Someone posted a message on one of our homeschool message boards about how he was very concerned because his 7 year old son had a big problem with reading. He said he had tried a number of different things but his son said he didn't want to learn how to read. The dad was asking for advice. Here was my response:
We are unschoolers so we have a very different approach to learning.
"The principles of unschooling are that humans are born learners. That children will learn best when given the freedom to learn what, when and how they want."http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/unschooling/unschoolingphilosophy.html
Every child is different and just because you loved to read by age seven doesn't necessarily mean your child should too. I think we all have expectations of what our brilliant children should be doing by certain ages but the fact is every child is different and they will naturally learn to do things when they are ready. You don't have to teach kids how to play with Legos, they just figure it out given the freedom to play with them. If you surround your son with books about things he's really interested in, which I'm sure you have already done, then the chances are he will figure out how to read when he's ready. If he's feeling pressured, chances are the more you try to teach the less he will want to learn. Check out this website http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/academics/reading/learningtoread.html.
Your son may be saying that he doesn't want to learn to read but maybe what he really means to say is that he doesn't want to be taught to read. Maybe the problem lies within your own expectations and not your child's ability to read.
This is all personal opinion and I am in no way saying what works and is right for our family is right for everyone else. Sometimes we just need a paradigm shift.
The reason I'm sharing this is because I think it's very important for parents not to get caught up in what they think their kids should be doing at a certain age. In public school, kids must learn how to read by a certain age in order to continue down the assembly line. In the real world, kids will naturally learn how to read when they are ready and capable whether it's when they are 5 or 10. It doesn't matter. What matters is that they learned happily and did not grow up thinking they were terrible at something they were forced into doing when they were not ready. Children are unique and should not be standardized.
Great post! Reading is the one area where I am calm and hang on to my "he will on his own time" attitude. In everything else (I know it isn't logical, lol) I tend to stay on the stressed out side.
ReplyDeleteMy oldest is 11. He went to public school for K. He had a jump start on reading, so he had the basics down pat before he started homeschooling. I was able to work with him and expand on what he knew.
When it came time for my youngest, who is 6, to start reading...I was lost. I guess I take reading for granted and I was struggling with getting him started. We tried several different methods and programs, but he simply wasn't getting it. We started to realize that he had NO interest in getting it, lol.
I finally said enough is enough. He will read when he's ready. He's an avid video game player and I knew that at some point he was going to want to start playing more of the games his big brother was playing. To do that he would have to read.
Sure enough, as time went by, he started taking those baby steps. He's not picking up a book and breezing through it yet, but he's reading...little bits at a time.
Again, I enjoyed reading your post and I am looking forward to reading more of your blog! :)