As Montessorians you have laid the foundation for growing capable, independent readers.  Purposefully, you have taught letter sounds as you have used sandpaper letters, you’ve developed hand strength through the use of cylindric blocks, specialized toys, and tracing exercises.  Then, you moved onto matching the letter shapes with the now familiar sounds.  Using the movable alphabet, the child has been able to progress to making short words using the skill set that you have made second nature to them. The writing of letters and combining them to form words followed.  And then, it has been a short hop for them to be able to decode words and be able to read simple words for themselves!  Independently!  How exciting!

Homestead Readers is a natural fit with this last step towards growing independent readers.  Using a gentle progression of incremental phonics, a child is able to successfully decode these short stories featuring real kids doing real things.  Few sight words are used to enable a child to not get confused, and as the leveled books move on to more complex sound combinations, each one is simply explained and incorporated into that particular story.  As you know, success breeds success which results in eagerness to read more.

The fifteen Homestead Readers are illustrated with actual photographs of children engaged in activities and learning about the world around them.  Be it step-by-step instructions in how to change the oil, learning how a sheep is sheared or how grain is seeded, the child is engaged in learning about real life.  Stories about sharing, dealing with disappointments, taking care of animals, camping, swimming, canoeing all engage the child with real-life activities that a child is both interested in and in which they can relate.

Montessorians excel at guiding children to capable and independent reading ability.  Montessori schools appreciate parents who are like-minded in developing independent learners.  However, many parents no longer remember how they learned to read, and are at a loss at how to best give tips as the phonetic skills progress.  So, as an added feature, each Homestead Reader book gives simple, brief explanations of how to help a child approach the sounds introduced in that book. Tips of how to ensure that their child is comprehending what they are reading are included as well.  Homes with a set of Homestead Readers will help speed the child to reading competency, and will further ensure that parents are pleased with their child’s enrollment at your Montessori school. Their child’s success ensures your school’s success.

Sets of the fifteen leveled Homestead Readers are reasonably priced and include shipping. Bulk pricing of Homestead Readers is available.  Contact Homestead Readers for quantities other than those listed in the Homestead Reader online store.