A preschooler who wants to read

Should I teach my 4 year old to read, and how?

If your 4 year old is asking to read, it is fine to start, gently: teach letter sounds rather than letter names, blend two or three sounds into words, keep it to five or ten minutes, and stop if it stops being fun. If they are not asking, there is no need to push, because kindergarten is where reading is usually taught.

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Start with sounds

Teach what a letter says, sss, not what it is called, ess. Start with a few sounds that make lots of words, such as s, a, t and p, so they can blend at, sat and tap in the first week.

Play with sounds out loud

Before any letters, play "I spy something that starts with mmm", say a word slowly, c-a-t, and let them say the word, and enjoy rhymes. Hearing the sounds in words is half of learning to read.

Where Clareza fits

Clareza starts at kindergarten and has nothing made for preschool. Its phonics course assumes no reading at all, so you can choose it early for a child who is asking, and stop if it brings tears. Unit 1 is a free printable at /free/learning-to-read, which is an easy way to see if they are ready.

What this is not

  • Clareza has no preschool or pre-K content. The phonics course was written for kindergarten to Grade 2.
  • A child learning to read cannot run lessons alone. Plan to sit with them.
  • No app replaces reading aloud, talk and play at this age. If you have concerns about speech or development, ask your pediatrician.

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Before your child starts: what we collect and why

We collect only what it takes to teach your child: the first name and sign-in you choose, their answers and progress, and their chat with Clara (written by Anthropic's AI, read aloud by OpenAI). Nobody trains AI on it or sells it, and you can see or delete it any time. You create your child's account yourself. Paying by card is how you give consent.

Read what we collect and why

Your consent is needed before we collect anything from your child, and we collect nothing without it. You create your child's account yourself; they never sign up alone.

  • What we collect from your child: the first name and sign-in you choose, their answers, time on lessons and progress, and their chat with Clara. Used to run the lessons, build their transcript and show you how they are doing.
  • Who else handles it: Anthropic (an AI company) receives the chat text and the lesson, with your child's first name but no last name or account details, to write Clara's replies. That is how Clara works, so it is part of the service. If you switch on answering out loud for a child, their voice is turned into text on our own server and then discarded; it is never sent to another company. OpenAI turns lesson text and Clara's replies (which can include your child's first name) into the read-aloud voice. Our email provider sends you reports about your child. Nobody trains AI on your child's data, and nobody sells it.
  • Your rights: see everything collected from your child, have it deleted, or stop further collection at any time, from your account or by emailingour support address. If you refuse the AI sharing above, Clara cannot teach, so the service cannot run. Chats are deleted after 30 days.
  • Safety: if your child writes something suggesting they may be hurt or in danger, we email you and Clareza's owner the same day.

Paying by card is how you give consent. Full details, including how long we keep each thing: Privacy Policy (version 2026-10-05).

By continuing you agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy.

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Questions parents ask

Is 4 too young to learn to read?

Not if they are asking and enjoying it. Many children are not ready until 5 or 6, and that is normal too.

Should I teach letter names or letter sounds first?

Sounds. Names do not help a child sound out a word, and sounds do.

How long should a lesson be for a 4 year old?

Five to ten minutes. Stop while it is still fun.

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More on the preschool years at /homeschool-curriculum/homeschool-preschool-at-home, and on readiness at /homeschool-curriculum/is-my-child-ready-for-kindergarten-homeschool.