Peaches is reading.
Peaches is reading!!! We have spent the past two and a half years learning the phonetic sounds of all the letters and some blends. It has not been concentrated and consistent, just a few times a week. Not over the summer. She has them down pat and we had only used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons a few times. I try to discern their interest level and go from there.
On Jan. 17, I decided we had given her enough time without a formal lesson in reading so we picked up the #1 McGuffy Reader and began reading The New Book. She struggled and whined and didn’t want to do it yet again. I pushed her for fear that if we waited a minute longer, she would never read. After two sentences I called a time-out.
At this time, our oldest Ariel brought in the book Dick and Jane and suggested Peaches use that to learn to read. Was it the big sister’s influence? Was it the pretty pictures and few words? Was it mom’s exasperation? I don’t know, but she started running with it and read all day. She even read to her Grammy over the phone. Look, look. Oh, oh, oh. See Jane and Dick…
It is so fun to know the moment it clicks. Learning to read is just that, a moment of making a connection, understanding the relationship between sounds and language. How exciting!
Now we reread the McGuffy stories each day and Peaches struggles to sound out a few of the words. There, here, made, etc. She has memorized some of it and gets slowed down by whether it is the word are or is. My mantra is sound it out, what is the first sound, and the second, now blend…
The joy on her face is undescribable. Yay! We have another reader in the house.
