“Head Start with the Book of Mormon” shows LDS parents how to teach their children to read using the Book of Mormon as their text. While it is specifically geared toward LDS families, I can see how the methods used could easily be adapted to fit young readers of any denomination, using religious works that are applicable to that sect.
The author begins by sharing her strong belief in the importance of teaching children to seek out the scriptures, and how implementing religious philosophies while the child is young can help build a stronger foundation for their futures. She quotes the scripture found in Proverbs 8:17 – “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.”
Then we head into a discussion of the different phases of the program. Phase One introduces the child to the concept of reading by sharing reading time with the parent, first with simple story and picture books. This is done for five to ten minutes a day, helping the child become familiar with the world of books. Then the parent will practice letter recognition with the child. Each step is broken down in an easy-to-follow format, and the book even includes reproducible flash cards to be used while teaching.
Phase Two also begins with reading out of favorite storybooks, but now the child and parent will also read the scriptures together, discussing meanings as the need arises.
In Phase Three, the child is now able to read the scriptures silently to themselves. The book explains how the child should underline unfamiliar words so they can come back and study them later, and how, after just a short amount of time, the child will be able to read whole chapters of scripture independently.
I know how powerful the scriptures are as teaching tools. We often hear stories of missionaries who learn foreign languages just by reading scriptures in that tongue. Doesn’t the Spirit of the Lord enliven our minds? It makes perfect sense that in teaching your child to read, you would want to involve God in the process as much as possible.
Several segments of the program do include sight words, so those children who are being taught to read with sight words will have the materials they need in the book. However, if you’re like me and prefer not to teach using the sight word method, the system is perfectly adaptable to complete phonics as well.
I appreciated the spiritual approach to learning found in this book and plan to implement much of it into our own family reading time.
(This book was published in 2007 by CFI.)
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