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showing that your youngster is ready for phonics and handwriting instruction??? What are the signs that he is NOT ready??

I would love your thoughts!!

Thank you!!

Liz

Hi Liz,

I am certainly no expert in the area but, I can share what is going on with my youngest right now as she exhibits interest in phonics and HW.
These are some signs I see:

When I am done reading a book she takes the book and "reads" it herself. She goes page by page and retells the story.
When I am reading to her she often asks, "what does that word spell?"
She can sound out and read very simple words...cat, pig, dog.
As far as HW she constantly asks how to spell things so she can write them down. Her HW is actually pretty good for a little one but, I can see that she needs correction because she starts her letters from the bottom up, or in weird spots.
She draws and colors often.
Loves dot-to-dots.

I'm not real sure about signs that a little one is not ready for instruction. I guess if they became irritable or upset when asked to do a lesson that would be a big sign. I think there has to be some natural desire to learn phonics and HW otherwise, it would seem like you might be facing a battle each time.
From my experience, at this young age, the best thing to do is read and read a lot to the young one because they really gain so much from it.

I think my little one may be ready for some instruction at this point but, I haven't done anything in particular with her yet except the things mentioned above.
I guess if I had more time I might, and it would also depend on her ability to sit for a little bit and receive some instruction. Right now I just kind of do things "in passing" with her and she is soaking it up.

I hope this helps in some way. Hopefully, moms who have more experience than myself will jump in and share.

Candice

Blending as well. Like saying the sound of "b", then "l" then combining the sound together. If they can't or have troubles with a lot of it, then I'd wait. Also agreeing with the pp on frustration.

Good question! The short answer is the best sign is a "mama's intuition" , but the long answer at least for what I look for when it comes to phonics readiness is...
*Dc can sing the alphabet fairly well (except for "ellamopie" - "l", "m", "n", "o", "p")
*Dc know almost all of the their letters and at least a few sounds.
*You can see dc are making the connection between written words and spoken language (i.e. they begin to understand that all those letters in a book turn into words that can be read, they also understand the the basic way words are read: rightside up and left to right, they open a book right side up and turn pages the right way, etc.).
*You can see your dc are recognizing when you are reading something, noticing letters all around them (i.e. on signs), and maybe even start to ask "what does that say?" when they see something written.
*You may even see your dc begin to put sounds together with letters at the beginning of words first, then begin to recognize them in the middle and end of words.

As far as writing readiness...
*Dc can verbally say their letters and visually recognize them
*Dc can begin to properly hold a big pencil (i.e. Tinconderoga pencils)
*Dc can roughly make some letters
*Dc can begin to write their name
*Dc can make fairly straight lines as well as curved lines
*Dc have enough fine motor skills to do fairly well tracing dotted letters you've made for them
*Dc can begin to connect dots to form letters (if you draw the dots at the "vertices" of letters)

We have generally found our dc are ready for phonics and beginning handwriting when they have completed LHTH, as they know all of their letters and 1 sound for each of them, and they also have learned beginning fine motor skills. The Leap Frog DVD's and singing the ABC's while pointing to each letter on a placemat are 2 other simple things we do to get our dc ready for phonics. We also encourage coloring using the Kumon books. We usually begin phonics around 4 to 5 years of age, and then do 2 years' worth of phonics. We begin writing instruction with LHFHG around age 5 or 6. Of course this is just the way our family has gone about it, and many different roads lead to good reading abilities! HTH as you consider what you'd like to do!

In Christ,
Julie