We have one proud fella here at our house.
Jersey #3 can READ!
It was a landmark day when he sat down and read Green Eggs and Ham to me. He calls that a "real" book. Apparently, the little paper readers we have with our homeschool curriculum are not fooling anyone. Our kids do not consider them real books for some reason.
That's Ok. I've got a whole shelf of "real" books for my new readers to tackle when they reach this point. Jersey #3 was thrilled to realize he can pick up other books and read them too. His confidence has soared.
I am proud. I am pleased. Mostly, I am relieved. Whew!
This boy has never been as easy as either of his older sisters. (His younger sister is no piece of cake either, so I have a double whammy coming at me with these two in the middle). He was not an easy baby. He refused to participate in preschool. (His actual statement to me was, "Mom, I am too young for school...I am only three!") So, I really should not have been surprised that kindergarten has been a challenge.
Our entire focus for kindergarten is teaching our children to read. If a child can read well, they can learn anything. A child who cannot read well, typically has decreased confidence about their educational abilities. We want our children to read well.
It was easy enough with Jersey #1. I waited too long, thinking she was suppose to be in kindergarten before I taught her to read, and she ended up teaching herself. The summer before kindergarten, she would start spelling out words she saw and street signs, and ask me what they said. It didn't take her long to figure out how to take the sounds each letter made, and put them together to make words. By the time I actually pulled out my well-researched "perfect" curriculum I wanted to use to teach her to read, she had already blazed through half of the process on her own. She was reading easy readers to me her first week of kindergarten. So much for the perfect curriculum.
I started earlier with Jersey #2, using my perfect curriculum. She was eager to learn. She caught on immediately. She was reading the summer before kindergarten. I wish I could credit my curriculum. But, it really is not perfect. It is organized and clear, at best. But, Jersey #2 is a whiz kid, and no curriculum can take credit for that. (I wonder if I can take credit for it, though? Can we say she has MY genetics that is making her so smart? Hmmm, I think I may be on to something here....)
After the whole "I'm too young for school" attitude with Jersey #3, I did not even push reading prior to kindergarten. Actually, we started off a bit slower even when he started kindergarten. I started to wonder if I could just get a kindergarten curriculum for the Wii? It didn't take him long to realize he was ready for school, and actually enjoyed it. He has been very cooperative in his studies. It turns out, he is a natural at math.
He was willing to learn to read. But, he was not able. This was a new experience for me.
He struggled with the orientation of letters. A visual-spatial thing. As far as he was concerned, there was no difference between M or W. Same thing with b or d. I am suspicious it has something to do with his ambidextrous abilities.
It took months for him to figure out a system to identify each letter as a separate letter from its mirror-image counterpart. I was starting to worry. The Referee assured me that most kids do not even learn to read until 1st grade, so there was no reason to worry about kindergarten.
Then, one day, he asked me, "is that a "b" or a "d"?"
He finally realized they were TWO different letters.
From that point forward, his reading progression began to actually progress. He started identifying each letter and its sound. He started blending a consonant and a short vowel. Then, he started reading 3-letter words (with short vowels).
Then, we hit a bump in the road with the sight word, "the". That is a difficult word to pronounce when you are missing so many front teeth. It took 3 weeks for him to reach a point of recognizing it, and pronouncing it consistently.
After he grasped "the", he grasped long vowels. THAT was the point when I realized he was actually reading. His confidence increased more and more as he was reading those little paper readers.
The day he read a reader without my assistance, I pulled out Dr. Seuss.
He chose Green Eggs and Ham. It is has lots of repetition. That helps me see how much he is retaining, after he learns a word the first time.
The more he read, the more he smiled.
When he finished the last page, he shouted, danced, and gave us all a high-five! His excitement was contagious.
Jersey #3 can READ!
It was a landmark day when he sat down and read Green Eggs and Ham to me. He calls that a "real" book. Apparently, the little paper readers we have with our homeschool curriculum are not fooling anyone. Our kids do not consider them real books for some reason.
That's Ok. I've got a whole shelf of "real" books for my new readers to tackle when they reach this point. Jersey #3 was thrilled to realize he can pick up other books and read them too. His confidence has soared.
I am proud. I am pleased. Mostly, I am relieved. Whew!
This boy has never been as easy as either of his older sisters. (His younger sister is no piece of cake either, so I have a double whammy coming at me with these two in the middle). He was not an easy baby. He refused to participate in preschool. (His actual statement to me was, "Mom, I am too young for school...I am only three!") So, I really should not have been surprised that kindergarten has been a challenge.
Our entire focus for kindergarten is teaching our children to read. If a child can read well, they can learn anything. A child who cannot read well, typically has decreased confidence about their educational abilities. We want our children to read well.
It was easy enough with Jersey #1. I waited too long, thinking she was suppose to be in kindergarten before I taught her to read, and she ended up teaching herself. The summer before kindergarten, she would start spelling out words she saw and street signs, and ask me what they said. It didn't take her long to figure out how to take the sounds each letter made, and put them together to make words. By the time I actually pulled out my well-researched "perfect" curriculum I wanted to use to teach her to read, she had already blazed through half of the process on her own. She was reading easy readers to me her first week of kindergarten. So much for the perfect curriculum.
I started earlier with Jersey #2, using my perfect curriculum. She was eager to learn. She caught on immediately. She was reading the summer before kindergarten. I wish I could credit my curriculum. But, it really is not perfect. It is organized and clear, at best. But, Jersey #2 is a whiz kid, and no curriculum can take credit for that. (I wonder if I can take credit for it, though? Can we say she has MY genetics that is making her so smart? Hmmm, I think I may be on to something here....)
After the whole "I'm too young for school" attitude with Jersey #3, I did not even push reading prior to kindergarten. Actually, we started off a bit slower even when he started kindergarten. I started to wonder if I could just get a kindergarten curriculum for the Wii? It didn't take him long to realize he was ready for school, and actually enjoyed it. He has been very cooperative in his studies. It turns out, he is a natural at math.
He was willing to learn to read. But, he was not able. This was a new experience for me.
He struggled with the orientation of letters. A visual-spatial thing. As far as he was concerned, there was no difference between M or W. Same thing with b or d. I am suspicious it has something to do with his ambidextrous abilities.
It took months for him to figure out a system to identify each letter as a separate letter from its mirror-image counterpart. I was starting to worry. The Referee assured me that most kids do not even learn to read until 1st grade, so there was no reason to worry about kindergarten.
Then, one day, he asked me, "is that a "b" or a "d"?"
He finally realized they were TWO different letters.
From that point forward, his reading progression began to actually progress. He started identifying each letter and its sound. He started blending a consonant and a short vowel. Then, he started reading 3-letter words (with short vowels).
Then, we hit a bump in the road with the sight word, "the". That is a difficult word to pronounce when you are missing so many front teeth. It took 3 weeks for him to reach a point of recognizing it, and pronouncing it consistently.
After he grasped "the", he grasped long vowels. THAT was the point when I realized he was actually reading. His confidence increased more and more as he was reading those little paper readers.
The day he read a reader without my assistance, I pulled out Dr. Seuss.
He chose Green Eggs and Ham. It is has lots of repetition. That helps me see how much he is retaining, after he learns a word the first time.
The more he read, the more he smiled.
When he finished the last page, he shouted, danced, and gave us all a high-five! His excitement was contagious.
Yea! I love it when they turn a corner and finally "get it"! Go Jersey #3!
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