We were stopped at a red light when my three-year old daughter said, “na-ka-ta”, reading the sign of a Japanese restaurant. I heard her and tears started to well in my eyes. For the past few months, I had been sitting with her at the kitchen table with the Hooked on Phonics book, teaching her phonics like cat, sat, nat.

Being an immigrant who did not learn English until age eight, I realized the importance of being able to read. I did not take it for granted or leave it up to the teachers. I wanted to show my daughter the possibilities after one learns to read.

Yes, a kid can start to read at age three. Why is this important? Your kid can get a head start on all the educational possibilities after learning to read. Your kid will always be above grade reading level, and be put in the better classes. This affects the education of your child more than you know. After teaching my child to read, I was able to make my child do workbooks for active learning. This allowed her to pass entrance exams to get into honors programs, top high schools and ace the SATs— and become an Ivy League university student.

I checked out the Hooked on Phonics website and they’ve provided a lot more material than was available to us 15 years ago, when I used the awesome tools for reading. I highly recommend that you check out some of the free samples and see what they can do to help your child learn to read.