This morning my 5-year-old daughter sat down with my 3-year-old son and read “Walt Disney’s ‘Cinderella’ ” to him. It was, of course, an entirely heart-melting moment. But beyond the cuteness, I was also so, so proud of my little girl. She’s been reading words here and there for 
quite awhile, and I’ve known for some time that she could read. Until recently, though, she hasn’t been confident enough to pick up a book and read it. Here’s what we’ve done to get to this point:
Read, read, read and then read some more. I’ve been reading to Poppy since way back in her pre-crawling days. (I haven’t done as well at 
this with Pete.)
I love to read, so the kids see me reading frequently. I think this plays a big role in showing them that reading is important and can be fun.
Poppy started her “official” reading lessons with the Bob Books. It’s a graduated system that very slowly builds reading skills. We used the first three sets last year for preschool.
We haven’t used any sort of reading curriculum this year. It’s been a lot of reading out loud and trying to encourage her to read on her own. And here’s what I credit for her recent leap into independent reading: Pizza Hut. Seriously. Their BookIt reading incentive program is available to homeschoolers, so I signed Poppy up. The promise of a free pizza all her own? It’s motivated her more than my cheerleading ever could have.
So. Reading and pizza. They work for me and for my daughter!
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reading and pizza are two of my favorite things. <3
James’ school has a program called Royal Readers that does the same thing, pizza hut pizza for completing so many minutes of reading. He picked up his first pizza a couple of weeks ago. The guy behind the counter was a little more excited than he was though…which was cool because James mirrored his excitement later! Love your blog btw, great to see your family and beautiful Poppy (who I will always refer to as my son’s first girl!!!)
😀 Poppy found a picture of herself and James a few days ago and wanted to know “who’s that boy?” I wish we were closer so they could hang out again!
That’s exactly how I taught my kids to read. They weren’t homeschooled, but whn they started kindergarten they were reading chapter books (The Borrowers, James and the Giant Peach, etc), which caused some confusion in the classroom, but who cares! Kids model parent’s behavior and if they see you reading, they’ll read. If all they see is you watching TV, that’s what they’ll do. Now they’re 22,21,19 and 2 of them are writing!
.-= rootietoot´s last blog ..Mah mood is like Weather in the South- if you don’t like it- wait a bit and it will change =-.
I got some Bob books for Wendy. We’re starting with the alphabet set, the one that teaches the sounds for the letters. She likes the idea of it, and she’s looking forward to reading the blue set all on her own!
.-= Jeni´s last blog ..WFMW- Weaning from the Binky =-.