Phonics - The Basics Explained

All parents dread being told that their children are falling behind in reading and writing at school, and will naturally start finding ways to provide reading help for kids. This can be very upsetting and leave the parent not knowing how to provide reading help for kids. As someone who has spent their entire career in the teaching profession I firmly believe that most of these children need not fall behind at all and that it is the teaching method that is at fault not the child.

It is now evident that today's schools are not producing pupils whose literacy skills would be of anything like the same standard as pupils who went to school in the 1900's. In response many families, are opting for home schooling.

Top if the list of important elements in any childs education is reading, which forms the basis for all other learning. When I was at school phonics was not used, but the memorisation of words was the teaching method. Like others who did not learn phonics I struggled and did not enjoy reading. My results were good but only because of the huge effort I made, however when I stumbled on the phonics system as a teacher my own reading improved dramatically.

Naturally parents are nervous about schooling their child at home, but there is really no need, with the right advice its very simple!

There are some common barriers for children learning to read. As many as half of all children are 'hands on' learners. The sad fact is that in most western countries the school system does not effectively teach this large group. Many times they are incorrectly diagnosed with Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Disorder or just as 'problem children'.

Action oriented personality children are often very clever - they just cant learn in the way they are being taught.

Evidence suggests that it is often action-oriented children who fall behind at school. The good news is that simply by changing the method used to teach them these children soon catch up with their peers, and graduated on with good reading and writing skills. The method that you should investigate as a parent is how to learn to read with phonics, as this will provide you with the very best source of reading help for kids.

Whats important about phonics? Comprehension is the end game for reading. Understanding what one is reading requires being able to read quickly and still understand without getting stuck. Phonics helps this with exactly that. Plenty of opportunities to use phonics skills, as well as using other options such as writing, and the ability to recognise letters and spelling, produces a competent reader.

How do you teach phonics? Using a system and in a sequence. Teachers need to allow children to practice extensively before moving to the next stage. Children are given books at the right level containing words they can decode because they have been working on them. The key here is to offer frequent opportunities for the child to read with the teacher or parent, who can guide and correct, then let them do some writing to really drill the lessons home, and this is a high quality way to provide reading help for kids.