Reading is one of the most basic subjects that a child should take up during the early years of development. This subject is therefore important in creating a homeschooling program for your child. A good reading program for homeschool is crucial in developing your child’s mental ability and school performance.
The flexibility in schedule and flow that homeschools offer provide a lot of benefits for children. Compared to the traditional setting, a homeschool program can tailor-fit the lessons according to the abilities and knowledge of the child. For instance, with a reading program a homeschool teacher or a parent can skip lessons that the child has already mastered like the alphabet and concentrate on aspects that the child has not yet fully learned.
Another advantage that a homeschool reading program provide is the fact that students can learn at their own pace without worrying about being left behind in the class or keeping up with the pace of others. One must remember that in a lesson plan, there are sections that will be easier to learn for some children but more difficult for the others.
Another aspect of a homeschool reading program that parents should incorporate into theirs is relating the lessons with practical activities and experiences in daily life. This means that learning should not only consist of reading books and reciting phonetics but should also involve practical and situational experiences such as talking to people, selling an idea, asking questions, and even reasoning or arguing.
One can also incorporate reading of dialogues with the use of different voices and intonations. Kids will not only learn from this activity, they will also have fun.
One of the disadvantages of a homeschooling program is the fact that it deemphasizes the social component of learning. Parents and teachers of the homeschooling program can supplement this by creating activities for your kids that will expose them to other people.
For instance, one can organize a small stage play where kids can read their lines and act their part. This is a good way to build their social skills and at the same time provide them with the opportunity to practice the skills that they have developed in their reading program.
Although this is not necessarily a part of the curriculum in most schools, it is also good to encourage your child to read books or to develop a love for reading whether it be books, comics or even magazines. This is the best way for them to fully develop their reading skills as well as build their vocabulary.