Wednesday, June 10, 2009
The contrast between last year and this year.
Last year, my youngest son wasn't reading much. He could sound out words and read a bit, but it was a very slow process. Last year at the homeschool book swap/sale in May, I bought a bunch of books on learning disabilities. This year, he's reading chapter books, finishing one every 2-3 days. What dramatic thing did we do? We just gave him some space. He and I worked on the illustrated sight words a little and did a little bit of All About Spelling, but really, I think he just needed some time. He certainly gets reading for pleasure modeled to him in this house! We are all readers now!. The funny thing is, since then, I've gotten involved in a yahoo group called Homeschooling Creatively, which is actually about learning differences, which I've come to realize are not necessarily disabilities, just differences. I believe now that is is normal for some kids, usually boys but not always, to start reading at 9, 10 or even 11 and I think if you can just wait it out a bit, it will resolve on its own in most cases. The trouble is, it's hard to know if your child is one of the 'most cases" or if he truly has a disability. I've lost a little sleep over that. I worried that reading would never click for him. Thank goodness, it finally did and the joy of reading is something that he will have forever.
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3 comments:
I had one son who picked up reading quickly and seemingly on his own, then the second one took FOREVER and I seriously feared he would never learn or at least would struggle with it his whole life. He's ten now and reading anything and everything. He reads stuff that most kids his age would never touch. He reads voraciously, even more than the first son! It's really hard not to worry about it because you constantly compare your kid to other kids even when you try to fight against it. Sigh.
We're moms, we worry, its what we do. :-)
This is SO true....I've experienced it first hand. My oldest DS seemed to pick up reading all on his own. It was more like you told him a word & he remembered it rather than learning to sound them out. Almost like a photographic memory. Good or bad that's how he did it. Fast forward to my next in line DD & she just flat out had NO interest in learning to read whatsoever. I KNEW that she could sound out words...IF she'd just try...but it's like the saying...you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink......well, I could sit her at the table & try for all that was in me to force her to read aloud for me, but I finally backed off too. I knew from experience with my younger sister that she didn't give a flip about reading til she was older,so I backed off with DD. Somehwere around 12/13 it kicked in for her & that child has been a reading machine ever since! She reads EVERYTHING now.....tons of history books, classics, biographies, tons of series books. It just goes to show ya that they all learn differently.
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