Learning to read....
hollywoodapi
Dear All,
I have two boys who we have unschooled from birth. My younger son is 8 years old and recently taught himself how to read and is making rapid progress. My older son is 10, he has auditory processing issues and possibly dyslexia. He has not picked up much in terms of letters and words and is not making any progress with reading, which does not bother me the slightest.
However, the fact that the little one is starting to read is making the older one really upset and he is asking me to help him learn how to read and I have no idea where to start and what to do, since I was always hoping that despite his disability he will eventually learn how to read on his own.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanking you in advance.
Best regards,
Anna
Miami, Florida
I have two boys who we have unschooled from birth. My younger son is 8 years old and recently taught himself how to read and is making rapid progress. My older son is 10, he has auditory processing issues and possibly dyslexia. He has not picked up much in terms of letters and words and is not making any progress with reading, which does not bother me the slightest.
However, the fact that the little one is starting to read is making the older one really upset and he is asking me to help him learn how to read and I have no idea where to start and what to do, since I was always hoping that despite his disability he will eventually learn how to read on his own.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanking you in advance.
Best regards,
Anna
Miami, Florida
Sandra Dodd
-=- My younger son is 8 years old and recently taught himself how to
read and is making rapid progress-=-
I think it will help if you replace "taught himself..." anything with
"learned..." or "figured out how to..."
For unschooling, it will change the angle just a bit, and help you see
natural learning (rather than any kind of teaching).
-=-the fact that the little one is starting to read is making the
older one really upset-=-
That would have happened even if they were in school. That's not
about homeschooling.
In school, later readers are branded failures in every subject,
because they can't do the school-style work in math or science or
anything without being able to "read the chapter and answer the
questions."
Find things to do that don't involve any reading at all. Find things
related to his interests that would be helpful, that have a little
text but are heavily based in graphics.
-=-I was always hoping that despite his disability he will eventually
learn how to read on his own.-=-
It would help if you didn't think of it as a "disability."
There was a thread recently about various little reading games with
cards and lists and sticky notes. If someone could bring a link to
that it would be cool. Thanks.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
read and is making rapid progress-=-
I think it will help if you replace "taught himself..." anything with
"learned..." or "figured out how to..."
For unschooling, it will change the angle just a bit, and help you see
natural learning (rather than any kind of teaching).
-=-the fact that the little one is starting to read is making the
older one really upset-=-
That would have happened even if they were in school. That's not
about homeschooling.
In school, later readers are branded failures in every subject,
because they can't do the school-style work in math or science or
anything without being able to "read the chapter and answer the
questions."
Find things to do that don't involve any reading at all. Find things
related to his interests that would be helpful, that have a little
text but are heavily based in graphics.
-=-I was always hoping that despite his disability he will eventually
learn how to read on his own.-=-
It would help if you didn't think of it as a "disability."
There was a thread recently about various little reading games with
cards and lists and sticky notes. If someone could bring a link to
that it would be cool. Thanks.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Josh Moll
However, the fact that the little one is starting to read is making the older one really upset and he is asking me to help him learn how to read and I have no idea where to start and what to do, since I was always hoping that despite his disability he will eventually learn how to read on his own.
Does he like it if you read to him? Because if he likes that, it's a starting point to do together. But maybe it's something you already do.
My daughter, who takes a much longer time than my son to learn how to read (despite a great wish to be able to read, a frustrating great wish for her, because most things come much easier), loves comics. I have read mountains of comics to her, sometimes 10 times, as long as she wants and she can read them herself now. She can read small notes I write her, short chapters in books, but she tires quickly. And if she wants I'll still read to her.
If it's his clear wish to learn how to read it's a starting point.
Josh
http://thuisschool.wordpress.com/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Does he like it if you read to him? Because if he likes that, it's a starting point to do together. But maybe it's something you already do.
My daughter, who takes a much longer time than my son to learn how to read (despite a great wish to be able to read, a frustrating great wish for her, because most things come much easier), loves comics. I have read mountains of comics to her, sometimes 10 times, as long as she wants and she can read them herself now. She can read small notes I write her, short chapters in books, but she tires quickly. And if she wants I'll still read to her.
If it's his clear wish to learn how to read it's a starting point.
Josh
http://thuisschool.wordpress.com/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Pam Sorooshian
On 5/25/2010 6:28 AM, Josh Moll wrote:
things.
You should talk to him about the "be able to read" part - how that comes
for different people at different times and there is no hurry, etc.
Point out the things he does know how to do - maybe things that younger
sibling doesn't know.
If he wants to read - you could get him audible books and an ipod and he
can listen to his heart's content. I don't read books because I have bad
vision, but I have listened to hundreds. At first I found it difficult
to listen to books, but now I love listening to audible books more than
reading print books. Good narrators make some books way better than they
would have been in my own inner voice.
