Teaching Reading And Writing
Last night as I sat down to practice Elias’ new words from Preschool with him, he wanted to color. So I got him some paper and the crayons out. He started making letters with blue crayon and he wrote out his name for the first time! Granted his “E” was crossed four times and his “s” was on top of his “a,” but he did it all by himself!
I was beaming so brightly with motherly pride that I thought the neighbors were going to call to see why the sun was shining again after it had set more than an hour ago.
What an incredible thing! This child who started out at only 5 lb 8 oz and 19 inches long has grown into a veritable giant by comparison. In 4 1/2 short years, he has gone from helpless newborn to grow-up looking boy reading and writing his own name. All of those small daily interactions over the years have added up to quite the amazing sum.
Parenting By The Minute:
Here are some of the most important things I’ve learned about teaching a child to read and write that only take a couple of minutes at a time.
- Reading Glenn Doman’s book, “How to Multiply Your Baby’s Intelligence” completely revolutionized the way I viewed my kids and how I interacted with them. Check out my free 5-part teaching series on Mr. Doman’s book – http://budurl.com/GlennDoman.
- Learning to follow my child’s lead. We live in a world where we are so anxious to push our kids forward and test the heck out of them to see how they are doing. This the veritable “pulling up the daisies to check on the roots” type of scenario. When Eli hasn’t shown interest in writing, I haven’t forced it. I continue to present it to him, but never force it. Kids are always learning, even if it looks like they aren’t paying attention. Remember the daisies: their roots are growing under all that soil, even if you can’t see it.
- Read aloud to my kids every day. Reading has always been an important part of my life. I want to instill that same deep love of books and learning in my own kids. So I read to them. Daily. I let them see me reading. We go to the library weekly. I make sure it is a central part of our lives. After all, if you love to read you can learn anything – the world is your oyster, and each book is a precious pearl.
As my kids continue to grow and learn, I am constantly amazed and humbled to be a part of this “growing up” process.
Sure, they have learned to walk, run and jump, speak an entire language, feed themselves, and use the toilet, but I think I have learned far more. These little people have taught me so much about life and about unconditional love.
