Over a year ago, at the dinner table Chandler (4.5 years) announced, “I want to go to school.” Slightly horrified Hunter (7.5 years) said, “Why would you want to do that?” I knew Chandler must have a reason for wanting to go to school, so I asked, “What do you want to do at school?” He said, “I want to learn to read. I don’t want to do math and stuff. I just want to learn to read.” I said, “I can teach you to read.” He looked at me with surprise and said, “You can?” And so it began.
We played Dr. Seuss memory match game and he learned the alphabet. I wrote about it here. Then he wanted to write the letters and write all our names first, middle and last. He worked on this until he could do it, with no prompting from me. He worked for hours on it, loving it, delighting in what he could do. It was really quite remarkable to see. I was going to wait until 6+ to teach Chandler, thinking better late than early, but if you have a child who WANTS to learn you don’t stand in their way.
Then he wanted to know the sounds of the letters. We got the first 40 lessons in Headsprout for him which he did randomly. He does not like to use the computer mouse and Headsprout is too repetitive for him. Some kids need that repetition and more. All kids are different. Chandler also sat in on Hunter’s Headsprout lessons because he wanted to, he was glued to the seat. Hunter finished lesson 80 of Headsprout in September 2011. This might be why it seems like Chandler is learning effortlessly, come to think of it, he was always watching and listening with Hunter.
Chandler would go through periods of wanting to read/learn and other times where he did not ask. He also likes ABCMouse and Reading Eggs, but most of all he likes the small books. When I read to him he asks me to put my finger under the words, when he is reading he will ask, “what is this word?” He usually remembers it. He loves “Go Dog Go” and other Dr. Seuss books. He loves the Fly Guy series. He likes Headsprout books. If it is a small book he can read, he likes it. He does not like the bigger readers like Abeka.
Hunter has helped Chandler with reading too. Hunter will read along silently while Chandler reads aloud, so he can help with an unknown word and be the big brother. The two of them seem to have a good system for reading together (most of the time). Sometimes Hunter will feel like Chandler is going to pass him with reading and acts jealous, but when I remind that it was HE who helped Chandler learn to read then he feels happy about it and will marvel at Chandler’s abilities sometimes too. Sometimes Chandler will tell Hunter, “Quit telling me the words!” For the most part they are good reading partners. Chandler wanting to learn to read is spurring on Hunter. Chandler also looks up to his brother. It’s been a great arrangement and even more joyful in my memory than in the middle of it maybe. {grin}
I try not to feed the competition, but yesterday I could not resist challenging them to see who could read the most Scholastic Little Leveled Readers (a good deal on eBay). They divided them up into stacks of 30 and got busy. When we got where we were going Hunter had read 15 and Chandler did not count his. While Hunter was waiting for us to leave, he sat in the car and finished all 30 because he wanted to read them all before Chandler. This is huge for Hunter. Chandler just shrugged. For Chandler, reading is not a competition. It is just something he loves.
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For more ideas for two or more children reading together, please check out “The Daily 5.” I wrote about it here and here.
Screen shot of Teach Me Kindergarten
