Being the third child has its advantages.  My daughter (almost 4) was bugging me to spell her brothers names for her.  I told her they are long names but she told me "mommy, do it one letter at a time" with that very serrious face she makes.  OK, fine.  Just to keep her quiet I dictated the spelling.  Guess what?  The child can write!   The letters were neat and well formed.  I guess she really does listen and watch everything that her brothers do during school.   

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Posted by MarlaMom

Hi Alice,

Nice to meet you! I caught your entry on the main page and it reminded me of my second oldest. She started to write at the age of 3 1/2 (her barely 5 year old sister taught her). I am so big on doing teaching to all my kids at the same time as much as possible because it's amazing what they can pick up from the older ones. My second oldest also learned to read (at the age of 4 1/2) by listening to me teach phonics to my oldest. One day she said, "Mom, is this how you do it?" And started reading to me from an easy reader. Go figure! She's in Kindergarten, but is easily doing first grade math now because of listening to me teach the older one. Unfortunately, is hasn't worked quite the same for my son who is third in line. But I think I wasn't as in tune to teaching all of them at the same time at that point. I was just surviving between working part time, being a mom, and homeschooling.

P.S. I have the same blog template as you. We live in Minnesota, in a somewhat rural setting with a red barn across the road from us. Come visit my blog sometime!

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