Teach your child to read with McGuffey's Primer

William Holmes McGuffey

I remember my first attempts at teaching reading to my eldest daughter. I had some great instincts, but my own lack of confidence sabotaged all of my efforts. I fell prey to pressure and to all kinds of methods that guaranteed quick results, only to witness my bright little girl feeling more frustrated as the years went on.

It was only after several years and many feeble attempts to encourage her to read that I discovered my original tendencies were the right ones after all, they only needed the temporing of time and a confidence earned through self-education. Unearthing the McGuffey series of readers has further allowed me to teach reading in such a way that meets the needs of a child's heart, mind and soul.

No program can give us a 100% guarantee that our children will learn to read no matter what they advertise, and none of us can precisely explain or predict how each child will react or what he or she will need in order to learn to read for themselves. I have utilized just about every type of methodology ever dreamed of, and all with varying degrees of success. Children are each individual persons and for that reason quite unique.

Since I now only have three out of my 15 children remaining that I will need to teach to read (one of these is almost already reading independently), I have been turning my attention to ways I can pass along what I have learned over these 25 years to my adult children so that they will have an easier time of it when they go to teach their own children. That is why I have been led to create reading guides to aid them in their homeschooling journey, and, in turn, I felt it would be nice to offer some of these materials to my dear readers.

After many weeks of careful consideration and work, I have finally created a collection of flashcards, advice, and other helps to assist in the instruction of beginning reading and writing.

This has truly been a labor of love, as I set out to create an heirloom for my family by using original artwork, drawn mostly by myself, but also with several contributions from my dear son, Ryan (14). I had so much enjoyment with this project, sitting with clipboard and pen, consulting with my children as I sketched—I haven't made the time for such an artistic endeavor for many years!

I tried to put myself in the place of someone who was starting completely from scratch, and this was my focus. I also tried to make things as user-friendly and simple to reproduce as possible, especially since I know that many mothers have a number of small children to care for as well as home-school.

I also determined to keep in mind those things I have gleaned from many of the courageous predecessors who have mentored and influenced me, and so you will find that, while I have included the technical, I have also encouraged the joy of the process, considering the child not only as a student, but also a person, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Here is a list of the things that I have included in this collection:

• An introduction to McGuffey's works and how to use them.
• A portion from "The Manual of Methods" which gives an overview of different teaching styles, etc. (intended for use with the McGuffey's).
• Booklet templates (instead of workbooks) to teach basic writing and comprehension skills.
• Tips pages using little snippets of information which can be read easily and quickly for busy mothers.
• Bookmarks with suggestions for games that can be played with the different lessons.
• Phonics flashcards (with original artwork) of the basic 26 letter sounds, plus the long vowel sounds and "ch", "sh", and "th".
• A short vowels and syllable practice charts (respectively).
• Penmanship practice sheets.
• 12 copy work sheets to get started on creating your own.
• Printable flashcards for every lesson (except for the review lessons) in the primer!

Along with this little guide, you only need a copy of the primer itself (the revised, 1881 edition, not the one offered by Mott Media—the one they offer is also wonderful, and Ruth Beechick has written a wonderful guide for it), which can either be purchased from a number of sources, or can be downloaded and read from the screen or printed out and comb-bound.

It is my hope that these tools and aids will assist you along your homeschooling journey.

Sherry