It seems that I am perpetually teaching reading around here. Since everyone is about two years apart, I guess this is true, lol. My first child took to reading so quickly and has developed such a love for it that I often have to force her to go to bed at night. She’s used flashlights, nightlights and whatever other source she could find to light her books. Finally, I gave in and purchased a lamp for her so that she wouldn’t damage her eyesight.

My son is a reluctant reader. He will do it begrudgingly and he’s getting pretty good at it too. The strange thing about him is that he will literally carry around a book or an ereader all day. I’m not sure if he’s planning to read on his own time but at least he seems really fond of carrying his books, lol.

When he first started homeschooling, I figured it would be easy to get him started on his journey to literacy since I was tremendously successful with his sister. SubhanAllah was I ever wrong.  He had a hard time remembering the sounds of the letters and was not motivated to learn. He just did not have any interest in reading, writing or anything else we were doing in our homeschool.

I started with Saxon Phonics and panicked. It was not working out like I hoped. What I learned is that every child is different. For real. The way that one child is taught may not appeal to/work for another child. So I tried a combination of things until we made it work. We used Explode the Code 1, copywork, notebooking, read alouds, Saxon Phonics (he took to it after using Explode the Code) and .

Finally, everything clicked and we are using that I used with his sister. He finished his first chapter book on Friday and is reading his second book now. He reads a chapter a day aloud and then I put the book away, out of his sight. By the time his required reading is finished, he’s just on the verge of pouting, but I push him through it because I know that he can do it.

I think that I was tougher on his sister, testing her limits and pushing her further than we both thought was possible. It made her a strong, independent learner. She is a child that goes searching for new things to learn. I am now doing the same for him, InshaAllah. He’s learning Arabic, Quran, multiplication (in a week, InshaAllah), all things that she was not doing at his age, so in some ways, he’s ahead. 🙂

Next up, my third child will begin her own reading journey, InshaAllah.

Here is a video with a simple, yet effective technique for beginners: