If you can read the title of this paper you already know more about phonics than you may have realized. The two letter phonogram ph has the sound of the letter f,  and you probably read it just phine.

(And did you notice that "read" in the present and future tense ("I will now read this book.") and "read" in the past tense ("Yesterday I read this book.") are spelled the same?  The letters ea together have two sounds they can make.  Only context will tell you which one to use, and that doesn't even always work, as in, "I read well."  Fortunately, most reading is not that difficult.

"I’ll be candid with you — I’d never send a child to school
who didn’t already know how to read."

So said a BYU professor and reading specialist on KBYU-TV several years ago. Recognizing the seriousness of the failure of our government schools to teach reading, this good man encouraged parents to teach their own children to read before they started school.

Unfortunately not all children will be ready to read by age five or six just as all babies are not ready to walk at eleven months, so parents might want to delay school enrollment at least until their children are good readers. History has shown us that students can begin formal studies as late as eight or ten, even twelve or fourteen, and be caught up with their peers in a few months.

As parents, you must set the example. You must love learning and reading, and you must read to your children from the best books. What you sow in their hearts now, you will reap in their adulthood. Yes, this will require time and patience, but remember: your child is a little person who would rather be with you than with anyone else in the world right now. Enjoy his company. He’ll be gone soon enough.

If you thought you child's first steps were exciting, wait 'till you help him read his first words!  It's really quite simple and great fun -- just ask Abe Lincoln's mom, or millions of other mom's since the world began.  

All letters have a name and a sound. Consonants use only their sound, which you can figure out — just listen to the first letter of words you know: b-baby, d-dog, f-fish, m-mom, s-snake.  Also listen to the last letter of words because consonants are difficult to say without a vowel.  Often the true sound is easier to hear at the end of a word.  For example, in the word dad we tend to say the first d together with the a but the second d all by itself.

A few consonants use another consonant’s sound:

c always takes the sound of s if followed by the signal letters
            e, i, y:  cat,/cent
            otherwise is has the same sound as k
g sometimes takes the sound of j when followed by the signal
            letters e, i, y:  giggle/giant
s sometimes sounds like z:  bees
y thinks it’s an i at the end of one syllable words: my, by, cry
            an e at the end of two syllable words:  baby, Sally, happy
            and sometimes it just seems confused:  bicycle, psychology

Sometimes two consonants go together to form a different sound, like the ph which has an f sound.  You read that sound in the title of this page. Many reading programs make a big deal out of "blends" such as st, but s and t say the same thing together or apart, as do tr, ld, and a bunch of others. Here are some true two-letter phonograms.

Vowels are the tricky letters.  Unlike consonants, they do say their names, and the each have at least one other sound.  It's best to teach one vowel sound and several consonant sounds first.  

Here are charts of the vowel sounds:

1. Can your child remember the sounds of a few letters? Write an m on the back of his left hand and an e on the back of his right.  Have him hold his hands up.  Can he blend the two sounds together? Then he should be ready to learn to read. If not, patiently wait. There is no need to hurry. Once he learns to read you will no longer want to take him through the check-out lines at the grocery store.

4. Write words or short sentences on 3x5 cards or small pieces of paper. Staple several together to form a book. On the cover put some circles. When your child reads his book to someone, that person puts his initials in a circle.

5. You and your child could each start a small notebook. Put each vowel sound on a page and collect lists of words. Also collect spelling rules and strange and interesting words.

6. Help your child keep a journal and write letters. Write your own simple books about things that happen in your family.

7. Read to your child often.  In the words of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, "Read.  Read.  Read....The mother who fails to read to her small children does a disservice to them and a disservice to herself.  I takes time, yes, much of it.  It takes self-discipline.  It takes organizing and budgeting the minutes and hours of the day.  But it will never be a bore as you watch young minds come to know characters, expressions, and ideas."  Read from the best books. Read about the heroes of our nation. Read stories that build moral strength and character. Read the scriptures.  Did we mention:  here is a person who would rather be with you than with anyone else in the world right now. Cherish his company. He’ll be gone soon enough.

8. Make sure your child has a healthy diet.  Many reading difficulties are caused by food allergies (especially dairy), sugar highs and lows, and immunization damage.  In our home we eat fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and grains. What about protein and calcium, you ask?  Elephants are kind, gentle animals who eat only plants.  Plants make them strong and give them plenty of calcium.  We humans digest our food with enzymes.  Since cooking destroys enzymes, in our home we try to each lots of our food raw.  Animals have bacterial digestive systems.  When humans eat meat, milk, cheese, or eggs we also eat the bacteria, and the bacteria make us ill.  Our family has found that we stay much healthier on our plant-food diet.  

TEACHING WITH MUSIC

Paper and pencil are the only tools you really need to teach a child to read, but if you want a little extra help, we suggest the simple cassette tapes from BRITE Music.  Called SING, READ & WRITE with BRITE, the program uses catchy songs to teach the sounds of all the letters, and then helps the child blend sounds together. It is not a traditional "curriculum" and is not tedious or boring.  Music makes learning a right-brain activity, increases retention, and is a lot of fun! 

Parents can start playing these tapes when their child is just two or three, even though the child may not be ready to read for several more years. Then when the child does begin reading, a phonics foundation will be part of his knowledge base and will help assure his success.

Tape and book #1: teaches the alphabet in three songs
Tape and book #2: teaches the five short vowel sounds (this is the most important tape)
Tape and book #3, #4, #5: teach the consonant sounds and helps the child sound out words

available through the LDS Home Educators Assn.
bookstore