FOR THE PARENT BESIDE THE READER
Reading advice for parents
Small steps, familiar words, and time together. Find a starting point for helping your child learn to read at home.
Find your next stepONE SKILL AT A TIME
Where are you starting?
From your first sound game to your first sentence.
How to teach a child to read at home
A practical starting point for parents: build sound awareness, connect sounds to letters, blend simple words, and keep practice positive.
7 min readWhen do kids learn to read? Readiness, not a race
Understand early reading development, what readiness can look like, and how to support your child without making reading an age-based race.
6 min readHow to teach blending sounds into words
Help a child who knows letter sounds but cannot put them together: try oral blending, clear sound modeling, and a simple word-building routine.
6 min readShort-a word games for beginning readers
Practice at, cat, mat, and sat with simple word-building, matching, and sentence activities using paper cards and familiar letter sounds.
5 min readA thoughtful start to reading
These articles bring together parent-friendly examples, guidance from Reading Rockets and the Institute of Education Sciences, and an introduction to A Good Start Reading’s approach. Sources are linked in each article.
A Good Start Reading was developed by certified reading specialist Lois Wendus. These resources are general educational guidance, not an individual assessment.
YOUR NEXT READING MOMENT
Try one lesson. Then keep going.
The free Parent Guide includes Lesson 1 from Book 1. Already tried it? The full A Good Start Reading program continues with more short-a lessons and word families.