Also - there are some ways you can help him see he is on the way to
reading, so it doesn't seem so much like reading versus not reading to
him. Ask him what words he wants to be able to read, write them on
cards, and keep them in an envelope. Pull them out for him to "practice"
on and add more. Let them be super weird olr ong words - dinosaur,
croccodile, hydroelectric, or whatever he wants. Then he can feel like
he can read some super "hard" words. That's encouraging. He might think
"that's just memorizing" but tell him that when he's memorized a lot of
words, he'll be able to read.
-pam
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> However, the fact that the little one is starting to read is makingHe wants to be able to read? Or he actually wants to read? Two different
> the older one really upset and he is asking me to help him learn how
> to read and I have no idea where to start and what to do, since I was
> always hoping that despite his disability he will eventually learn how
> to read on his own.
things.
You should talk to him about the "be able to read" part - how that comes
for different people at different times and there is no hurry, etc.
Point out the things he does know how to do - maybe things that younger
sibling doesn't know.
If he wants to read - you could get him audible books and an ipod and he
can listen to his heart's content. I don't read books because I have bad
vision, but I have listened to hundreds. At first I found it difficult
to listen to books, but now I love listening to audible books more than
reading print books. Good narrators make some books way better than they
would have been in my own inner voice.
Also - there are some ways you can help him see he is on the way to
reading, so it doesn't seem so much like reading versus not reading to
him. Ask him what words he wants to be able to read, write them on
cards, and keep them in an envelope. Pull them out for him to "practice"
on and add more. Let them be super weird olr ong words - dinosaur,
croccodile, hydroelectric, or whatever he wants. Then he can feel like
he can read some super "hard" words. That's encouraging. He might think
"that's just memorizing" but tell him that when he's memorized a lot of
words, he'll be able to read.
-pam
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Jenny Cyphers
***However, the fact that the little one is starting to read is making the older one really upset and he is asking me to help him learn how to read and I have no idea where to start and what to do, since I was always hoping that despite his disability he will eventually learn how to read on his own.***
First, I'd drop the disability label. Whether or not he has one, won't help him learn to read. Acknowledging that all kids learn differently and at different rates for different reasons can put it in a different light. For whatever reason "his" brain isn't yet able to fully read yet.
***He has not picked up much in terms of letters and words and is not making any progress with reading***
I always wonder how a parent could possibly know that. So much of what kids learn and do, is internal. Leaps and bounds could be happening without a parent or anyone else even realizing it's happening.
There were a couple of things that helped my later reader. We listened to LOTS of books on tape and CD. We watched a lot of movies. She played online role playing games and other video games, and became interested in anime and manga. All of those things had to do with "reading". Stories, plots, comprehension, communicating, following directions, and the final desire of sitting down with a book and reading it. Manga was a beautiful way to start, lots of pictures, reading from right to left, and fewer words, and it piggy backed onto my daughter's love of anime.
The reading happened when she was ready to read. It was really that simple. Her world was full of things she loved and many of those things required some kind of reading. Until she could read, we helped her. We played online games together, read together, watched movies together, watched anime together, and played video games together. We talked about things, I spelled things out for her when she asked. I gave her free access to the internet to explore whatever she wanted to explore.
She's not a huge book reader, she mostly reads online. She loves books though and does read when the fancy strikes her. She mostly reads horror or other scary or strange things, and manga which tends toward horror and strange too. Since part of her process was the collection of words into her memory bank, she also spells almost always perfectly and uses correct grammar and punctuation. That was part of her visual process of remembering.
What kinds of things does your son like? What does he do throughout the day? If you can see where the reading is in those things, you can help it along more.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
First, I'd drop the disability label. Whether or not he has one, won't help him learn to read. Acknowledging that all kids learn differently and at different rates for different reasons can put it in a different light. For whatever reason "his" brain isn't yet able to fully read yet.
***He has not picked up much in terms of letters and words and is not making any progress with reading***
I always wonder how a parent could possibly know that. So much of what kids learn and do, is internal. Leaps and bounds could be happening without a parent or anyone else even realizing it's happening.
There were a couple of things that helped my later reader. We listened to LOTS of books on tape and CD. We watched a lot of movies. She played online role playing games and other video games, and became interested in anime and manga. All of those things had to do with "reading". Stories, plots, comprehension, communicating, following directions, and the final desire of sitting down with a book and reading it. Manga was a beautiful way to start, lots of pictures, reading from right to left, and fewer words, and it piggy backed onto my daughter's love of anime.
The reading happened when she was ready to read. It was really that simple. Her world was full of things she loved and many of those things required some kind of reading. Until she could read, we helped her. We played online games together, read together, watched movies together, watched anime together, and played video games together. We talked about things, I spelled things out for her when she asked. I gave her free access to the internet to explore whatever she wanted to explore.
