Unschooling reading
kayb85
My son Matt (7) is very particular about his clothing. There are
only certain shirts he will wear. It has to be "soft" enough, and it
has to "look good". He's low on long sleeved shirts, so in spite of
having lots of hand me downs that he's rejected, I took him to wal-
mart to see if there were any there that he liked. Of all the shirts
they had at wal-mart there were only 2 he liked, and they were both
sponge bob shirts. One of them says, "Go be stupid somewhere else".
Well, last night we were lying in his bed and he told me how much he
likes his new shirts. And he said that he also knows which word on
his shirt says "Go". He said it's the word that has the G and the
o. Cool! He then pointed out that G and o are also in George, which
he knows because his favorite stuffed animal is a plush Curious
George.
He's also figured out the words yes and no on animal crossing (video
game) and he recognizes the word zoo from a Putt Putt computer game.
He knows Mom from writing me notes, and he knows his name and his
brother's and sister's names from just seeing them a lot from
labeling stuff, etc.
So it's neat for me to see him slowly learning about reading through
unschooling! I believed in the philosophy of unschooling before, but
I hadn't had the chance to see it work with reading first hand with
one of my kids yet, because I started unschooling my daughter after I
already had taught her how to read. So this is exciting for me to
watch! If I would have had to guess a week ago where I thought the
next thing he'd learn about reading would come from, I wouldn't even
have guessed that it would come from a shirt.
Sheila
only certain shirts he will wear. It has to be "soft" enough, and it
has to "look good". He's low on long sleeved shirts, so in spite of
having lots of hand me downs that he's rejected, I took him to wal-
mart to see if there were any there that he liked. Of all the shirts
they had at wal-mart there were only 2 he liked, and they were both
sponge bob shirts. One of them says, "Go be stupid somewhere else".
Well, last night we were lying in his bed and he told me how much he
likes his new shirts. And he said that he also knows which word on
his shirt says "Go". He said it's the word that has the G and the
o. Cool! He then pointed out that G and o are also in George, which
he knows because his favorite stuffed animal is a plush Curious
George.
He's also figured out the words yes and no on animal crossing (video
game) and he recognizes the word zoo from a Putt Putt computer game.
He knows Mom from writing me notes, and he knows his name and his
brother's and sister's names from just seeing them a lot from
labeling stuff, etc.
So it's neat for me to see him slowly learning about reading through
unschooling! I believed in the philosophy of unschooling before, but
I hadn't had the chance to see it work with reading first hand with
one of my kids yet, because I started unschooling my daughter after I
already had taught her how to read. So this is exciting for me to
watch! If I would have had to guess a week ago where I thought the
next thing he'd learn about reading would come from, I wouldn't even
have guessed that it would come from a shirt.
Sheila
Jenny Altenbach
> If I would have had to guess a week ago where I thought theOooo, I love this too! The other day Scotty (4.75) read the word "beef"
> next thing he'd learn about reading would come from, I wouldn't even
> have guessed that it would come from a shirt.
in a restaurant menu. This morning he read "to" in his alphabet soup.
And he found a "z" in there and asked me to spell "zeppelin" for him.
He knows the word "play" from computer games and DVD's, also "yes" and
"no" from computer games (although he still doesn't get how to answer
the question "are you sure?" Usually he says no when he means yes.) He
can also read his name and his sister's name.
He's also doing a lot of asking what signs say, etc. It's really neat.
Jenny
[email protected]
In a message dated 1/29/2005 3:17:25 PM Eastern Standard Time, "kayb85" <sheran@...> writes:
I hadn't had the chance to see it work with reading first hand with
one of my kids yet, because I started unschooling my daughter after I
already had taught her how to read. So this is exciting for me to
watch! <<<<
Here too!
Watching Duncan's reading progress have been nothing less than amazing! He'll be nine March 1.
I wrote months ago about his reading. Since then, he's progressed so much! He can read any note I leave for him (Ben's are harder to read 'cause Ben doesn't print! <g>). When I clean his room, I find books strewn from one end to the other---different kinds: "baby" books, nature books, _Scooby-Doo_, _Charlotte's Web_---a jumbled assortment. He's just picking them up and reading what he can. He asked Cam the other night to read a precious signed copy of "Spawn"---the comic book. Cam says Duncan knew almost every word.
Two weeks ago, he asked to go to the book store to buy _Faeries' Landing_. He was through with it in a few days. We went right back to buy issues two and three. He insisted on paying for them with his own money. Cool.
Cameron (the child who said he would never read again! <G>) has two new magazine subscriptions (Relix & Modern Drummer) and a mess of new books (mostly on music and musicians). I went looking for the dictionary to make sure how to spell sergeant (it just didn't look right! <g>): I found it in Cam's room! <G>
Cameron said he was really enjoying watching Duncan as he learned to read and do math in his head. It makes it *real* for Cameron to see it happen in someone else---with no pressure and out of pure love and desire to know.
Don't tell me unschooling doesn't 'work'!
OH! And Cameron has just recently started playing video games with Duncan----and LIKES them! <g>
It's VERY exciting to watch!
~Kelly
>So it's neat for me to see him slowly learning about reading throughunschooling! I believed in the philosophy of unschooling before, but
I hadn't had the chance to see it work with reading first hand with
one of my kids yet, because I started unschooling my daughter after I
already had taught her how to read. So this is exciting for me to
watch! <<<<
Here too!
Watching Duncan's reading progress have been nothing less than amazing! He'll be nine March 1.
I wrote months ago about his reading. Since then, he's progressed so much! He can read any note I leave for him (Ben's are harder to read 'cause Ben doesn't print! <g>). When I clean his room, I find books strewn from one end to the other---different kinds: "baby" books, nature books, _Scooby-Doo_, _Charlotte's Web_---a jumbled assortment. He's just picking them up and reading what he can. He asked Cam the other night to read a precious signed copy of "Spawn"---the comic book. Cam says Duncan knew almost every word.
Two weeks ago, he asked to go to the book store to buy _Faeries' Landing_. He was through with it in a few days. We went right back to buy issues two and three. He insisted on paying for them with his own money. Cool.
Cameron (the child who said he would never read again! <G>) has two new magazine subscriptions (Relix & Modern Drummer) and a mess of new books (mostly on music and musicians). I went looking for the dictionary to make sure how to spell sergeant (it just didn't look right! <g>): I found it in Cam's room! <G>
Cameron said he was really enjoying watching Duncan as he learned to read and do math in his head. It makes it *real* for Cameron to see it happen in someone else---with no pressure and out of pure love and desire to know.
Don't tell me unschooling doesn't 'work'!
OH! And Cameron has just recently started playing video games with Duncan----and LIKES them! <g>
It's VERY exciting to watch!
~Kelly