Both of his parents are real bookworms. I have been into books as long as I remember and everyone who really knows me tease me abt my love for books! So long before my son was born i had already started reading about how to get him to love books obviously!
He was given his first book when he was 7months old though. And since then he was given books often and I made sure I feed him knowledge all through out. He was a late speaker, he first started talking 1m before he turned 2! But with that week he was making sentences and surprising me with his intelligence. By the time he turned 2 he knew alphabets of 3 languages (mother tongue; Dhivehi, English and Arabic) and knows to count to 10 in all languages as well. I discovered this forum when he was 2yrs and 2m. I gave all my time and effort to make files to get the program and got it finally by the time he turned 2yrs 5m. So I couldnt do LM well but I had been already doing language bits in 3 languages at home. He read his first word on his own at 2y 3m.
I remember worrying and even posting here about how sure I was that he was reading from memory than on his own and YES thats how it all starts. Probably from memory at first but I definitely can give witness that even if they do it that way they gather words with phonic understanding on their own when they finally starts reading books!
He started reading well at the age of 3 and by the time he turned 4 he was reading level 2 books but wasnt keen on reading it himself nevertheless. This really put me down! Cos he didnt like reading and I agree at that time life was very hectic for me due to a sudden accident at home so I wasnt able to read to him as I used to.
And one amazing thing for me is I never had to teach him the phonics! He gathered all of it by himself! I started brillkids when he was 2 and half but I have already exposed him a lot to books.
After he turned 4 even he would skim through the books and mostly just stare at the pics and gather whats happening! (Bear in mind English is our second language and we hardly speak in English at home!) He never replies back in English even, thought he perfectly understand when spoken to! And then he got to undergo a surgery and we had to go abroad for it.
In another country the only way he can communicate was through English and all of a sudden I see my son having great verbal communications at shops with salespeople and this really surprised me with the way he spoke and arranged sentences! After almost 3months abroad when we came back he had more confident in English.
A few months later I discovered the Children’s Library in our city and started taking him there. At first he just chose small short stories and yet keep pushing me to allow him to read goosebumps which his little uncle, who was 4yrs older than him, read!
A month later he was reading books for advanced readers and now hes a total bookworm reading Famous Five, Secret Seven, Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl just like that. He may be lost in a story for hours and yes I mean hours like 3-4 even! I have to always drag him away and he insist, let him finish that chapter. And its not only fiction, he loves reading through enyclopedias and Q&A books too.
He will turn 6 this November and his comprehension is at grade three level and I always wondered how he understand new words as he refuses to use dictionary. And its amazing that he gathers the meanings of new words and if a word’s meaning is not clear enough for him, he asks us.
A few weeks back he finally understood the word “instead” and told me that he knows its meaning and when I asked what it means he actually made a sentence using the word!
As for his spelling its another unbelievable achievement in him. He hardly ever makes a mistake in spelling even when given big words for his age and words he has never heard of cos he uses phonics to spell I assume.
But with all these amazing things in him, he has started with one big problem. He hates writing! He hates writing Arabic and his own mother language all the way and even English he always try to duck out! I am struggling with it but I have hope cos he showed his writing capabilities when he wrote some letters on his own by the time he turned 2 and half!
Right now i have learnt of a great way to start him to write…Penpals! He’s so interested in the thought but am waiting for 2 - 3 kids so we can do the posting all at once.
If anyone’s got any tips to get him to write, please do quip in!
My LO is a reluctant writer too so I don’t push her. There are kids who are gifted with gusto and dexterity for handwriting but for those who isn’t, I don’t think it would be a problem in learning. In my country, it’s even a common joke that doctors (who is often equated with intelligence) doesn’t have “good” handwriting.