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We're sort of in that process right now. My ds will sit at the computer and
ask me to spell words for him. He knows how to spell a fair number of 3
letter words (the important ones like "jet") and "brian" "katherine" "mommy"
and "daddy."

Now he reads over my shoulder when I'm writing an email and says "baby? why
are you writing, 'baby?'" in addition to asking us to read everything he sees
to him.

No program, no store-bought curriculum. But some hand made cards with words
on them, which he asks for from time to time, and most of which he knows by
now. And when we go outside with chalk now he wants me to write words instead
of draw pictures. We (I write at his instruction) write the names of all his
stuffed animals, and then they come out and cheer, because they *love* to see
their names <g>

:-) Diane


> >For all of you who have always unschooled your kids, I'm curious about the
> >mechanics of how they learned to read. Did they pick it up on their own
> from
> >having watched and listened to you, or did you use some sort of program
> >when they indicated that they were ready?

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With all the kids in turn when they were first trying to read, we'd make
lists of similar things--all the people in our family, or all our pets, or
their favorite toys or stuffed animals. Then they'd figure which was which,
by length or beginning letter or whatever. In educational jargon that's
"decoding."

In real life, it's deductive reasoning.

Neither sucks.

OOH! The Simpsons was about... Well it had to do with American literature.
Paul Bunyon, Johnny Appleseed and Tom Sawyer. And one of the kids (not
Millhouse, it was the police-chief's kid, I think) said to Tom (Bart) Sawyer
as they started whitewashing the fence, with a slow Midwest literary-dialog
accent: "Whitewashing sucks, Tom; it POWerful sucks."

Sandra