, and force them to postpone any deeper thought on the issue for the future.

Trust me.

[rejoicing]

“Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons”. Available on Amazon, at Barnes & Noble, etc. It teaches reading via phonics. I’ve taught 7 children to read well, beginning with this book. As the title says, it’s broken up into 100 lessons, taking 15 minutes or less. At the end, most children(people) are able to sound out most words and are beginning to read easy material with relative fluidity. I’ve been homeschooling for 25 years - recommend it heartily. An adult should be able to sail through the book quickly.

[sgtyork]

Good post. I this was the biggest fight my wife and I ever had, me saying my son memorizes math facts and her siding with the education system.

That memorization also gives you speed in operation and that makes trying different solutions to a problem easier.