Learn to read?

[LOL7]

Hello,
How do I go about teaching my ds to read/write his name? I am completely clueless, he is 3. I know it's early yet but I would like to know how to go about it for when he wants to learn. 

Too early to be thinking about it yet, really, IMO.

Do lots of mark making - painting, playing with dough (making shapes with fingers), making shapes in sand. etc etc etc.

When he's a bit older, start pointing out simple text "Bus Stop" "Zoo" stuff like that - just getting used to the fact that it's a code

Read to him read to him read to him

When he's interested (around 5 or later probably) play literacy games online - alphablocks, Dora the Explorer games - all of those CBeebies and PBS Kids sites and all those sorts of places have little games linking with all their shows, and loads of them help develop early literacy.

"Teach your monster to read" is a good game for iPad.

But please please don't rush it - there's no hurry!

As above. Also model writing it using a Capital initial letters and the rest of the names in lower case at times when you would naturally use it - signing a birthday card, labelling belongings.

And do make sure he recognises his name (first name and surname) when he hears it, particularly if you don't use it very often (recalls child who arrived at school thinking he was called Babes).

I'm a teacher but also ed my 3.5 at home as well. Since she was little we have played Montessori initial sound games and used the Montessori moving alphabet. We use playdough to strengthen hand muscles. We use an iPad app for letter formation. She has a wooden puzzle of her name (from Etsy). We have had the read write inc cards out and about in the house since she was 1.5years old and she now knows all her sounds and can blend CVC words. We do lots of imaginary drawing with chalk, felt tips and gel pens. We have those books which teach you how to draw animals with step by step instructions eg draw a circle first etc. We read lots and lots of stories. We like watching the a is for Apple song on YouTube.

And I don't teach letter names, only the phonemes.

If I had it to do over again, I wish I hadn't bothered investing so much time looking at different methods of teaching children to read, but had instead waited until each of my children was really keen and then looked at what suited that individual child best.

If you were teaching a classful of kids then you would need to research carefully, choose the best method which you hoped would suit most of them and stick with it. But one-to-one, with no external deadlines or standardised tests to work towards, you can observe your child and be responsive to how he learns. Once you are sure he is ready and you have a good idea what sort of approach he needs, you can post back here for suggestions which are targeted to his needs and temperament. You don't have to be ready in advance.

I read up on various methods and bought some books, ready to jump in the very moment my eldest showed an interest in learning to read. I did so, and quashed her enthusiasm flat by chivvying her: "Go on, you can read that. You read it yesterday. Oh look, there's the name of the supermarket printed on the bag. What does it say?" Well, she did want to learn to read, but she didn't want to be tested, or taught in my preferred way. She didn't want reading to be the big deal I was making it out to be. I wouldn't have been so overzealous about teaching her to tie her shoes or ride a bike. She dug her heels in and claimed not even to recognise the letters of the alphabet, which she had certainly known for years. I got the message.

I backed off completely, just reading to her and answering her questions. A year later she said she wanted me to help her learn to read, and she told me how she wanted to do it. It did not match any technique I had learned about, but it was her way.

My second child has always been quite averse to being "taught" anything at all in a formal way. Unlike her sibling, but like many other home educated kids, she is rather secretive about her learning. She feels that her thought processes are her own, and she doesn't want to display them for anyone's inspection. I get an occasional glimpse of what's going on, but she makes it clear that this is not my business.

I suspect that she is learning to read for herself and will never want much instruction. Peter Gray describes how this looks. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201002/children-teach-themselves-read

So much for all my research!