A Day in the Life

The single most important thing that I can teach my children is how to read. I say that as if reading is comprised of a single act. The art of reading is a vastly complex and most wonderful function of our lives. It is required that people are literate in order to functioning the world today. As homeschoolers, we like to boast about our gifted and talented children, the masters who win chess championships and spelling bees. Not all students excel far about the pack of their peers. Some are decidedly average or have unique challenges.

I learned early on that to teach my eclectic group, which included CAPD, dyslexia, epilepsy, CMV and Deafness, nothing would be easy or done in a routine manner. In my group of six, I have children who learn quickly, who learn verbally, who learn visually, and those who just struggle. Every day is a joy, though, I must say, just watching them learn.

One thing we are working on now is my youngest, she still isn't reading. Most of her work is done verbally and one of her challenges is that she is next in line to  my son who is Deaf. She is bilingual, she signs in ASL frequently through out the day. She is embarrassed about her lack of reading skills. I have had two children with this struggle. What I learned with number four, E, is that you cannot push someone to read. They have to be ready. I feel that the age at which you begin reading is not as important as how well you do learn to read.

I learned how to read at the age of four. I didn't go to preschool, I remember my mother sitting with me on her lap.She would read for hours, it seemed. Eventually it "clicked" for me. I have thousands of books for my children to read, yet it doesn't seem that they have my passion for books. My daughter E, she is falling in love slowly with them. So there is hope. She started reading at ten, just like my youngest daughter D. D is becoming motivated to read. I can see it "clicking" in her mind. I will breathe a sigh of relief when she gets it. It isn't the ending of my teaching career, not by far, yet it is a huge milestone for all of the gang to be reading.

I have read many books on teaching reading, my latest is "LETS READ", A Linguistic Approach, by Leonard Bloomfield and Clarence L. Barnhardt. There is a quote, "Literacy is the most important factor in keeping up our civilization and teaching children to read is the most important task of our schools. We perform this task clumsily and with great waste of labor and time. Even at the end of eight years many of our pupils cannot be said to read; yet eight months out to suffice". So far, I like what Mr. Bloomfield is saying. If someone could bottle the formula of teaching reading, so it would work for everyone, they would rule the world.

I grew concerned about my fifth child, a son, B, when I found out that he is Deaf.  Many Deaf people do not learn how to read fluently, many do not read higher than a 4th grade level. I became determined to teach him how to read. I am not really sure how, although God had a lot to do with it, but B reads wonderfully well now. He reads and writes his own stories. I think he figured out early on the importance of the written word in his life. Without his hearing his main method of receiving information is reading and writing. He grasped those facts as early as age seven. There maybe some connection between him reading so well, so early and that is older sister E and younger sister D had problems reading. Did I spend too much time with him and too little with the girls? I have agonized over that and I hope my efforts with the girls now make up for the time we spent with B and his therapies and doctors appointments. I can truly say having a child with a disability affects the whole family. Things are not the same after, ever again. You adapt to the new normal. I know we have adapted, grown, thrived and flourished. But I will feel better with that notch in my belt, knowing that all of my children can read.