2. Use a voice-recording device to create messages that will help you to remember important things or your daily schedule. This can enhance your communication and organization skills.

3. Organize materials needed for the next day the night before. Then, place it in an obvious place so you will see it when leaving the house. This is important because dyslexics are prone to forget items that they can not see. Incorporating this habit into your routine will help cope with short term memory problems.

4. It’s never too late to improve your reading skills, even if you are severely dyslexic. Consider trying out the Reading Horizons software, especially for adults with dyslexia. There is a FREE 7 day trial so what do you have to lose?

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One of the most important visual skills is directionality or tracking. Having our eyes coordinate and turn inward to focus on one task at a time, such as reading, must be learned. It can be difficult for our eyes if any of these skills are not automatic, and it will take extra effort on the part of the individuals. This can be very frustrating and exhausting and will often cause them to need a break. They will be the ones who stare out the window after reading for a while or rest their heads on their arms, covering one eye, or they could be the ones who start to act out due to frustration. These students are often mislabeled as ADD or even ADHD. All of these important eye processes can be learned. Perceiving the symbols, and training our eyes to work left to right, which is a convention of the English language, take practice, time, and, often, methods of intervention to help.

Directional tracking is an important and an often-neglected, essential tool in reading. An article by Miscese Gagen, a mother and tutor, explains perfectly the importance of this skill:

“We read and write English from left-to-right. This left-to-right horizontal arrangement of print is an essential component of the written English language. Proper directional tracking is looking at and processing all the letters in order from left-to-right. Proper directional tracking is essential for reading success.”

“For accurate reading, the student must process sounds in order from left-to-right. Knowing the individual sounds is not sufficient…Correct phonologic processing requires proper directional tracking.”

“You need to directly teach proper directional tracking because scanning left-to-right in a straight line manner is not a natural process. Instinctively, looking all over is a superior way to gather and process information. Straight line, left-to-right processing is one of the arbitrary artificial components of our man made written English language that the student must learn and automatically apply. Many children apply the superior natural instincts of looking all over and fail to develop straight line left-to-right tracking skills that are essential to proficient reading.” (Gagen, www.righttrackreading.com)

Reading Horizons’ Discover Intensive Phonics has built-in tools that help immensely with directional tracking. First, Discover Intensive Phonics teaches consonant and vowel sounds in slides. Slides put a consonant with a vowel for correct pronunciation by having students slide the sounds from left-to-right. This is much more effective than teaching ending patterns first, then going back (working right-to-left) and adding initial phonemes. This is not the way our eyes need to look at words for fluency. Our eyes must be trained to look at two, three, or more phonemes with each eye fixation. Slides have them look at those initial sounds as a unit, which causes an increase in fluency and the ability to read by simply adding final or ending phonemes.

Second, Discover Intensive Phonics has the student mark the word, underneath, from left-to-right. This helps their eyes track linearly and ensures they are seeing and processing each sound in the correct order. After learning how to mark words in this manner, students will eventually transfer this skill to their reading and “see” the markings in their heads as they read the word left-to-right. It keeps them working directionally and helps with blending, fluency, and decoding. When they are able to decode automatically and are fluently working from left-to-right, comprehension also increases.

Using a finger or a card to move along underneath the words when reading is another important and helpful tool in directional tracking. In our efforts to help in this process, we have created a tracking bookmark that isolates the sentence you are reading, which helps eyes coordinate and process symbols in correct groupings, without competing visual information from the lines above or below.

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So how should you get started with phonics and what do you need to heave ready?

Getting Started:

1. A systematic phonics program, usually available as a software or online program.
A good phonics program can make your reading instruction much stronger and help you to stay organized and on-track. You can learn about some of the phonics programs we prefer in this site.
2. Purchase a set of phonics flashcards or print out for free from the web: http://www.mes-english.com/phonics/files/az_flash.pdf
3. Decodable stories. The reading program you choose should include decodable stories, but you can always use more. Here are some free decodable stories: http://www.freereading.net/index.php?title=Illustrated_Decodable_fiction_passages.
4. Good writing supplies like: index cards, file for the cards, wide-tip markers, beginner’s wide-ruled writing tablet, pencils, erasers.

