Pushing a Young Child to Read
This is a blog post from a parent I had written about on the BAM! Parent Gossip forum several months ago. I think they are using this book , Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, with their son who recently turned 5. She also took him to a reading program over the summer that was mostly intended for children going to Kindergarten, or at least for those children who have some self-control and discipline.
I could be incredibly wrong, but I just don't see how this is in any way truly helping him. They just seem to be pushing him into reading in a very non-developmentally appropriate way. I was immediately taken aback by the image from that reading book. Mind you, this child just turned 5, and was 4 when they began. How can this be appropriate for anyone? The english language will never be presented to him in this way again. It just seems like a very out of date way to teach.
My daughter is a year younger and has learned a lot of pre-literacy skills on her own just from being exposed to lots of books and a literacy-rich environment. She's well on her way to sounding out words and writing things all on her own. We're lucky she's so interested, but I have no intentions of pushing her to read when she should be playing and acting like a kid.
Feel free to chime in with any viewpoints! Please and thank you.
I could be incredibly wrong, but I just don't see how this is in any way truly helping him. They just seem to be pushing him into reading in a very non-developmentally appropriate way. I was immediately taken aback by the image from that reading book. Mind you, this child just turned 5, and was 4 when they began. How can this be appropriate for anyone? The english language will never be presented to him in this way again. It just seems like a very out of date way to teach.
My daughter is a year younger and has learned a lot of pre-literacy skills on her own just from being exposed to lots of books and a literacy-rich environment. She's well on her way to sounding out words and writing things all on her own. We're lucky she's so interested, but I have no intentions of pushing her to read when she should be playing and acting like a kid.
Feel free to chime in with any viewpoints! Please and thank you.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Penny Arcos on -
I have been a Montessori teacher for three years. We got the same pressure from some parents. But, the owner reassured the parents, and me, that all the materials offered in the Montessori school were beneficial to higher learning. Carrot Work teaches following procedure (important for any learning), directionality (for reading and math), flexibility of the wrist (for writing) and social skills (sharing). Even play dough develops finger strength that is necessary for writing. We must remember that the WHOLE CHILD is important and that play is meaningful work.
Cherie Greene said:At my Montessori school there were always a number of kids whose parents had signed them up for Montessori solely because they'd heard we would teach them to read and do math in preschool. They had, of course, completely missed the point.
We do offer many materials with which a child may, if so inclined, learn phonics. Some of them master their letter sounds and several sight words before they turn 5; others graduate from Kindergarten with only a few letters. Some spend hours making words with the movable alphabet; others prefer geography, math, or Practical Life. The children are neither held back nor forced.
My mother is a teacher, and she taught me to read at age 4 because I asked her to, and I eventually got a Master's in English (a degree with no earthly practical use). My son, on the other hand, struggled with literacy until second grade. But when he got to 7th, when his English teacher told the class they could choose any book they wanted to read for their final report of the year, he chose Beowulf.
Thus, I always tell the high-pressure, academics-oriented parents: DON'T PANIC.
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