My son was a 6-year-old (almost 7) when I began teaching him to read, and it seemed as though he just wasn’t getting it. He had learned some phonics in kindergarten and recognized some sight words, but putting together everything he had learned just wasn’t happening. I tried everything from McGuffey readers to other phonics books and workbooks.

I then turned to online learn to read activities, and he took to these very quickly. He liked the animation and the online short books and stories. Soon he had completed many online reading lessons, as well as his phonics materials and books. I continued reading him stories on a daily basis. One day I realized he was reading well, and he began reading to me.

Then I began thinking, “Does he really understand what he’s reading?,” so I gave him oral book reports, asked him to explain passages he had read, had him write short summaries of his books, etc. Not only was he decoding words, but his reading comprehension was at a high level. He had exploded the reading code, and in a period of about 4 months, he proceeded to read 125 books–without me prompting him. I was overjoyed, because I had a child who loved to read!

Phonics and decoding are only part of learning to read; reading comprehension is more complicated. Your child can decode words (break them down phonetically) and really not understand what he’s reading. Sometimes when a child is learning to read, his energy is focused on decoding, so it’s hard to focus on comprehension too.

Online reading comprehension programs allow children to interact with the text, include vocabulary questions, and test them to see if they understand the text. There are read along stories as well as opportunities for children to be read to via the online audio. This makes interaction and comprehension a priority.

Making sure your daughter (or son) becomes a fluent reader with excellent reading comprehension skills can be done with the help of an online reading comprehension program.

I’d love to hear about your homeschool reading program; please share your experience or ask questions.