MY CHILD DOESN'T KNOW HIS/HER HIRAGANA: Start from the beginning

Some parents say to me that their child is struggling with the script (particularly in Year1). Reading Hiragana is just like learning to read all over again in another language, it takes time and not everyone is going to pick it up straight away. Children are still learning their letters and sounds in English. Don't worry, this will not confuse them with their English reading!!! So many studies have shown that children are very adept at categorising and distinguishing between languages in their heads.In Prep and Year 1 we are merely exposing children to these letters.

WHAT DO I DO???
What I suggest to do is the following:
I teach the students about Hiragana using the 'Hiragana in 48 Minutes'(Quackenbush, Curriculum Corporation) methodology. Students are taught that there is a picture and a story for each character e.g. the Hiragana 'U' ぅ(ooh) is an old lady who gets hit in the back from something falling from the sky and says ' Ooh'.
Watch my video(on the Hiragana pages of this blog- right-hand side) to hear all of the stories and go through them with your child. Then there are step by step lessons on the Hiragana page for the reading and writing of the Hiragana. Watch the Hiragana Alphabet video as well and then follow the lessons through say, one video every week. They are very comprehensive videos.

The alphabet is based on the 5 vowel sounds of A I U E and O

A as in 'AH', I as in 'EE', U as in 'OOH', E as in 'EH' and O as in O for 'Orange'
Each subsequent line of the alphabet loosely follow this rule. Fore example the nexy line is the 'K' line or 'Kagyo' in Japanese goes 'KA KI KU KE KO'

Confusing, hey? Imagine what it must be like for Year 1s...However, in Japan, children from about 3 years old start learning this script.
Have a go yourself and work with your child when you can and maybe you too can learn to read and write a bit of Japanese, Mr Mackenzie-Smith :)