learning to read...

I told you guys earlier about Meatball teaching himself to read and write. This has been very interesting to watch unfold. None of the children liked sitting down and using the basic skills workbooks we have. Me telling them to find the page with the seven on the bottom, lost its novelty on about the third day. Then it became pure tedium. So...I dropped them. Meatball has become very proficient and Jellybean is starting to want to join in the fun, too. Last week, Meatball went around making signs for the various things in the house. He'd ask how to spell a word, I'd tell him, he'd make a sign.





Up til now, Jellybean has been more of a whole word detective. She reads the Now I'm Reading books and can read on sight many words. She is just beginning to play around with individual letters and sounds.

Porkchop just likes to curl up in your lap and listen to a good story. He is constantly bringing books to us and wanting us to read them. He is enjoying pecking out his name on the computer keyboard and playing with the Basic Concepts books. It has been so fascinating watching each one of them discover this on their own, in their own time and way. It has taught me a valuable lesson in teaching. My new Rule #1: Get out of their way.