You see this guy? Well that’s my baby, the youngest of five kids. Sometimes I think he got the best version of me as a mom. Let me explain…

When I first started homeschooling, I literally had no idea what I was doing. Our oldest sons had started their education in public school so they already knew how to read, write, and do basic math. There is a seven year gap between them and the three “littles” as I like to call them.

I’m pretty sure I had a panic attack the moment I realized that I had to teach them how to read. How in the world was I going to do that? Thankfully reading came easy for my daughter and she picked it up quite quickly just going through the Hooked on Phonics books. Then we got to our fourth son and boy was that a challenge! I’m pretty sure we were in tears on a daily basis. But hey, he had to learn how to read by first grade, right? Well, he was reading by the end of kindergarten but we were all miserable during the entire process.

Now enter our “baby”. I did what I’d always done, kindergarten at five years old. And for the most part, he liked it but when we got to reading, that was a whole other story. He just could not catch on and then came the tears again. I remembered a podcast I heard about boys and reading and that they typically take longer to learn how to read and that it will just “click” around eight and nine years old sometimes even later. As scary as it was, I decided to give it a shot. I wasn’t going to push my son to read…we weren’t going to do any traditional reading lessons at all. I was simply going to read to him and let it happen naturally.

Children are made readers on the laps of their parents. 

Emilie Buchwald

One day while watching a foreign film with the kids, my son started reading the subtitles out loud! We were all stunned and just looked at him in shock…he could read! He was around eight years old when I started him on reading lessons. We did Hooked on Phonics and Explode the Code. By the time he was nine he was reading chapter books. Now at age ten he is reading beyond grade level and his comprehension and retention is impressive as well! I’m thankful I followed my instincts and took a more gentle and natural approach with him. We are all happier for it!

I hope this post encourages you. Drop me a line or a question, I’d love to hear from you!

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