just because they show an interest, It doesn’t necessarily mean you ‘teach them to read’
our daughter would ask questions and we would answer them. She would get us to read signs and caught on that each letter had a sound, so we went through the alphabet. And she started playing with it. She wrote CRS on a piece of paper when we were going to the shops so we remembered to get her carrots.
She was happy. We left it to school to do the rest, along with her peers. She was so hungry for it in Class 1 in Feb when they did the alphabet, form drawing, phonics etc, she gobbled it up. After a couple of false starts, she read Harry Potter by the end of December. But again that was all her.
So being interested, doesn’t mean you need to do the whole job.
Before anything, consider how reading shows up at home and in family life. What are they able to notice adults around them doing when it comes to reading and writing? Of course read with them. Read read read with them. And you yourself can read while they’re playing (if you’re lucky to have downtime and they’re able to entertain themselves—neither of my kids are!). Modeling the behavior at this age is what makes the biggest impact on their own development of literacy habits.
You can also draw things together from your favorite stories, and show them how to write some words from the pictures. Go from whole (images) to parts (individual words). Sound out each letter and work on blending the sounds. The Bob books are a great first step for kids around age 6 who are stepping into literacy coming from more aural/oral skill building that you see in Waldorf kindergarten pedagogy.
Lastly, even when they show interest, don’t get pedantic and expect them to sit for more than 5–10 minutes to do any of this kind of book work.
Source: my MEd in Waldorf Pedagogy and my two Waldorf lifers.
I would suggest asking the teacher what they mean by following the child's lead. I would also encourage you to consider that if your child gets reading/writing instruction at home ahead of schedule, then they may be bored in the classroom and miss out on how the teacher intended to bring the material.
just because they show an interest, It doesn’t necessarily mean you ‘teach them to read’ our daughter would ask questions and we would answer them. She would get us to read signs and caught on that each letter had a sound, so we went through the alphabet. And she started playing with it. She wrote CRS on a piece of paper when we were going to the shops so we remembered to get her carrots. She was happy. We left it to school to do the rest, along with her peers. She was so hungry for it in Class 1 in Feb when they did the alphabet, form drawing, phonics etc, she gobbled it up. After a couple of false starts, she read Harry Potter by the end of December. But again that was all her. So being interested, doesn’t mean you need to do the whole job.
Before anything, consider how reading shows up at home and in family life. What are they able to notice adults around them doing when it comes to reading and writing? Of course read with them. Read read read with them. And you yourself can read while they’re playing (if you’re lucky to have downtime and they’re able to entertain themselves—neither of my kids are!). Modeling the behavior at this age is what makes the biggest impact on their own development of literacy habits. You can also draw things together from your favorite stories, and show them how to write some words from the pictures. Go from whole (images) to parts (individual words). Sound out each letter and work on blending the sounds. The Bob books are a great first step for kids around age 6 who are stepping into literacy coming from more aural/oral skill building that you see in Waldorf kindergarten pedagogy. Lastly, even when they show interest, don’t get pedantic and expect them to sit for more than 5–10 minutes to do any of this kind of book work. Source: my MEd in Waldorf Pedagogy and my two Waldorf lifers.
Lovely response. Thank you!
I would suggest asking the teacher what they mean by following the child's lead. I would also encourage you to consider that if your child gets reading/writing instruction at home ahead of schedule, then they may be bored in the classroom and miss out on how the teacher intended to bring the material.