Looking for Online Reading Programs for Kids? 5 Things to Watch Out For

5 best programs to teach your child to read hooked on phonics

Because so much learning is taking place at home, a lot of parents are looking for the best online reading programs for kids. There's a lot of programs to wade through! But keep in mind, every child is different, so you will want to evaluate programs based on how your child learns.

We thought you might want a few pointers on what to look for and what to avoid. After all, if you've never taught someone to read before, you may not know quite what you're looking for!

5 Things to Watch Out For When Looking for Reading Programs for Kids

1) Make Sure It's Phonics
The best-kept secret about phonics is that it's easy to teach. As a parent, you may be intimidated by all of the unfamiliar words (phonemic awareness, diphthong, grapheme, etc.), but don't worry about those! You don't need to know what the words mean (or even what they do). Teaching with phonics is pretty easy and straightforward; if a program's website does not communicate this, go on to the next.

2) Lesson Length
If you are working with a very young child, it's critical that lessons are very, very short. (Teach Your Child to Read™ has lessons that are 5 minutes or less.) Small children get easily distracted, but astoundingly, you can actually teach a child to read in less than 5 minutes-a-day.

3) Spending Too Much Time on Screens
In recent years, children have been spending an increasing (and alarming) amount of time in front of screens. In this day and age, they can plan on spending a large part of their home, school, and work life on screens, so please consider taking your lessons OFF the screen and into everyday living. A few minutes of screen time is all you need.

4) Learning How to Learn
Please don't let a multi-media program entertain your child down the road to reading. At this early age, children need to learn how to learn by interactively working with Mom or Dad on reading concepts. You don't want your child to be a repository for learning, rather, you want your child to learn how to think, evaluate, and absorb knowledge in an expansive way.

5) Lonely Learning
What child wants to be planted in front of a screen to learn on his or her own? Not many. YOUR engagement demonstrates to your children how much you care about their education and how important reading is to you.

Now that you have some idea of what to watch out for, we invite you to enjoy a free trial of Teach Your Child to Read™. Only 5 minutes a day, lessons are designed to teach your child to read—step-by-step—using phonics. We think you'll be pretty happy with it!

One of the Best Online Reading Programs for Kids!
Teach Your Child to Read™ 7-DAY FREE TRIAL.