A major theory of my homeschooling is that if I teach my children to love reading and instill a love of learning, they will be students their whole lives. I will never, ever be able to teach my kids all there is to learn. It is impossible. But, for the most part, if they love to read and enjoy learning new things, I feel I have done my job. And at this point, with a 1st grader, 4th grader, 7th grader and a 9th grader, I have done that to varying degrees.
This week I had the privilege of continuing to teach my fourth child to read. As we struggled through a sound she has heard at least a dozen times before I had, what I thought to be, a profound thought. This isn't easy. And it really isn't intuitive. It is. But it isn't. The English language is fraught with exceptions to the rules. And crazy letter combinations. And as I got a little frustrated teaching some of those rules, I really understood how frustrating it can be for a little one to learn to read. Just when they have a sound figured out, a rule comes in. And then the rule changes.
As adults, for the most part, we take reading for granted. We just do it without much thought. I want each of my children to get there and to be honest, I am amazed when any child gets there. In my humble opinion, it is nothing short of a miracle when a child learns to read.
Having taught all four to read, I understand that some will struggle more than others. But, I feel I have done my job well, if there is a desire to read. And, for the most part, I think I have done that. We continue, almost every night, to read together. We have read some amazing stories. It is even cool now that all of us can read the same books but independently and I love sharing that with my kids. I have even seen my baby, beginning reader, reading books to the dog. I call that success . . .
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