She's not a huge book reader, she mostly reads online. She loves books though and does read when the fancy strikes her. She mostly reads horror or other scary or strange things, and manga which tends toward horror and strange too. Since part of her process was the collection of words into her memory bank, she also spells almost always perfectly and uses correct grammar and punctuation. That was part of her visual process of remembering.
What kinds of things does your son like? What does he do throughout the day? If you can see where the reading is in those things, you can help it along more.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Kelly Halldorson
-=-the fact that the little one is starting to read is making the
older one really upset-=-
Our son Wolfgang is two years older than our middle son Griffin. They both went to school. Griffin read better and sooner than Wolfgang. I remember one time we were dropping the boys off at overnight camp. Griffin was 6 Wolfgang was 8. was a sign for the parents that included instructions for registration etc. Wolfgang walked up to the sign and was sounding out the words. I was busy filling out paperwork so wasn't paying complete attention. I heard him but wasn't watching. The I heard Griffin, I looked up. He was standing behind Wolfgang and her read the entire sign to effortlessly before Wolfgang even got out the third word. I think it was also the first time Wolfgang realized.
Sandra is right this would have probably happened regardless of whether you were in school or home.
What I did and what I think really helped is I didn't pretend the difference didn't exist. If Wolfgang brought it up I would say, "Yes, it does seem to come more easily for Griffin. Everyone has different things they are good at but that doesn't mean they will always be what they are good at." Then we would talk about what things Wolfgang really had a *knack* for or things he really liked to do. He would ask me about my childhood and what I was *good at* and what things were harder for me...or I just didn't pick up until later...all that.
I was open and honest.
Wolfgang is now 15 (been out of school for 5-6 years) out of my three is my most *bookish* in the sense that he loves reading more than the other two. They are all readers but he is the one who will stay up all night reading something he enjoys and loves to talk most about books and stories. I suspect he would be diagnosed as dyslexic if he was tested. He has a hard time reading aloud and struggles with spelling a lot. However, none of that seems to be holding him back. He is learning ways to deal with his own limitations and with more confidence than I think he could have ever gained being stuck in some remedial reading classes and (labeled as disabled) for years.
Peace,
Kelly
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older one really upset-=-
Our son Wolfgang is two years older than our middle son Griffin. They both went to school. Griffin read better and sooner than Wolfgang. I remember one time we were dropping the boys off at overnight camp. Griffin was 6 Wolfgang was 8. was a sign for the parents that included instructions for registration etc. Wolfgang walked up to the sign and was sounding out the words. I was busy filling out paperwork so wasn't paying complete attention. I heard him but wasn't watching. The I heard Griffin, I looked up. He was standing behind Wolfgang and her read the entire sign to effortlessly before Wolfgang even got out the third word. I think it was also the first time Wolfgang realized.
Sandra is right this would have probably happened regardless of whether you were in school or home.
What I did and what I think really helped is I didn't pretend the difference didn't exist. If Wolfgang brought it up I would say, "Yes, it does seem to come more easily for Griffin. Everyone has different things they are good at but that doesn't mean they will always be what they are good at." Then we would talk about what things Wolfgang really had a *knack* for or things he really liked to do. He would ask me about my childhood and what I was *good at* and what things were harder for me...or I just didn't pick up until later...all that.
I was open and honest.
Wolfgang is now 15 (been out of school for 5-6 years) out of my three is my most *bookish* in the sense that he loves reading more than the other two. They are all readers but he is the one who will stay up all night reading something he enjoys and loves to talk most about books and stories. I suspect he would be diagnosed as dyslexic if he was tested. He has a hard time reading aloud and struggles with spelling a lot. However, none of that seems to be holding him back. He is learning ways to deal with his own limitations and with more confidence than I think he could have ever gained being stuck in some remedial reading classes and (labeled as disabled) for years.
Peace,
Kelly
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Pam Sorooshian
> ***He has not picked up much in terms of letters and words and is notJenny quoted this and it suddenly jumped out at me.
> making any progress with reading***
My older two kids got the ability to "sound out" words based on letters
and that's how they began to read. My third kid didn't know the sounds
of the letters when she was beginning to read. For those who think of
"reading" as "sounding out," that meight seem impossible. But Rosie
learned to read by becoming able to recognize words, not sounding them,
just what they looked like. AFTER she'd memorized a whole lot of words,
she picked up on the letter-sound associations.
My point is that maybe mom is looking for a certain kind of
learning-to-read process and this is a kid who is engaged in a different
process. Memorizing a zillion words seems to take longer than catching
onto the letter-sound connection so the kids doing it that way might
seem like late readers and also might seem like they're not even on the
road yet. But, so what? It isn't a race and when a kid has learned to
read in their own way and in their own time, they will know for sure
that they can learn all kinds of things without instructions and lesson
plans and teachers and tests, etc.
