She's Reading!
 
For two years now I have been nervously watching my unschooled child learn concepts in science and history that were far beyond "kindergarten/first grade" level. I have been fascinated by what fascinates her. But I've also been terrified as the months and then years passed and she still could not read.

When we were in Sparta a couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to be with a homeschool mom friend of mine who has a daughter Jessica's age. Laurie mentioned how Meg was learning to read with the re-prints of the old "Dick and Jane" readers we'd used when we were in school. I'd picked them up a dozen or more times in a nostalgic "Oh here's what I learned to read with, isn't this neat." kind of way but I'd never seriously considered using them with Jessica. We were driving back to Memphis, on our way home where I was planning to have her tested for some type of reading learning disability, when we took a rest stop in Dickson at a Cracker Barrel resturant that happened to have a copy of the "Dick and Jane" anthology  that Laurie and I had just been talking about. I handed Jessi the book with the comment, "Look Jessi, this is that book Ms. Laurie said Meg liked so much. What do you think about it?" She took it. Opened it to the first page and read "Look!" "Mom! That says Look!...I can read!" I wasn't about to argue with her. I just paid for the book. She carried it proudly to the rockers on the porch and she began to read to me. "Look! Oh Look!" She read. She read the entire story, stopping once or twice to spell a word to me that she didn't know. She never asked me the same word twice. Then I called my mom on the cell phone and she read to her. And to her daddy. We got back into the car. She wanted to read to me. I turned off the radio and listened to her read. My child. The one who hadn't read 20 words before. She read to me for almost two hours. 95 pages. The entire first reader and 2/3 of the second. Between Dickson and Jackson. Occasionally she'd stop, spell out a new word, and then once she had her answer she'd continue on. I cried as I drove.

We'd tried "Hooked on Phonics". We'd tried "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". We'd tried "Starfall". We'd tried "Reading Reflex". We'd tried virtually everything. She was desperate to read and she genuinely seemed to have a problem processing sounds. But somehow, simply from being read to daily since her birth, she had learned to read despite us. She proved it when she met "Dick and Jane". She's into the second anthology now. Three full readers the equivalent of 1 and 1/2 years of reading instruction in less than a week.

I had almost given up on unschooling. I'd almost convinced myself that it wouldn't work for reading. But it did. My daughter can read.

T

Indeed I Am


Salvador Dali Melting clocks are not a problem in
your reality. You are an unschooler. You will
tolerate a textbook, but only as a last resort.
Mud is your friend. You prefer hands-on
everything. If your school had an anthem, it
would be Dont Worry, Be Happy. Visit my blog: http://www.guiltfreehomeschooling.blogspot.com


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UNSCHOOLING IS AWESOME!
T