Here’s the situation. Your child is reading along and comes to an unfamiliar word. All strategies fly out the window and your child starts guessing: “Pumpkin! Balloon! Gorilla!” The words have little – if any – connection to the printed word.

Your response might be, “Try again, you know this word!” Or, “Stop guessing, read the word right!” But here’s the thing. If your child knew the word and could read the word correctly, she would!

Parents and teachers often make the mistake of thinking a child isn’t trying or is fooling around when guessing. This is rarely the case. Now, if the guessing only happens occasionally, you can chalk it up to a long reading passage, or a tired child. More frequent guessing is an obvious sign that something is wrong.

This is when many parents start to worry, panic even. However, there is a simple fix to the guessing problem! Lower the level of your child’s reading material. It is that easy!  Why? Because guessing is directly related to the difficulty of the reading level. Choosing easier books and texts is the key to stopping this reading behavior before it becomes a habit.

It may seem counter-productive to go back a step in reading instruction, but the benefits are countless. Try it for a few weeks and see if you notice any of these changes:

• Your child stops complaining about reading aloud.
• Your child stops guessing at words.
• Your child starts using reading strategies (sounding out words, using context clues, etc.) independently.
• Your child reads more on his own.
• Your child reads with more accuracy.
• Your child reads with more fluency.
• Your child reads with more understanding.
• Your child reads with more inflection.
• Your child’s confidence in her reading increases.

I promise that you will lose nothing, and your child will gain so much with this simple change.

For more reading tips, check out the Homeschool Sunshine Blog. And if you have a homeschool topic you would like me to write about, drop me a line here.