Tuesday, September 07, 2010

1st words

Now Julia Ellen is saying a few words such as "da" for dog and "yes", but who I am thinking about is Charlie, the fourth child I am teaching to read. After an entire year of kindergarten he was still having trouble knowing what sound each letter made so we decided to keep working on a mixture of K and 1st grade work before enrolling him officially in 1st grade.

We also added in Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, which a friend recommended about 7 years ago when we started homeschooling. Combining this instruction with a foundation and continuation of phonics lessons has resulted in 3 very eager readers who must visit a library at least once every 7 days (I don't know what happens if they go 8 days. We even make it a priority to stock up before blizzards and hurricanes). Yesterday Charlie read his very first words: at, eat, and met. I know it won't be long now before he is reading all the Bob books we own and moving on to more intellectually stimulating fare.

It is so exciting to be a part of this learning process that will lead to fulfillment and a whole world of opportunities. Thank goodness we homeschool, for these days a child who is not reading by the end of Kindergarten is likely to be labeled deficient, when all he needs is a little more time and practice.   

2 comments:

Erica said...

Sometimes it is hard for me not to worry that my daughter is "behind" the other kids her age, when really they all are different people and will do everything at different times. Thanks for this reminder.

Jennifer Lavender said...

I remember posting so proudly about my daughter being able to read her first book, Hop on Pop, by herself and the first comment I got was from my mom. I'm sure she meant well, but the comment, "Is that really all she can read on her own? You were reading stuff like that when you were 4." really hurt. My daughter was 6, almost 7, and just hadn't shown an interest in reading before that. I didn't push it, but apparently even our normally supportive family couldn't help pointing out how behind she was. I'm glad we home school so we can teach at her speed. I just wish other people didn't feel a need to measure all the time.