5 Things to Think About When Picking a Phonics Program to Help your Child Learn How to Read

Your child can learn how to read easily with phonics

Like many parents, you want your child to learn how to read with phonics. Phonetic readers are strong readers, and not all school systems are committed to using a systematic, phonics-based approach. But no worries! Teaching your child to read with phonics is something you can do at home with patience, a small amount of time, and the right program.

Of course, you will want to choose the best program for helping your child learn how to read, and every child is different. There's a lot to choose from, too! To make it easier for you, we've compiled a list of 5 things to consider when choosing a program to help your child learn how to read. Give each item some thought, and use this list as a guide when you do your research.

Want to help your child learn how to read?
​Try Teach Your Child to Read™ 7 Days for Free

Our List of 5 Things to Consider When Choosing the Right Tool to Help Your Child Learn How to Read

​1) Does the program you are considering have a step-by-step approach?
If you've been researching phonics programs online, you may have found that it's not always clear how appropriate each one is for your child. Perhaps you are being asked about your child's skill level, which modules you want, or whether or not you are a teacher. Maybe you've found a program that boasts of hundreds of activities, but it's not clear exactly how your child will learn how to read. It can be confusing!

Go for simple. A program should take a step-by-step approach, so you can easily follow along as your child works through lessons. If this simplicity is not being communicated by the program's website, move on to the next.

2) Lessons Take Too Long
You are working with a small child, and you are a busy parent. Please make sure lessons are 5 minutes or less! Children have short attention spans, and long lessons quickly become tedious. When lessons are short, your child won't want to stop, and you will find your small pupil eager to pick up where you left off.

3) Too Much Time in Front of Screens
Children are spending more time on screens than ever before. While it may be years before we understand the ramifications of this, most of us sense that it's not a good thing. Teach Your Child to Read™ is online, but each lesson is conducted interactively with mom or dad. And by keeping lessons to 5 minutes or less, screen time is minimal, while learning is optimized.

4) Spoon-fed Learning
A lot of programs rely on entertainment to teach—movies, songs, games, etc. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, engaging children more actively in the learning helps them learn how to learn. Rather than spoon-feeding knowledge, interactively working through a program gives children a better sense of how language is constructed and how the phonetic code works. In other words, it makes them think.

5) Learning Alone is Lonely
While doing your research, you might find several programs that show children sitting by themselves in front of a computer. Please don't choose that one! Working side-by-side with your child demonstrates how important reading is to you, and how much you care about their learning. As an added bonus, your children will never forget who taught them to learn how to read.

Teach Your Child to Read™ is a gentle, nurturing approach for helping your child learn how to read using a phonics-based approach. 

Your Child Can Learn How to Read

​Watch this video to see the exact steps you will take to teach your child to learn how to read with our program. Then use our 7 DAY FREE TRIAL to find out if Teach Your Child to Read™ is the best program for you and your family.