Learning to Read

Elizabeth, who just turned 5, had a huge reading breakthrough yesterday. I have been teaching her letter sounds for a couple years and using "complete curriculums" that you find at Sam's. She has enjoyed all that, but reading has just not "clicked" for her. Recently she has really become frustrated. She would labor over pronouncing each sound, but the word just did not come together in her mind.

Since Christmas we have been using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading by Jessie Wise. Yesterday Elizabeth started reading two and three letter words with very little effort! She was so excited. She also caught a vision for what it will be like when she is reading fluently. She finally has the goal of being able to read stories to herself. She has known that intellectually, but she has lacked the vision of what this really meant for her. After our reading lesson yesterday she carried our reading book all over the house, practicing her words. She was copying words out of other books, sounding out words that she came across, reading to Billy, and ready for today's reading lesson.

This has been a fun experience for me too. This is the first major thing that I have taught her in school, the first thing she has really taken and run with. Now she knows how to count and do all those basic things, but I feel greater confidence that I can indeed teach her! It's funny, having been homeschooled and seeing moms do this for years, I have still felt inadequate. Not only is Elizabeth excited about moving forward, I am too. I can't wait to see what she learns next.