One of the most common questions I’ve gotten about unschooling and homeschooling is about reading. It seems that reading is the one area that most people believe must be taught. I have 2 readers and one beginning to be interested and so far all three of them have learned a different way.
Our oldest daughter could not wait to read. She simply loved books so when she was around 4, I started a letter of the week type thing with her. We would focus on one letter a week and draw pictures of things that began with that letter, eat foods, read books together, and decorate a poster sized letter and hang it up in the dining room. It seemed to work really well for her and she did learn her letters that way, but she didn’t pick up the sounds much at all. When she was 5, I found a phonics programs at a local thrift store and we started playing around with that. It included a cd of songs about each letter. She would sing those songs for hours. Suddenly, she was reading! It seemed as soon as she could read, she lost all desire to do so though.
Our 2nd daughter never showed a big interest in reading. She loved being read to so we did a lot of that. She was able to recognize her letters around 5 and would ask us how to spell things. She would make big lists of words and she continued to do that until she was 7. She started trying to read more when she got her first video game player. She wanted to play certain games that she needed to read to play and I wasn’t always able to sit with her and read it all. I found a link to McGuffey’s First Eclectic Primer online and printed a few chapters of it and gave it to her to read. She soaked it up and she read most of it in a few weeks. However, she still was not reading fluently. I didn’t want to push her because I knew that she was making progress on her own. It wasn’t until she was almost 8 1/2 that she was a fluent reader. One day she picked a chapter book from the bookcase and read it all in one sitting.
Our youngest just turned 5. He is interested in reading, but not to the point that he wants me to show him anything yet. He doesn’t enjoy writing the way his sister’s did. He loves being read to though and I am certainly going to continue that. He doesn’t enjoy little books though. He wants me to read him big chapter books with lots of action and adventure. He likes to act them out as I read.
One of the very first pieces of advice I remember finding about learning to read came from Sandra Dodd, an unschooling advocate. All I really remember of it was all I needed to remember: “Read to them, read to them, and read to them!” Reading to them has become such a part of our lives that it just comes naturally now.
It didn’t stunt our daughter’s learning that she couldn’t read until she was 8. Our oldest daughter could read at 5 but she hated it and only willingly read 2 books until she was 10 1/2. Now we make weekly trips to the library so that no one runs out of reading material!
If I could go back and change anything regarding their reading it would be to do more fun things in the beginning. I re-discovered Mad Libs a few years ago and I think those would have been an even bigger hit when they first started reading. I wouldn’t have pushed our oldest so hard. I would have relaxed more and just read harder books out loud.
As I prepare to facilitate my son in his journey to reading, I hope that I am able to do so a little differently and draw on my previous experiences to make this one even better for him. I pray that I will be able to relax and be more patient with him. But more than anything, I hope that I will be able to instill the love of reading in all of their hearts that will last a lifetime.
Laura is the mom of three awesome always home/unschooled kids. She married her soul mate after knowing him less than 2 months in 1998 and they’ve been living happily ever after since then! They live in Florida and love to enjoy everything that the sunshine state has to offer- mainly the beach, the sun, and the outdoors. Their approach to education is all about opportunities, living, love, and trust. She blogs all about their life at http://www.thejoyfulmom.com/blog
Thanks so much for sharing your story! Reading is one of those things that so many of us stress about. I wish I could go back and do things over again with my first child, too.
Misty (elvisgirl)´s last blog ..Why you get a Sock Monkey
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Thank you for that encouragement. I think the best thing we as parents can do is just encourage our children that learning and reading are fun, and more or less let them come to us when they’re ready.
I remember trying to sit my then 3 year old son down with “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons” and he only went through the first few lessons with me before he was completely bored of it. No offense, though the idea is a great one, it is a little boring! I prefer to keep it fun with things like file folder games or word games, etc. That’s the kinds of things my (now) 4 year old son is attracted to and it makes learning fun for him.
I also think for some children it’s good to mix things up every now and then. Some just get bored doing the same thing. Let’s face it, there are a lot of phonics to learn and to do it the same way every time can get mundane for some. On the flip side, some kids LOVE and THRIVE on that type of predictability. I think the key is to just listen to your child and their needs, which is exactly what you’ve stated here.
Thank you for sharing!
Christin´s last blog ..Home School Journal
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HELLLO IT IS THE BULLARD FAMILY WE JUST WANTED TO SAY HI AND HELLO BYE AND PLEASE TYPE TO US VERY SOON NOW BYE (That was my six-year-old, who enjoyed your article!) She began reading at 4, and sounds like your oldest. Hopefully, she will continue to stay with it. My older two were in private school, and someone else taught them to read. I was so nervous about this one, and your article would have served me well a couple of years ago. Thanks for sharing!
bELINDA´s last blog ..Weekly Homeschool Report–November 1, 2009
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