There are so many different programs to choose from and different ways to approach reading. So many different methods and ways to entice different learners.
For us I wait until each boys tells me that they want to learn how to read and we start there. I have one child who really took his time and was a slow reader, I have one who taught himself to read, and one that used a reading program.
But they all took off and have become really good readers once they started reading the scriptures. We have always done family scripture reading, so this wasn't a new thing but as the boys got more interested in reading we would hand them the scriptures and have them read out loud.
For hundreds of years children have been learning to read out of the scriptures. There were no fancy programs to access a reading level, no stars to mark off, and no nonsense words to try to navigate. Now a days there is so much to choose from it can be a hard choice to know what is right.
Back Story....
When Steve was at DLI in California {Language school for the military} our Stake President for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints told all the soldiers that if they read the Scriptures in their designated language that they were to learn for the military, that they would learn it faster. I watched many men go from struggling in a language to passing and even excelling by following that counsel.
Fast forward to today.... I still feel that the counsel that was give still applies... only we are not learning a foreign language in our house {yet} we are just trying to read English.
Once each of the boys had a basic grasp of reading, they would each pick up the scriptures and there reading skills would take off. I know the comprehension is not all the way there, I mean it's the word of God and not Dr. Seuss. But they are able to understand the basic stories and are learning who the prophets are. They are reading something that is worth wild and will help them grow and learn. Sometime I sit with them and have them read to me, other times it is on their own.
If you have a struggling reader it might seem like to big of a challenge to bring out the Scriptures when they are having a hard time on "easy" words but I know that they will do well with it. So many of the words in the scriptures repeat themselves that soon your child will start to recognize what it is. {think... "And it came to pass" "Savior" "Lord" "pray" ect.} And honestly... these are words that I want my children to be familiar with.
