Now Why Are We Teaching Her How To Read?

Alyssa learned her letter sounds in the same way any respectable three year old would: Leap Frog's Letter Factory movie. My sister recommended it to me, because it was a fun and easy way for little kids to learn their letters. As Alyssa got older and started going to school, she improved and expanded on her letter knowledge, but she has always been cautious and shy in the reading department. I know. Alyssa - cautious?!? Shy?!?

Last summer we read through "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons," because that is what my mom taught me to read with, and it's a great source. Alyssa was quick to catch on to the letter sound concepts, but she was reluctant to read when it came to sentences, and then stories. We discovered, though, that once she was familiar with the book, she wasn't as hesitant, and this also became the case when it came to her Phonics lessons this year. Once she learned that reading the Phonics books wasn't as scary and intimidating as she thought, she stopped fighting when it came time to read them. But if I offered any other book to read, even if it was 100 times easier than her Phonics books, she absolutely refused.

Last month we noticed that Alyssa was more willing to read with Brian's mom than she was with me, so we "hired" her as our Reading Specilist. (Grandma's get paid with love, or maybe ice cream. We'll be thinking about that one.) Anyway, this was the most brilliant thing I've done for Alyssa's reading skills. Spending special time with Grandma every day, without the boys, made Alyssa look forward to reading time, instead of dread it. Alyssa's confidence in her reading skills improved dramatically, and now she's reading books to us without fighting, and she's actually enjoying herself! Her favorites right now are Frog and Toad and the Fancy Nancy series, and we're thrilled.

Now, in our lessons each day, I sometimes sneak in a little bit of extra work. If a math lesson is super easy, I might combine it with the next lesson and put it in the same folder, turning it into one lesson. I did that last night while putting together Alyssa's binder, and didn't think anything of it. But come this morning, Alyssa sat down and pulled out her first Math lesson and said, "Mom, this paper says 'Lesson 4' and these papers say 'Lesson 5' and I'm only supposed to do one lesson, so I don't think I should do this paper." My little girl is a reader. I'm so proud of her!