Train a child well

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it"--Proverbs 22:6





Those who know me, know that I love to read. It is actually pretty obvious, even if you don't "know" me (all you need to do is take a look at the sidebar of the blog--ha ha!). Growing up, my mom always had a book that she was reading. Come to think of it, not much has changed...she still always has a book close by! Some of my fondest memories come from us reading together. From a very young age (like 4,5 and 6), she would even read me chapter books. Some of our favorites included: the Ramona Quimby series, Mary Poppins, The Wombles (British), all of the Winnie the Pooh series and even older books that she had enjoyed as a youngster--Cherry Ames, Student Nurse, is one that comes to mind. I have no doubt that her influence on me made me into the reader that I am today.

We have been noticing that with increasing frequency, the Noodle has been independently picking up books and "reading" them herself. Now, I'm certainly not going to say that she is a prodigy and is already reading, but she is definitely displaying all the wonderful signs of emerging literacy. She will retell stories to herself while "reading" the pictures or she'll take it upon herself to read a book to her doll or stuffed animal or perhaps she'll even "read" a memorized story with a predictable verse. Other times she'll pick up the newspaper or a magazine and browse through those. Most importantly, she is doing this on her own, without any prompting from us. Sometimes I'll wonder what she is doing, because she is so quiet...and then walk in to find her reading. It brings a smile to my face everytime!

She's also become much more interested in letters and numbers. She'll point to words and ask us (or she'll do it herself with the letters she knows)to spell them out, letter by letter. When we get to the end of the word, she'll run her finger under the word from beginning to end while we say the word, which is the beginning of understanding the concept that letters make up words. During church, as a diversion and to help keep her focused, we'll frequently track with our finger during a prayer or a hymn. Now she is doing it too.

Learning to read is such a complicated procedure--for anyone. The process certainly begins waaaay before a child begins his or her formal schooling. It is a beautiful thing though, to see a reader emerging--much a like a flower slowly opening its petals.