Let’s be honest. The first moments of self-doubt for many homeschool parents comes with the pressures of teaching our children to read. There’s no need for all of that self-doubt though! By utilizing the pre-reading resources that are available to us, we can easily lay the foundation needed for a lifetime of literacy.
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One thing I’ve learned over my years of homeschooling is that pre-reading resources are definitely not one size fits all! This list, however, contains pre-reading resources that we’ve personally used in our home and are the ones I recommend from experience.
Favorite Pre-Reading Resources
1. Reading Readiness Checklist– All About Reading shares the top 5 skills needed for reading readiness in this article. Better yet, they’ve also got a handy reading readiness checklist available for free there.
2. Mommy, Teach Me to Read: A Complete and Easy-to-Use Home Reading Program – I borrowed this book from my local library when I began researching how to teach my eldest to read. After a few weeks with this book, I knew I needed my own copy. Through Mommy, Teach Me to Read, I gained the knowledge, techniques, and confidence I needed to lay the foundation for his reading skills.
3. Word Puzzles – We love word puzzles! They’re such a fun way to introduce reading to younger children. The front side of each puzzle uses an image to help kids connect letters and words. The back side of each puzzle contains only letters and is great for challenging early readers to build words as their pre-reading skills grow.
4. Pre-reading TV Shows – If your pre-reader is going to have TV time, make it count through shows like Super Why, Word World, and The Eggsperts. They’re perfect for weaving pre-reading skills into entertainment.
5. Reading Eggs Junior – The Reading Eggs Junior app is a fantastic pre-reading resource. It uses a combination of games, videos, books, and activities to build pre-reading skills.
Even better, when your kiddo is ready, it’s easy to move up to Reading Eggs and Reading Eggspress after that.
I share our experience with Reading Eggs in the following posts: Why We Use Online Reading Games and Can an Online Reading Program Really Work?
7. Bob Books – By focusing on a handful of letters in each book, this series is a wonderful way to build confidence in your pre-reader. Each book is small, manageable, and fun — exactly what you need for pre-reading!
8. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons – Using ever-trusted DISTAR method, 100 Easy Lessons is a step-by-step approach that teaches parents a simple and clear approach to teaching reading. The book begins with pre-reading skills, but has kids reading by the book’s end. I’ll never forget my son’s face when he shifted from the pre-reading sections to actually reading while using this book! Such sweet memories!
9. The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading – I’m currently working through this one with my daughter and we’re doing well with it thus far. I like that its no-fuss approach and that each lesson has enough instruction for her without being overwhelming.
10. This Reading Mama – There are tons of great pre-reading resources on Becky’s site, but I particularly love the Bob Books printables. They’re a perfect compliment to the pre-reader series!
The funny thing to me about reading and pre-reading is that you could ask ten different homeschool families what’s worked well for them and you could easily get ten different answers.
You’ve seen my list of pre-reading favorites, but it’s your turn now. What do you suggest for families who are journeying through through pre-reading?
Looking for more great everyday tools for your homeschool? Stop by the Everyday Tools linkup from iHomeschool Network and take a look.
This list includes some of my favorites (Starfall and PBS) and many I’ve not heard of. My oldest just kind of taught herself to read but my younger son will be working on learning to read soon. Thank you!
Thanks for stopping by, Heather! Starfall and PBS never get old around here! They’ve been favorites for both of my kiddos. :)
My son loved Teach Your Monster to Read! It was the first program he really wanted to work at for long periods of time for days in a row and shortly after that I began to see real progress in his reading. Just this past week he read his first early chapter book!
Thanks for sharing! I need to check that out… Sounds like a fun one! :)