My kindergartner is learning to read.
About two months ago, a moment I had been waiting for came. My kindergartener asked me if she could begin learning how to read.
I had been waiting both anxiously and eagerly for this moment.
There are some things I strongly believe in as a homeschool parent, and one of these is never forcing a child to learn to read. I have a stubborn conviction that children will show interest when they’re ready to learn to read, sooner or later, and that things will go much more smoothly for everyone involved if I just wait for that point of readiness. My conviction on this topic developed from my own experience as a homeschooled student, what I learned from the homeschooling community I had while growing up, and based on the testimony of veteran homeschooling moms. And now, my own experience as a homeschooling mom factors in too.
Of course, it’s not always easy to wait. I did everything I could to play it cool on the outside while I was waiting. My oldest child started reading right away at the beginning of kindergarten, so it would have been easy to use that as an assumed benchmark for my other children. But I didn’t want to let that happen. I worked to keep my impatience – and my excitement – a secret. Most importantly, I worked not to apply direct or indirect pressure, and to not make comparisons. I tell all my kids that I will teach them to read whenever they are ready – but they have to let me know of their own volition that they’re ready.
The waiting was the most difficult for me cathis winter, when I sensed very clearly that my 2nd daughter was on the verge of being ready to ready. Continuing to wait was nearly killing me on the inside! I just knew she was ready. But I waited. And no tears have been shed over this maiden reading voyage.
Now, I have my reward for waiting, many times over, in the form of daily minutes spent sitting beside my daughter, listening to her read. It is a little like watching a prized flower bloom. At first, each word is painstakingly sounded out. But with each passing day, words and sentences flow more quickly and confidently. Many days, we both bubble over with joy and the very thrill of it.
I’m incredibly grateful that I get to be the one to experience these precious moments with my daughter. I wouldn’t trade these moments for the world.
And, it all makes me so glad that I stuck to my stubborn conviction and waited for my daughter to be ready. It wasn’t about her necessarily being a certain age, or being at certain grade level; instead, it was more simply and purely about her individual readiness. Had I not been patient and waited, and if perhaps I had been more preoccupied with “keeping up with the Joneses” or the convenience of my daughter going into 1st grade already reading, her road to reading might have been much more frustrating and less fun.
This is one of the beautiful, incredible things about homeschooling. Homeschooling provides the time, space and freedom to allow learning to happen organically – often in the best way possible.
