The remarks and questions I hear when someone learns that I homeschool range widely from the typical, “What about socialization?”, to “I could never spend that much time with my kids.” One of most common comments I hear is, “I don’t think I could teach my kids how to read!” I even had one friend say that if she could just send her children through first grade and have a “professional” teach them how to read, she thought she could take it from there.
Jason and I were both early readers. We are both first born children, and were both blessed with mothers who saw the value of teaching their children to read when they were ready. I was reading the Little House on the Prairie series with my mother before I began Kindergarten. I have never thought twice about teaching my kids to read. It would be like sending them away to toilet train. I just always thought, I’m the parent, it is my responsibility. And I will tell you, potty training was way more difficult than reading!
When the twins were about three we found a set of DVD’s from LeapFrog that taught letter sounds and simple words using phonics. That was the springboard for them. They just got it. Jason and I would sit with them using a Magnadoodle and write simple three letter words for them to sound out. At three years old, I would be walking through the grocery store and have them shouting out, “Mom, that says ‘deli’!!” Soon, they were reading the Bob books and blowing me away with their insatiable appetite for learning. It was then that I realized they would never be happy in school. They would be far too impatient to be successful in a group learning environment. But, I digress. We are discussing teaching reading here.
Fast forward about four years. Anna just turned four years old. She does things her own way. I knew that teaching her anything couldn’t be something that was my idea. It had to be up to her, on her terms. She knows the sound that letters make for the most part, and every once in a while I hear her sounding out a word.
The other morning, she was in our room with Jason was getting ready for work. She found this box in his closet:
She sounded out the word “aldo” and was so pleased with herself. So, Jason did what any good daddy would do.. he grabbed a pen and started writing more words on the box for her to read:
And this is how school goes in our house sometimes.
