Our Little Reader

Yes, folks, we have a little reader - at 4 years old. I noticed at the beginning of the school year that D was picking things up really quickly and the he seemed to even already know things I had not gone over with him.  Although we do keep working through his books like normal, I have done some extra activities with him to see how much he really knows.

In quick succession he went from identifying all the letters, to finding the correct letter when I said the sound, and now being able to tell the sound for every letter. And this is before we have even gotten to all the letters and sounds in the curriculum! The big test came a couple weeks ago when I laid out three alphabet cards - words like cat, bed, jam, hot, sun, etc. Together we were able to sound out the letters and then read the words. And within a day or two of this, he began reading them on his own! Now he is asking me if words have certain letters in them and he is getting better at identifying words with different letter sounds. He is reading the blend ladders with ease. And all this at four years old!

I know there are other children that read at four years old, but this is my first, so I'm enjoying it. I would say G learned to read at an average pace, though I think he would have picked it up more quickly if it hadn't been for our state-to-state move and my pregnancy with and birth of D during his pre-school year. P struggled with reading and it wasn't until 1st grade that things really clicked for him. Now that he's added Slovak reading and spelling into the mix I have found it's affecting his English reading and spelling. One day he read the name "Jean" like "Yean" as the Slovak "j" makes a "y" sound. Working on two languages at once is a lot for a young brain to process.

I am very grateful and thankful that D is picking things up quickly. I spend an average of 25-27 hours each week studying Slovak, so it is helpful when other things go smoothly. I think God knew it would be difficult for me to have the time to teach him if he was struggling. I am also glad he is getting a good, strong foundation in English so hopefully he doesn't have a lot of difficulty when he starts studying Slovak.

We are all rejoicing in his accomplishment and he is very excited himself. It's neat to watch the lightbulb go on when a child learns how to read!