5 year old learning to read help !

[Aussierose2]

My newly 5 year old is not at primary school until September. He loves me to read books with him so we read a lot. Today I've been trying to get him to follow the words with his finger and he's really struggling like he doesn't understand where the sentence starts and wasn't really moving his finger along. I'm a bit surprised because we read together often. Is this normal? Obviously FTM here 🤣

Does he go to preschool?

Completely normal, a lot in fact most children can’t read by the time they start reception. There’s also 5 months before he starts and that’s a very long time for a 5 year old.
Just carry on reading and also practice copying letters, if he can learn to recognise and write his own name that’s great. He might naturally start putting letters together and reading simple words before September but really don’t stress about it

Very normal. How come he’s not at school yet? Did you defer? I would be expecting the 5 year olds in my class to know this but they’ve had 7 months of teaching!

I think they pick up on it fairly quickly after they start learning phonics at school. I’d seriously rethink your decision- you don’t need to teach him to read if you don’t know how school will be doing it- it’s far easier for the experts to do it if they have a blank canvas and they can be taught consistently in a way that will be implemented throughout the school

Are you in the UK? How come he is not at school yet?

I have a child in year one and they would start with phonics in reception so I wouldn’t worry too much. We also did lots of reading from birth and still do. She loves reading so picked up the phonics quite easily.

Completely normal at this stage. My children started school reading simple first stage books but they wouldn’t have had a clue when it came to ‘real’ children’s books.

Does he go to nursery? I would work on stage 1 phonics, asking him what noises he can hear out and about and ask him what sounds words you’re using start with.

Reception year is magic. By the end of the year they can read simple books and write simple sentences. It’s the year when the progress is most obvious to them and they grow in confidence.

I wouldn't expect him to do it yet. I'd just model it for him by you pointing out each word as you read it. I'd do this for books with only a few sentences on a page. If it is more than this, maybe not as it may interfere with his enjoyment of the story!

Why isn’t he at school yet? Most children start the September following their 4th birthday so have you held him back a year or are you in another country?

In the UK an average 5 year old would be starting to read by now, but they would be in school and following a phonics programme.

if you are in a country where school starts later then I wouldn’t worry.

Could be a summer born child (any date after 1st April but before 1st Sept) who isn’t starting until and not starting until he is complusory school age.

Where we live they don't start until the year they turn 5 so he hasn't had any official schooling yet ( not in UK)

Oh then don’t worry! Just keep modelling it when you read - you follow the words with your fingers and talk about the stories. It will come when he starts to officially learn to read!

They may not teach my using phonics. Do you know how they teach reading?