Let's Get Ready for Fall: Reading

I was visiting a friend and we got on the topic of home-schooling.  My friend, Crystal, has a four year-old.  He is learning his colors, shapes, and building a rich vocabulary.  Crystal takes all three children to the library, especially for story time.  Now, Crystal is a veteran teacher who plans to home-school her children.  Not every mom has her teaching experience.  We discussed the importance of learning to read, especially in the early years. So, here I am, back on my soapbox: Open Court.  Crystal was taught using Open-Court reading program.  Many private schools used older editions to instruct basic reading lessons.  Why?  The older editions were classics!  They had a wide variety of stories, more of anthologies than basel readers.  A good collection of stories supplemented with a wide range of fiction and nonfiction books from the library is a great way to foster reading.  Here are some of the original materials to teach phonics.  Basic Readers are still available through sites, such as Amazon and eBay.  Take a look at one of these readers and see the variety.  Yes, 'Pete the Cat' is fun for beginning readers.  I love Babaar and Madelaine.   Don't you want your child to be exposed to a wide range of literature?  Isn't that why you're reading Narnia out loud?  A good basic reader is another safety net, just like a weekly book report--but that's another post.