J Skillen
How My Son Learned to Read
- or -
How to Not Teach Your Child to Read!

I didn't teach my son to read as such. I taught him the letters, and the sounds the letters made with things like I Spy, but didn't do anything else. Well, he wouldn't let me anyway even if I tried! I borrowed other peoples schemes, tried various books, but nothing interested my son or made sense to us.

Then I took the advice of many experienced HEers who say that children will teach themselves to read when they are ready, and that most countries don't teach reading until they are 6 or so.

It was hard but I eventually gave up and didn't do anything. Well, I did do something. I read aloud to him a lot!

But when he was 6 he really got into The Beano and The Dandy. We started getting them every week and I would read them to him. Slowly over the year he asked me to read them to him less and less, until about a month or two ago (now nearly 7) he actually told me he didn't want me to read them to him anymore!

Yep, my son taught himself to read using comics! Unfortunately he also taught himself to be a Menace! LOL

IMHO there are two requirements for a good reading scheme. First, the child has to be ready, and second, they have to have an interest in what they are reading. Sometimes it doesn't matter how qualified the authors are or how much money a scheme costs. Just good old fashion comics can do the trick!

Happy reading,