I have taught all of my children to read. At first it was daunting and I wasn't sure how to proceed. In the end though, I figured out that it wasn't so hard after all. Each of my children turned out to be, in the end, excellent readers.
Looking back, I get almost teary remembering those special times curled up on the couch with my little ones learning their ABC's and stumbling over "sounding out" their first words. There is nothing quite like watching your child "get it" for the first time and light up with joy at having read his or her first book.

In the future we plan to offer some items to help you get started on or continue with your learning to read journey.

In the meantime, here are some links we think might be of some help! More will be added soon!

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Icon Explanation:

A favorite -they may all be good in one way or another, but this one is "special"
Most appropriate for teens and adults
Site geared mostly to young learners (Since most of the sites listed below are for young learners, I'll leave out this icon on this page).
Interactive materials (flash, shockwave, etc.)
Oodles of printables

I won't use the young learners icon for this page as just about every site qualifies!

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Dolch Site Word Downloads
Various downloads (PDF, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint) to help you teach Dolch site words. (Dolch site words are words that are generally learned by "sight recognition" as opposed to phonics).

Don Potter's Webpage
There are lots of free PDF's to teach phonics and spelling as well as great information and links to free programs and resources for teaching reading.

ICT Games
A wonderful site with a great selection of free interactive educational games. Most of the games are most suitable for young learners up through very early elementary. Check out the Blending Dragon Game.

JanBrett.com
Jan Brett is a famous illustrator and author. Her site has some really wonderful printables and activities based on the characters and illustrations from her books. You don't want to miss this one. There is a HUGE variety of materials available. (Check out the ABC's flashcards).

Learning Island FREE Books
There are lots of free books in PDF format to print out. The books are marked for reading level (approximate grade level) and word count. For teaching phonics there is an entire section of ABC workbooks.

Letters and Letter Sounds Software
Scroll down the page for free interactive phonics programs.

Literactive "Teaching Children to Read"
" Welcome to Literactive Literactive is the leading provider of reading material for pre-school, kindergarten and grade 1 students available online. The program is comprised of carefully levelled guided readers, comprehensive phonic activities and a wealth of supplemental reading material which gradually develop a child's reading skills in a sequential and enjoyable manner. :

This site is awesome. The activities are very nice and high quality. There are lots of guided, interactive lessons, games, e-books, poetry, activities and more. You can also download and print out some nice black line masters.

Montessori Language Materials
Lots of printables for early learners -well worth taking a look. You will find printables for classifying, phonics, spelling, punctuation, alphabet, papers (for printing on and cutting), grammar and much more. An excellent resource for the early learner. Some of the materials could also be used for early elementary.

Phonics and Reading: Games to Print and Play
Free, printable card games that focus on phonics rules.

StarFall
" A free website to teach children to read. Perfect for kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Contains exciting interactive books and phonics games."
This is an EXCELLENT site. You don't find free things of this quality with no advertising very often.

Talking Letters and Numbers
This site has some FREE software (scroll down the page for the talking letters and numbers program). Although it was made for special needs children, young children might enjoy it, especially when learning the alphabet. Parents teaching children from a very early learning perspective also might enjoy using it with their babies (our son could read at eleven months).

Teach Your Baby or Child to Read
Download materials or read the information on how to teach your baby or child to read. We used similar methods and were successful teaching our eleven month old.

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The Internet changes daily so you never know if a site that is here today might be "gone" tomorrow. We suggest you save materials you want to use in the future to your hard drive (if it doesn't interfere with the copyright). Also, we can't predict what might change on a site or what advertising might be present. Surf at your own risk!
Please report any bad links to me (or inappropriate materials and / or advertising)!

P.S. Some of the links have stuff that is good, fun, informative, etc. for mom too, not just the kids!