Lesson 1 – Week 1 (continue for 4 weeks until fully memorized)
The 5 short-vowel sounds and consonant sounds.
Students need to be drilled in these sounds until they are memorized. Doing the drills frequently and consistently is the key to success. This can be done by using the flashcards. Add some consonant sounds each day until you are drilling all short-vowel sounds and consonant sounds daily.

Lesson 2
Two-letter blends.
Drill until blending is automatic.
After the student knows the short-vowel sounds and consonant sounds, next is orally blending two letters (b-a, ba) and reading two-letter blends such as: ba, be, bi, bo, bu.

Lesson 3
Three-letter blends.
Drill until blending is automatic.
Once a student can read two-letter blends, he can progress to three-letter blends – actual words. Each day, the student should practice reading a set of short-vowel words, then dictate these same words to him.

Lesson 4
Teach the twin-consonant endings, plurals, and two-consonant blends.
Drill until blending is automatic.

Lesson 5
Digraphs (ch, sh, th, wh, ng, nk).
A digraph consists of two consonants that form a new sound when combined. Also teach three-consonant blends.

Lesson 6
Introduce some high-frequency words necessary to read most sentences.
Once a student can read three-letter and four-letter words easily, move on to high-frequency words that are necessary to read sentences. Some high-frequency words are phonetically regular (such as “or”), but are introduced out of sequence because of their importance. Other words are irregular, because they don’t follow the rules of phonics (such as “once” and “who”).
Write the Basic High-Frequency Words index cards and introduce a few new words each week. The students should practice these words every day.

Lesson 7
Long-vowel sounds
There are five common spellings for each long-vowel sound. Also teach the “Silent-e Rule”: When a one-syllable word ends in “e” and has the pattern vce (vowel-consonant-e), the first vowel says its name and the “e” is silent.

Lesson 8
R-controlled vowel sounds and their spellings.

Lesson 9
Diphthongs /oi/ and /ow/ and their spellings.
A diphthong consists of two vowels that form a new sound when combined. Teach other special sounds.

Lesson 10
Teach /aw/, /awl/, /awk/ and their spellings.

Lesson 11
Teach these sounds and spelling patterns.

/s/ spelled c
Rule: c followed by e, i, or y sounds like /s/.
/j/ spelled g, ge, dge
Rule: g followed by e, i, or y usually sounds like /j/.
/f/ spelled ph
Rule: ph sounds like /f/ in words of Greek origin.
/k/ spelled ch
Rule: ch sounds like /k/ in words of Greek origin.
/sh/ spelled ch
Rule: ch sounds like /sh/ in words of French origin.

Lesson 12
Students should be ready for reading decodable stories after 3-4 months of the previous lessons and continuous practicing.

Once a student has mastered decodable stories, it is time to move to simple stories and books. In general, it takes 1-2 years for phonics understanding to be completely internalized.

Review the National Standards for homeschool reading but do not expect to find solutions or structured guidance from the Standards. And maybe that is a good thing, so that you are not pushed towards one methodology of reading instruction.

Reading is a core subject. That means that the state’s education department has standards and curriculum information available that you should review. Find your state in the US Department of Education site.

What are the National Standards for Homeschool Reading?

1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.
3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
4. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and nonprint texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
5. Students use a variety of technological and informational resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

The standards concern what children should learn but not HOW they should learn to read. Furthermore, note that the Standards drive home the fact that reading is not a skill learned in the first few years of schools and then put aside. It is an ongoing activity and group of skills that should be continuously developed.

How Should You Teach Reading in Your Homeschool?

