yes and it is the best feeling in the world . my tina is four , she has been reading phonetically words for almost a year now , i did ask when will fluency happens . even words she read over and over and over like cat , she will still go c- a - t cat . whole word reading never worked for her . i still exposed her to LR , words on the blackboard , labeling words around the house but i felt she tried to even avoid looking at them , so i didn’t insist. but didn’t know what else to do . she loved dad dude cards . it was like a game for her but still never read a word from sight , she would always sound the word out than say what it is . i used also a modified version of teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons making it more montessori , using movable alphabet , trying to form the words we learned ,… she won’t take more than 10 minutes lesson a day so often one lesson was broken to many days , some days we don’t do anything because she simply says i don’t want . so we play with dad dude cards . i didn’t print them all but i will just for practice .
she is happy to sound out words i write on a card but she goes mad when i point to a word when reading her a book and ask her what does it say , knowing she knows it . i think she wasn’t ready , maybe she felt it like a test , she wasn’t sure .
than it just happened and i cannot describe my feelings : SHE CAN READ , MY LITTLE GIRL CAN READ .
one morning she grabbed one peter and jane book level five . i tried those with her but like i said she is not into whole words learning , she loved that i read for her the higher levels because she founds the illustrations very interesting , about a boy and a girl adventures , and there was no way she could learn from them by starting from higher levels , so i didn’t consider them good teaching tools , till
she got the book and sat on her bed and started running her fingers over the page. i asked her what is she doing . she said i am reading the book mama . i was taking care of her specialneed sister on the bed next to her so i asked her if she doesn’t mind reading aloud so me and her sister can enjoy the story , and she did .
she read the whole book about 50 pages fluently , no difficulty at all . and the more pages she read aloud the bigger her smile , i think she didn’t believe she could read aloud till than , and she didn’t want to stop . i felt sorry for her and asked her to leave the rest for another time , she got upset and said : MAMA BUT I HAVE TO FINISH THE BOOK .
wow when you fist start with your baby this moment seems so far and you wonder who would you get there , will you be able to teach your child to read , how would your child learn ???
but once you are there even now that i am typing , my heart is beating fast . IT IS THE BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD .
and i know a lot more of best feeling in the world moments will follow now .
so mums keep up your wonderful work .
blessings
viv
That is a wonderful accomplishment for your daughter! And good job Momma, guiding her gently with patience and reworking your programs to meet her needs. She will keep this gift forever. Kudos to you!
Wow!!! Great post, viv! I know how long you’ve waited for tina to start reading fluently so I can imagine how excited and proud you must be! I am so happy for you. Keep up the good work! :biggrin:
That is awesome. I have used 100 EZ Lessons with my four daughters. Getting various results of course.
My oldest never took to it. I stumbled upon whole words method and it got her up and running and I was able to go back to phonics with her. I had started homeschooling so unfortunately she was my ‘guinea pig’. I went through several other programs before reading finally made sense to her at the age of 7. I had started with her when she had turned 4.
My 2nd daughter took to 100 EZ lessons like a fish in water. She made teaching reading so easy I thought I was doing something wrong. She was reading by the time she was 4.5
My third daughter had speech issues and didn’t start talking until the age of 4.5 But she learned to read with 100 EZ lessons and reads pretty well for a 7yr old.
My 4th daughter I started with 100 EZ lessons and by the time I’ve gotten to her I knew it was going to be a complete and total disaster. It wasn’t sticking with her at all. She was sounding out every letter in every word and wasn’t understanding that if you sound it out , you can say the word after you are finished. Like C-A-T, Cat She was beginning to get frustrated and so was I. So I bought YBCR and she is improving so much and doing so well that I want to continue with this for her because it is working. I’m just trying to figure out when to reintroduce phonics with her because I don’t want to confuse her either.
Anyways Congratulations! I look forward to the day my 4yr old is reading fluently and at the rate she is going right now really won’t be long.
Congratulations!! I know you are so happy. This is wonderful news. 2 down, 1 to go. Thanks for sharing your story. It is so very encouraging. Congrats to Tina!
Congratulation! And thank you for sharing. It was really nice to read about your daughter. When did you started to teach her to read? What method did you started with?.
Congrats again! Stodd
thanks krista you were one the parents who inspired me all the way , please do not laugh but i was even terrified from the idea of having other children worried i could never give them what i give my specialneed daughter and she will loose her full time carer . reading about your family and few others with many kids , your love was enough for all of them and the kids grew up fine , ok fine i couldn’t do with these ones a full doman program like i did with my hurt one , but than we didn’t have all the digital help we have now , your monkey see monkey do were a blessing with few other dvds . and also your behind the scene support , thank you so much .
you know an advice to other parents , don’t hold on on expanding your family just because you worry you cannot run two program at the same time . i practically do nothing with the baby , he is like a sponge learning along side his sister , yes maybe my program is not as intensified and structured as yours with so many groups of bits and reading words and books per day , but i could not possibly do that with the three of them so i decided love , physical excellence , and books books tons of them .
so i was excited about tina’s reading . there are many other areas tina excells in which i find equally important if not more than her reading at four .
she is an excellent swimmer , can dive to the bottom of a 4.5 meters pool and come out smiling , swims the length of the pool 5 meters underwater with ease . she is like a dolphin . she can brachiate , hang from her legs , walk the balance beam .
all i did is just make those available as toys in the garden , no pressure , no early practice with schedule like doman recommend , specially the idea of using the grip of a new born to hang and not let go ( not good not good ) .
think about it as montessori said , prepare the environment make things available tot he child at his level and step back and watch. every time i attempted to create a program it resulted with both of us getting frustrated . So i let her be , and most of her achievements happened all o a sudden with her screaming : mama come see what i can do .
now her two years old brother is able to achieve those earlier because he is learning from her not from me , so hey do not delay having your second child because you think you cannot do it with both of them . much much easier when they are two and even three . ok your day might feel insane , only you have to accept there is little you can plan , just go with the flow of the day and let the kids guide the day and they will let you know what they need .
Krista there is so much into having a baby and watch him grow , i am finding it hard to accept the idea of that i am done and no more babies for me . i have deep in my heart this tingling feeling , maybe one more , tell me and please other friends share do you feel the same ?? how do you know your family is complete .
love
viv
viv, first af all congratulations. This is a conssequence of all the work and dedication you put into it. I think i understand how you feel when you hear your child reading her first book alone. Your comments gave me strength to continue the work with my grandson which lately i have not done. I too have the feeling that maybe he thinks it is a test because sometime he writes word in the computer so he knows the sounds. Or… maybe he is not ready yet. Not all children are the same and i have to be patient.
Keep the good work and keep posting because you certqainly serve as an inspiration to us.
Lol