No, BOB Books are not a game, but they are great for teaching small children how to read. I see lots of early literacy questions in various homeschool groups and forums. I thought I would share here how I taught my kids to read. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the idea to start this blog until long after my kids were done with Bob Books, so I don’t have any to take pictures of.
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My kids started learning to read when they were three years old. This is young, I know; if I could redo things I’d likely wait until they were older. But they were ready, and today, they are both proficient, avid readers. Despite the many mistakes I made, I lucked out, and things worked out okay. If your kiddo is younger, and wants to read, then this post is for you. If your child is older, or does not want to read, then please skip this post, as it won’t be helpful for you.
Bob books are simple, but boring
Now for the review. First, the bad. Bob books are BORING. Really, REALLY boring. This is why I don’t recommend them for older kids. (For 6-year-olds, I recommend checking them out from the library to see if your kiddo will like them before buying them.) Older kids have had a chance to listen to really good books, with complex, well-developed characters, plot lines, twists, surprises, and great descriptions, and they’re just not going to be satisfied with these books. That’s okay; it means those kids have higher standards, and they shouldn’t be made to lower them. Look for high-low books; they’re books designed for older beginning readers with high interest and low skill.
What makes Bob books so great, in my opinion, is their simplicity (it also leads to their boringness). In the first set, each letter has only 1 sound, and only a few letters are introduced in a book. Sight words are minimal. There’s only 1 sentence per page, and each sentence has only a couple of words. The simple line drawings mean kids are less likely to get distracted by beautiful artwork.
Extra practice may be needed
Now, when my kids were working on the first set, they did need more practice, but I didn’t want them to just memorize the books. So I created additional books to go between the published books. I used the words my kids already knew from the previous Bob books, which meant there weren’t many. They didn’t exactly make sense, but they gave my kids extra practice. (I think the Bob books did the best that could be done with such limited vocabulary in those early books.) My kids especially loved it when I made the books about them and included their own names. Even though my kids’ names are not really phonetic, they’re highly motivating things for a kid to learn how to read, so they worked well.
My kids worked through all the sets in order. There are a couple sets of books focusing on site words; these came with flashcards that we did use, but I don’t think a ton. There are also a couple sets of rhyming words, which came with 2-part flashcards – one part with word beginnings, one part with word endings, using the words in the books. Initially, we struggled with these, but my kids later got the hang of them and had fun creating different words with them. One side of these cards (I forget whether it was the word beginnings or the word endings, probably the endings, but I’m not sure) had a picture on them; I folded this part over so they weren’t just looking at the picture. It also made it easier for us to create different words with these cards.
A matching game can be a good supplement
Another thing we did some days was play a matching game. I used note cards and wrote the words they knew on one side; each word got written on two note cards. Then we played a simple matching game. I started with a simple 3×4 grid, then went up to a 4×4 grid. I purposefully played so they won (my kids are a year and a half apart, so they never played with each other, just me), and if they were having trouble with a certain word, I made sure to not get that match. In order to actually get to keep a matching card, they had to read the word correctly. Ordinarily, I hate matching games, but this one served its purpose and was easy enough to make. My kids loved it, though.
After finishing all the Bob books, my kids went on to the I Can Read series, starting with the pre-reading series. I think this one is maybe intended for the parent to read *to* the child, but I had my kids read what they could. I read the harder words that they weren’t familiar with. Eventually, they were able to read all the words.
Read harder books together
A fun thing we did sometimes was, as I was reading a harder book to my kids, I’d have them read the words they knew. I had to train myself to move my finger under the words as I was reading. I’d just stop and let them read some of the words they knew. They thought that was super fun, and it really helped improve their reading capabilities.
There are also books specifically designed for a kid and an adult to read together. They have a page with few, very simple words for the child to read. The next has more, harder words for the adult to read. This allows the plot to advance and character development to occur. These can be fun additions to your reading routine; we found the ones we read at the library.