Research shows that different children learn in different ways. WHile once, reading instruction was a one-size fits all approach in the school system, today it is understood more and more that some children can not learn to read successfully with the standard approach. That does not mean they can’t learn to read. It means the instruction needs to be adapted to their needs. When that is done correctly, usually, the child can become as fluent a reader as his classmates.
Some of us choose to homeschool for precisely this reason. We want to be able to adapt the teaching methodology to the student and the the reverse, as tends to happen in public schools. So of course some students can never reach their potential if the instruction method does not fit them.
There are two types of reading instruction used in schools today: the Phonics Approach and the Whole Language Approach

Phonics is a method for teaching reading by teaching how to connect the sounds of spoken language with letters or groups of letters and then teaching the student to blend the sounds of letters together to produce pronunciations of unknown words. Phonics is a method for decoding words, which is where many struggling readers get hung up. The recommended age to start phonics is at the age of 5 or 6.

The whole language approach to teaching reading strongly contrasts with the phonics methodology. The emphasis is on identifying words using context and focusing only a little on the sounds. There still exists intense debate about which approach is “right”.
Research has proven that phonics instruction improves children’s ability to identify words but that phonics instruction should occur in conjunction with opportunities to identify words in sentences and texts.

We suggest you also become familiar with the Orton-Gillingham approach to teaching reading. Orton-Gillingham is based on a technique of studying and teaching language, understanding the nature of human language, the mechanisms involved in learning, and the language-learning processes in individuals.
It is synonymous with Multisensory reading instruction involving constant interaction between the teacher and the student and the simultaneous use of multiple sensory input channels reinforcing each other for optimal learning. Using auditory, visual, and kinesthetic elements, all language skills taught are reinforced by having the student listen, speak, read and write. For example, a dyslexic learner is taught to see the letter A, say its name and sound and write it in the air – all at the same time. The approach requires intense instruction and this could be one of the reasons it is not readily adopted by public schools. Multisensory learning is is known to enhance memory and retrieval.
In the case that a child is struggling to learn to read, employing the Orton-Gillingham approach can make the difference in turning them from a struggling reader to a fluent reader and within a relatively short period of time. This is why it is often used in learning disabled settings. But it should not be limited to children who are labeled as LD or dyslexic!

What to buy for your Homeschool Reading Program?
You may want to consider using a software reading program, phonics worksheets, a graded reader program, or other tools to guide your taching and provide structure to your reading program. In addition, ensure that your child has access to a range of reading materials and can experience your enthusiasm for reading. Visit the library, order a subscription to a magazine, read aloud together . . . It’s much more challenging today with all of the digital stimulation most children grow up with but it is worth the effort.

First of all, ReadersEdge addresses your existing reading problems, that so many of us have.

Readers Edge is not just about providing you with tips and tricks. It is a guided speed reading course.

Decrease Eye Fixations: Learn to read groups of words instead of word by word, which is a very slow way to read, but how most of us were taught.

Stop vocalizing what you read: Many people read to themselves aloud or even inside their head. This basically means you are unable to read faster than you can talk. But it is possible to read faster than you speak, so eliminating this habit is critical to becoming a faster reader.

Stop re-reading texts: Many people have a  habit of going back over words , believing that if they read slowly and carefully they will  increase their comprehension. But actually, by learning to read faster, you become more involved in the text you’re reading and improve  comprehension.

ReaderEdge is more than a series of tips about how to read faster. You get a step by step guided course. To begin, the software allows you to evaluate your current reading level – both speed and comprehension. Then, you set up the reading course to meet your needs and goals. Then, you start the exercises with a detailed lesson plan. You will move from reading one word at a time to reading groups of words. Then, you will take on full texts. Moving through the lessons from start to finish guarantees that you will cover  comprehension, vocabulary and reading speed.

We think Readers Edge is a winner and useful for any reader at any age. It just may be one of the best and affordable speed reading programs out there.Click Here

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