I've been meaning to write this post for awhile now, and currently there's discussion going around among our homeschool co-op about the subject of learning to read. So, I thought this would be the perfect time to post this.
The decision to utilize the particular homeschooling philosophy of unschooling was made when Hibi was 4 1/2. I'd been reading the great magazine Growing Without Schooling, and was really liking what I read there. Paul, however, was skeptical. Until that great momentous occasion of Hibi teaching herself to read at age 4 1/2, with minimal actual sitting down to teach her to read. Actually, none; all I'd done was, at age 2, taught her the sounds each of the letters makes. She had always loved books and way before she could read she was memorizing them. I'd read to her, then she'd "read" it back, over and over.
I often wonder where we'd be in the homeschool continuum if Zac had been the oldest! Zac also has always loved books. At a pretty young age he no longer wanted picture books, but long chapter books. Good thing I enjoyed reading them to him! Audio books were also a great find for him. Because he did *not* learn to read at age 4 1/2. Even though he really, really wanted to! He asked me to teach him to read at ages 5, 6, 7, and we'd sit down and try. I'd ask him to sound out CAT. By the time he got to the A, he'd have forgotten what sound C made. The remembering skills just were not there. It frustrated him, and it frustrated me, but I was committed to the idea that he'd learn when he was ready. We tried to focus his energy on other things, and I continued to read to him every night (plus other times).
Age 8, still not reading. I kept thinking it was going to click for him at some point. Paul started sitting with him and alternating reading with him. It was slow going! Frustrating for all involved. And we still couldn't call him a fluent reader.
And then, sometime at the end of his 10th year (when he was still 9 years old) he slowly and deliberately became a fluent reader! It never "clicked" for him. There wasn't one moment when he wasn't and then the next moment he was. It just kind of crept up quietly and finally, he was reading!
And, as I'd suspected, he quickly caught up to (surpassed?) the age-appropriate level of reading. Last summer, when the last Harry Potter book came out, we were on vacation and had a long day of driving. We bought the book in the morning and he read in the car all day long. It took him weeks to get through it, but he read it all on his own! This was the first Harry Potter book that I did not read out loud. (So I had to read it to myself!)
And here he is today, in the picture. He found a book he really liked in a bookstore on Friday, and came home and got it from the library on Saturday. It's called Revenge of the Shadow King. No pictures, and he's on page 361 of 369! He has really enjoyed this book!
I truly believe that children learn at their own pace. And when they are allowed to unfold on their own, the learning is ever so much more meaningful to them. If Zac had been expected to learn how to read at age 5 or 6, he would have been labeled, by himself and others, as slow or stupid. He just wasn't ready then.
I also believe that putting learning into categories makes it not very accessible to our children. "The basics" implies that some learning is better or more crucial than others. But I think that learning is learning, and that all learning has value. It is the openness to learning that is important, and how well we keep the channels open for learning is dependent on attitudes around us and expectations. I hope that learning is always a discovery for my children.
