The latest excitement in the Heldt household is...Anna is READING! I had read good things about the Bob Books in The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home, and saw a set of 18 of them for $9.99 at Costco on Saturday. I thought I'd buy them because I'd love for each of my kids to be reading before they go into Kindergarten.
Well...before too long I'll be going back for the second set! Anna is plowing through them! She's known her phonics for a long time now, and now she's reading. Reading. I cannot even tell you how filled with joy I am to watch my daughter learning and blossoming right before my very eyes. Each day we sit down together with a Bob book. She loves it. I love it.
Someone in a previous post had asked why I want my kids reading before they start school. I guess my reasons are, that first of all, for some kids, developmentally they're READY to read at 4 years old. Anna definitely is. She picked up on phonics pretty quickly, and the reading is coming naturally too. Second of all, I feel that if my child can learn to read at HOME, they can avoid having to learn under pressure. It can be fun, and at their own pace. Then, once they start formal schooling (in whatever form that takes), they'll have a good foundation set. I really recommend The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise for insight into how children learn, and also for book recommendations. Even if you're not a homeschooler, it's a gem. (You can read my disclaimer about the book here. :) )
Ultimately I really want my kids to fall in love with reading. And with good books. And with learning. There's no "right" way to do this, but for us, this is how we're opting to go. And it's so much fun! I'm loving it!
13 comments:
Wow, that is so awesome! I guess it will be a while before she conquers the wordy (and tough language!) Little Miss books.
I'm loving your frequent blogs. I check everyday!
Hope you are better soon!
PS - I need your guys' address again, can you email it to me please? thanks!
Brianna!
My Nana taught me how to read before I went into Kindergarten. I mean, granted, I was at a Dr. Seuss level reading Hop on Pop and the like. I can vividly remember being in class though and being ahead of most everyone (I entered Kind. at age 4...so I learned to read at 4). I think that it was the best thing that anyone ever could have done for me. Everything was easier for me in K becuase of that. I think it's great that she knows how to read early. I LOVED reading too and it became my very favorite past time as a kid! :-)
You are so smart teaching your kids read before school. Studies show that "advanced" students in primary school stay at "advanced" through out jr. high and HS.
Such a great way to already help her prepare for those college scholarships! :) And enjoy this "sponge" time in her life!
Keep up the good work mom!
Emily (high school teacher)
Good for YOU and Anna, Brianna!!! What an accomplishment. I definitely will check out the books you recommend because Laina is already learning her numbers and letters and I'm sure she'll be ready to read before K, too. Thanks for the wonderful post!
wahhoo!! How fun! You encouraged me to sit with my boys today and work on it. I had no patience. Maybe I need to try your magic little books. It reminded me why I could not be a teacher!
shelley you make me laugh! i think they might just be magic little books! (and i agree it is so frustrating trying to get your kid to do something!)
Delurking to comment that you will want to scope out her school when she gets to that stage to see whether other beginning pupils are reading. As someone who went to school reading at a sixth grade level on the first day of first grade, I can testify that the social punishment if there are not other readers is significant, and you will want to prepare her for it.
Woo-hoo! Go Anna! And way to go Mom, too! We bought those same Costco books. Tyler went through all of them in Kindergarten, and now he's moved onto Star Wars books and non-fiction. Introducing a love for reading is one of the best things we can do for our kids.
Yay for Anna! Good job!
so exciting! we just bought all the bob books, too. we just started really working with eli on his phonics so the bob books are soon to come.
Hooray for Anna!!! My mom taught me how to read before I went to kindergarten and I used to read to the other kids at story time. I felt sooo cool!
You may already know about this website but I bet your new reader would LOVE starfall.com It is WONDERFUL and free. Starfall is always a big hit at our house and helped both my big girls learn to read. :0) Angel
oh angel thanks for the recommendation! i hadn't heard of it!
Post a Comment