I’d love to hear from people who waited to formally teach reading until age 6 or older than that.
What age did you start formally teaching reading? How long did it take before your child started to sound out simple words? How long until they were starting on reading chapter books themselves? How are they doing now?
I didn’t start teaching my six year old (7 in a few weeks) until January of this year. My oldest two children learned how to read when they were 4, with little instruction. She has picked it up really quickly and could read simple basic words after a few lessons. (I am using “teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons” I tried two other programs and she showed no progress) Even though my oldest two kids were reading chapter books by the time they were this age I don’t regret waiting on the last kid because I’m pretty confidant she’ll go fast from here. I think it also has a lot to do with the child’s personality for how long you wait. I waited this time because she isn’t in a formal school so why push it and she wasn’t showing interest. She was fine with us reading books together. (We do a lot of reading out loud as a family and her & I read about 10 picture books a day)
Hope this helps and you get some other perspectives on it as well. 
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I just now started teaching my 6 1/2 year old. He just hasn’t been ready. My youngest daughter learned at 4, and my oldest at 5 and they took right off. My son is an older kindergartner with a September birthday. We spent this year learning letters and sounds. We’ve been using AAR 1 for about 3 weeks and he’s reading cvc words and is reading Bob Books. I wouldn’t say he’s taking off with reading as it is very challenging for him, but he will get there! I actually was a slow reader myself! I didn’t learn to read until 3rd grade when a kind teacher let me stay in the classroom for lunch time so she could help me. By fourth grade I had far surpassed by peers and was always an avid reader! Hope this helps some! 
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I ended up teaching my daughter when she was 7. I did not intend to teach her that late but she just was not ready at 5 or 6. I used Accelerated Christian Education. They have a 12 week reading with Ace and Christi. I have taught several children to read with this program. I have also used BOB books to help give them confidence. My daughter just turned 8 and she is reading very well by herself. She is reading Junie B Jones chapter books. She is a little behind but doing very well.
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