Reading Joys

Woo-hoo!

I’ve been working to teach Boo to read using the same program I used with the boys. It’s been a little difficult until last night. All along she has wanted to work on it and asks to ‘do her reading book.’ She has loved books since she was just little bitty and has always loved having Drew and me and even her brothers read to her. Let me tell you, it all kind of melts my heart when she asks one of her big brothers to read to her and the answer is, “Sure!” I love seeing her brothers read to her. She really enjoys looking at and listening to books, and I know she’ll be a big reader just like her brothers.

She has been ready for a while and we’ve been going through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I’m so thankful my friend, Heather, pointed me toward that book years ago when I asked her for a recommendation when I was working with my oldest son when he was just ready to learn to read. It has served me well (and is still) through 3 emergent readers now. Anyway, I had all these grand ambitions about how quickly we’d get through it when we started, but life intervened and it’s been slower going than I had been sure it would be.

The last several lessons have been a struggle. Even the day before yesterday as we worked on her lesson, I could tell she was getting frustrated, and I was feeling kind of discouraged, too, though I tried not to let her see it. Last night when she begged to ‘work on her reading book’ - instead of a bedtime story, no less - I was really tempted to say, “Let’s wait and do it tomorrow.” I was tired and just didn’t want to have to pull every sound out of her like I did the day before and thought I’d rather wait until the morning when we were both fresh. Then it occurred to me that I’d better take every opportunity that she’s wanting to work on it, so I said we could do one lesson. None of the lessons are very long.

And she nailed it. Had an easier time reading the little story than she’s ever had - read it ‘the fast way’ the first time through. She even giggled at one silly sentence as she read it, meaning she was comprehending, not just sounding it out. Seriously, it was a whole new thing. It’s like a little light bulb all of a sudden came on for her. We’re about 5 lessons shy of being halfway through the 100 lessons, and I sense we’re turning that corner from painfully sounding out the words to READING the words. I remember when each of her brothers turned that corner at about the same point in the program, too.

I just love it when they start to read!! And I just love how excited she is about it.