Vary the type of reading materials you have in your home to give the child many items to read. Do not limit yourself to books only at your child's current reading level. Include books both that are easy for your child to read and ones that you may have to read to him. Doing so exposes your child to a wide variety of vocabulary. Use your local library to rotate the books in your home. Include her in the book selection process so that you know the child will be interested in the material. Do not limit your child's reading materials to books alone. Provide her with kid-friendly magazines and newspapers, as well.
Make the act of reading with your child part of the everyday routine. You can choose to have a set time after school for reading or make this a bedtime activity. Establishing a routine makes expectations clear, so your child will learn that during that time of the day, you will be reading with her. Make this a fun time and go to a special and quiet place in the house just for this activity. Having something special to look forward to helps the child stay excited about the time you will spend reading with her.
Another tip for enhancing your child's reading skills at home is to use authentic experiences to practice reading. Authentic experiences are events that occur in everyday life. For example, if you use a cookbook to make dinner, invite your child to help you read the recipe and follow the steps. This not only allows him to practice reading, but it also shows him that reading can be used in a variety of situations. Another example might be to ask your child to read the grocery list to you at the store.
You can use similar reading strategies at home that your teacher uses at school. Ask the teacher for tips on ways you can improve your child's reading skills at home. Teach the child ways she can figure out a word in the book she is unable to read. Show your child that she can use clues from the story such as the illustrations to help her. Also, teach your child that she can guess a word she is unfamiliar with using hints from the plot. A child can often predict what might come next in the story, so encourage her to use this strategy to read unfamiliar words.