-pam
Mischa Holt
A little random but sort of related interjection in the learning to read
discussion.
My oldest son taught himself to read when he wanted to be able to do things
online alone and text with his phone (starting at about 12ish?) He will be
15 in June and his reading fluency is just now starting. And I hear him say
out loud sometimes, "Oh, that makes sense" about sound and letter
relationships and patterns. He definitely memorized common words first and
put sounds and patterns together later.
It comes when THEY are ready and have a need for sure.
~Mischa in Georgia
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
discussion.
My oldest son taught himself to read when he wanted to be able to do things
online alone and text with his phone (starting at about 12ish?) He will be
15 in June and his reading fluency is just now starting. And I hear him say
out loud sometimes, "Oh, that makes sense" about sound and letter
relationships and patterns. He definitely memorized common words first and
put sounds and patterns together later.
It comes when THEY are ready and have a need for sure.
~Mischa in Georgia
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
k
>>>He is learning ways to deal with his own limitations and with moreconfidence than I think he could have ever gained being stuck in some
remedial reading classes and (labeled as disabled) for years.<<<
And that's so arbitrary anyway. I wear hearing aids and every few years some
admins stuck me in remedial classes or special ed. Then I would be moved to
regular joe classes within a couple days or a week. :/ Schools don't hardly
know what to do with the diversity because if it's too noticeable in the
classroom it gets picked on.
~Katherine
On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 9:12 PM, Kelly Halldorson <kelly@...>wrote:
>
> -=-the fact that the little one is starting to read is making the
> older one really upset-=-
>
>
>
> Our son Wolfgang is two years older than our middle son Griffin. They both
> went to school. Griffin read better and sooner than Wolfgang. I remember one
> time we were dropping the boys off at overnight camp. Griffin was 6
> Wolfgang was 8. was a sign for the parents that included instructions for
> registration etc. Wolfgang walked up to the sign and was sounding out the
> words. I was busy filling out paperwork so wasn't paying complete attention.
> I heard him but wasn't watching. The I heard Griffin, I looked up. He was
> standing behind Wolfgang and her read the entire sign to effortlessly before
> Wolfgang even got out the third word. I think it was also the first time
> Wolfgang realized.
>
> Sandra is right this would have probably happened regardless of whether you
> were in school or home.
>
> What I did and what I think really helped is I didn't pretend the
> difference didn't exist. If Wolfgang brought it up I would say, "Yes, it
> does seem to come more easily for Griffin. Everyone has different things
> they are good at but that doesn't mean they will always be what they are
> good at." Then we would talk about what things Wolfgang really had a *knack*
> for or things he really liked to do. He would ask me about my childhood and
> what I was *good at* and what things were harder for me...or I just didn't
> pick up until later...all that.
>
> I was open and honest.
>
> Wolfgang is now 15 (been out of school for 5-6 years) out of my three is my
> most *bookish* in the sense that he loves reading more than the other two.
> They are all readers but he is the one who will stay up all night reading
> something he enjoys and loves to talk most about books and stories. I
> suspect he would be diagnosed as dyslexic if he was tested. He has a hard
> time reading aloud and struggles with spelling a lot. However, none of that
> seems to be holding him back. He is learning ways to deal with his own
> limitations and with more confidence than I think he could have ever gained
> being stuck in some remedial reading classes and (labeled as disabled) for
> years.
>
>
> Peace,
> Kelly
>
> Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic
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Sandra Dodd
-=-My oldest son taught himself to read when he wanted to be able to
do things
online alone and text with his phone-=-
It will help others understand unschooling better if this is phrases
as "he learned to read, partly by doing things online and texting."
Kids don't read just because they want to. They read because all the
mental and physical abilities mature and come together. Some kids
figure it out early if they're both very verbal and very analytical.
Some figure it out later, if they're kids more interested in patterns
and sports.
For anyone thinking about unschooling at any depth (new to it or a
dozen years in), it's important to keep these things in mind:
it's about learning, not about teaching
and individuals have different skills and intelligences developing at
different rates in each child's own, individual ways.
http://sandradodd.com/wordswords
http://sandradodd.com/intelligences
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
do things
online alone and text with his phone-=-
It will help others understand unschooling better if this is phrases
as "he learned to read, partly by doing things online and texting."
Kids don't read just because they want to. They read because all the
mental and physical abilities mature and come together. Some kids
figure it out early if they're both very verbal and very analytical.
Some figure it out later, if they're kids more interested in patterns
and sports.
For anyone thinking about unschooling at any depth (new to it or a
dozen years in), it's important to keep these things in mind:
it's about learning, not about teaching
and individuals have different skills and intelligences developing at
different rates in each child's own, individual ways.
http://sandradodd.com/wordswords
http://sandradodd.com/intelligences
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]