Monday, September 26, 2011

little reader

The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.
-Dr. Seuss

I have said many times that one of the most touching things as a homeschool mom is teaching my children to read. Actually, I get excited about my children learning, period. But, there is something extra special about watching them learn to read. Just seeing all the pieces come together...I love it!

Lucy is learning to read. We use this book for our lessons. We are about a third of the way through it. Most days she will ask to do more than one lesson per day. She gets so proud when she reads something new. Her eyes light up and she clasps her hands together in excitement.

She has not been reading books, but last week during a trip to the library she asked to pick out one she could read. In the past, I have liked the small simple books by Margaret Hillert. I pulled this one off the shelf first and Lucy was very pleased with the pumpkin on the cover.

She was so excited about reading it that she tried to start while we were still walking through the library! Once we got home, she had to have a little bit of help, but I was so proud of how well she did.


Maybe one reason that it is so exciting to see them learn to read is knowing that once they are able to read, they can take some other learning into their own hands. Not to mention all the places they can go with books (thanks, Dr. Seuss)!

I was just getting ready to close this post and Lucy entered the room and I asked her why she is excited to learn to read and she replied, "So that I can read on my own." And then I asked her what is so great about being able to read. And she replied, "You get to read mysteries and funny books. And you get to read the Bible and learn about people in it." I think those are some pretty great answers.

2 comments:

Jennifer said...

i love lucy's enthusiasm for learning to read! i work with older children who struggled to learn how to read (for various reasons) and are now embroiled in an even greater struggle-- learning to read, and reading with confidence. they feel such a sense of accomplishment when they've read something they feel is difficult. i love guiding them there!

you may try something like this with lucy: http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/series/Words-Their-Way-Series/10888.page

these are resources built around comparing developmentally appropriate phonetic and orthographic features through sorting. basically, you're looking at spelling, pattern, and meaning and drawing conclusions. it's highly effective and very fun! it seems like it might be less prescriptive than the book you referenced, and may meet lucy's needs more closely.

then again, it may not! i just can't help but plug instructional methods that i think are super awesome.

Stephanie said...

wow. So rewarding! My girls were all older when we began our homeschool journey but I think that has to be so rewarding as a momma to have taught them to read!

And yes...Lucy's answers are awesome!!

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