Reading with Online Children’s Books
If you are teaching your child how to read, then you may be ready for all of the help that
you can get!
Fortunately, there are many free resources that will not only help guide and
prepare you for this task, but resources that can help any beginning reader enjoy their
new found skills.
Learning to read is one of the most important educational steps for any
child to master. We have all heard of how Johnny can’t read, and have asked the most
important questions, “Why?” And though many scholars, doctors, psychologists, and
sociologists debate the answer, we can take some positive steps to ensure that our
children learn to read, and learn to read successfully.
First, it cannot be overemphasized how important it is to read to your children. Many
obstetricians are now advising soon to be mothers, to begin reading to their children
while they are still in the womb. This helps to encourage bonding with your unborn
baby, helps develop habits of reading to your child, and also encourages your child to
become familiar with your voice. New studies have shown that even babies in the womb
can identify their mother’s and father’s voices. So don’t feel embarrassed, pick up a
book and read to your child.
Once you begin with a phonics program, your child will begin to learn to read on his or
her own. You should not take this as a reason to stop reading to your child. Now, you
can help develop your child’s creative side by reading more engaging books. The time
that you spend reading to your child, may also become the perfect time for helping your
child identify new words, as well as helping him or her sound at words that follow the
phonetic rules that he or she has just learned.
Reading classics to your child is a wonderful way to stimulate their minds as well as their
interest in reading. Taking books out from your local library is also a great way to
encourage your children to become avid readers. There are also many classic books
available over the Internet. Some are available for downloading and printing on your
computer. This is another way Homeschoolers can take advantage of the wonderful and
plentiful resources available on the Internet.
By Gosh offers many classics, for instance you can read Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes,
The Illustrated Alphabet of Birds, with illustrations from the 1851 publication; or
Aesop’s Fables, with clipart illustrations. It also offers great classics for older kids, such as Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy), by J. M. Barrie, with a few clipart illustrations, and Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
The International Children’s Library also offers free books for children to read online. It has books from around the world and is a wonderful site.
Another site that is too awesome not to mention, is the Rosetta Project.