A milestone reached
I’m thrilled this week to see that all of Grace’s hard work, plus a little help from me, has paid off. She is reading!! Learning to read has presented real challenges to Grace and finally at seven and a half the lights have come on and something has clicked!
I think Grace really suffered from the UK’s early age education system. She was in full-time school just a little over four and having reading books sent home to read from day one. Grace mastered phonics but had trouble remembering words. When we elected to withdraw her from school in summer 2007 her confidence was rock bottom. She would cry if a book was brought near her and refuse to try saying “I can’t do it, I’m stupid”
It took a long time to build her confidence up and over the past year we’ve tried numerous approaches. What finally triggered her reading (I think) was the good ol’ fashioned Dick and Jane books. She has lots more words to learn, but it’s such a thrill to see her eyes light up as she’s reading, knowing that she’s getting it right. Last night she spent a good hour reading her books to Jonathan. She feels proud and it’s good to see her exude with confidence. We had tears in our eyes. I am a very proud Mama.
dick and jane books, reading
That’s beautiful!!
Thanks Sonja
That is so wonderful, Lyn! Your story brought tears to my eyes. Children are so precious and sometimes I just weep for the ways that they “think” they are failures. Here’s to a lifetime of reading!
When this happens, it’s sooooo heart-warming and exciting! All the hard work we mothers do is paid back in these big milestones! To me that’s what homeschooling is all about, it’s not so much educating them as it is building them up for life, and restoring their hope. Moving at a child’s personal pace, it’s the only way to go!
This comment ended up in my moderation box! LOL!
Thank you Heidi. You are right and I found it so painful to see her so upset about reading and so down on herself. What I’m loving at the moment is that she keeps walking around with her book in her hand reading! She is so happy!
Darn, my comment got lost in cyber space. So instead of writing it all out again, I’ll just say a big “YES!!!!” This is what homeschooling is all about!
Excellent! And I agree with Heidi, nothing is worse than when a kid thinks they’re a failure, so getting over that is such good news.
Thanks Jim, I totally agree. Kids so young shouldn’t even have that put upon them, it’s very sad that we live in such a pushy “got to be number 1 at everything” society.