The Active Reader

Your child can sound out “cat,” “dog,” and “sun.” So why does reading still feel hard?

Most parents assume that once basic phonics clicks, the rest is just practice. But there’s a whole second stage of decoding that almost nobody explains:

- Long vowels — where “cap” quietly becomes “cape,” same letters, new rule
- Vowel teams — ai, oa, ee, two letters, one sound, and dozens of exceptions
- R-controlled vowels — ar, er, ir, or, ur, the sound shifts that trip up even strong readers

This is where a lot of readers quietly stall. Not from lack of ability, but from a lack of explicit teaching at exactly this stage.

Something is coming this September. Join the waitlist so you don't miss out 👉 https://theactivereader.mykajabi.com/waitlist-TheReaderPack

As a literacy specialist, here’s what I’d do this week before school starts.

This isn’t a test, and it isn’t about being “ahead.” It’s just what I recommend to families in the week or two before the first bell:

- Do a 5-minute letter-sounds refresher together, not to test them, just to warm recall back up after a summer off

- Practice blending a few 3–4 sound words together (like “frog” or “swim”), this is what turns individual letters into actual reading

- Read out loud together a couple of times this week, even 5–10 minutes gets the muscle moving again

- Pull out a “just right” book, not too easy, not frustrating, since confidence rebuilds fastest in that middle zone

- Let them sit with a mistake before jumping in, give them a beat to self- correct before helping

None of this needs to be perfect by day one.

Work through it at your own pace over the next few weeks.

Remember when we told you something was coming for early readers? It’s almost here.

Back in March, we introduced the stage that comes after letters and basic sounds, the stage where a lot of readers quietly stall. Not because they can’t do it, but because long vowels, vowel teams, and r-controlled vowels are rarely taught in a clear, structured way.

That’s exactly why we built The Reader Pack, the next stage in the same simple, guided routine as The Early Reader Pack. Same hands-on, structured approach families already know, now built for the patterns that come next:

- Long vowels (like “cap” becoming “cape”)
- Vowel teams (ai, oa, ee, and more)
- R-controlled vowels (ar, er, ir, or, ur)

Presale launches for waitlist members the week of September 8th, before it becomes available to everyone on September 14th.

Join the waitlist here so you’re first in line when the doors open - https://theactivereader.mykajabi.com/waitlist-TheReaderPack

Your child misreads a word mid-sentence while reading out loud. What do you actually do in that moment?

Most parents jump in almost instantly, within a second or two, often without even realizing it. It’s completely well-meaning.

But that instinct, repeated enough times, can quietly teach a kid to stop trying, because they learn someone will always jump in before they get the chance to work it out themselves.

Here’s a simple framework I use and teach:

1. Pause. Count to 3 in your head before you say anything at all. That short window is often all a child needs to catch and fix the mistake on their own.

2. Prompt, don’t tell. Instead of just supplying the word, try something like ‘Sound out the first letter,’ or ‘Read that again from the start of the sentence.’ These prompts help them use their own tools instead of relying on you to solve it.

3. Praise the attempt, not just the outcome. ‘I like how you tried that’ teaches more than ‘good job.’ It reinforces that trying and self-correcting matters, regardless of whether they got it exactly right.

4. If they’re genuinely stuck, just tell them the word and move on. No lecture, no drawn-out pause. One skipped word isn’t a crisis, and making it feel like one does more harm than the mistake itself.

None of this is about achieving a perfect reading session. It’s about teaching kids that mistakes are a normal, expected part of reading, not something to feel embarrassed about.

Save this post so you have the words ready next time it happens, because it always happens.

Packing for a summer trip? Here’s exactly what goes in our family’s luggage, and none of it requires an extra suitcase or a complicated plan.

✈ One read-aloud, for the car or the plane. Something you read together out loud passes the time and doesn’t depend on your child’s independent reading level.

✈ One easy solo read, chosen below their current reading level on purpose. Vacation isn’t the time to introduce a challenging book, an easy win keeps reading feeling good.

✈ One audiobook, downloaded before you lose wifi. This is a lifesaver for long car rides or flights, and it still counts as real reading practice.

✈ A small notebook, for postcards, packing lists, or silly trip ‘observations.’ Writing during travel counts just as much as reading does.

✈ Library holds, picked up the day before you leave. A few fresh books make the trip feel a little more special without any extra shopping.

Keep it light, flexible, and built for how travel actually goes.

- cationReading

Don’t have a library card yet? It’s not too late, but this time, consider handing your kid the whole trip like it’s their own mission, not another parent-led errand.

It’s easy to treat the library as something you manage: you pick the time, you steer the aisles, you make sure they leave with ‘good’ books.

But a library card is one of the first pieces of real independence a lot of kids get to hold, and summer is a great time to actually let them use it that way.

Here are four small missions that make up one big library trip:

- Mission 1: Get their own card. Let them sign their own name and hand over their own ID at the desk. It sounds small, but for a lot of kids, this is their first taste of independence.

- Mission 2: Talk to the librarian. One question is the whole mission: ‘Do you have anything about sharks?’ No script needed from you.

- Mission 3: Pick their own book. Even if it’s the tenth Dog Man book in a row. This mission isn’t about the ‘right’ book, it’s proving they can choose one themselves and stand by it.

- Mission 4: Check out on their own. They hand the books to the librarian, scan their own card, and carry their own bag out the door. Their haul, their win.

Four small missions add up to one big feeling: ‘I did that myself.’

That feeling is what actually turns a library card into a lifelong reading habit, not the books on the shelf.

Every good mission needs a map. I put together a free My Library Day Checklist, built for kids to carry and complete themselves, so parents can just watch this one happen.

Comment LIBRARY below and I’ll send it straight to you.

Screen-time norms are shifting quickly this year, phones are being restricted in more classrooms, and more families are rethinking device boundaries at home.

It’s a real cultural shift, and it’s a good moment to ask
where reading actually fits into it.

Here’s the thing: you don’t need a zero-screen household to raise a strong reader.

What you need is for reading to be at least as accessible as a screen, not just present somewhere in the house, but genuinely easier to reach in the moment a kid is bored.

A few low-friction ways to close that gap:

- Make books need zero permission, ever. They’re just there, car, bathroom, kitchen table, living room, free to grab any time. The device, on the other hand, lives in exactly one spot and always requires asking first. That small asymmetry, automatic access to books, one small ask for the device, is what actually shapes which one a bored kid reaches for.

- Build in one screen-free window a day, even if it’s only 20 minutes. It doesn’t need to be long to be meaningful. During that window, books are simply what’s around. Consistency matters more than duration.

Small boundaries, held consistently, will get you further than one big rule that’s hard to maintain.

This doesn’t have to be a battle, it just has to be a little intentional.

- ingTips

If the reading routine you started back in June has quietly disappeared, you’re not behind, you’re a completely normal family in the middle of a completely normal summer.

Routines slip. That’s not a failure, it’s just what happens.

Here’s a simple reset, not a full restart:

1. Pick one time of day. It matters less which time you choose than that it’s the same time each day. Consistency builds the habit faster than duration does.

2. Pick one book already in the house. Don’t wait for a library trip or a new purchase. Whatever is nearby and easy is the right book for this step.

3. Aim for 10 minutes, not a chapter. Short and doable beats long and abandoned. Ten consistent minutes will get you further than one ambitious session that
doesn’t happen again.

No guilt. No trying to make up for lost time. Just pick the habit back up exactly where you left it, and let it be small again for a few days.

Save this for whenever the routine slips again this summer, because it probably will, and that’s completely okay.