Reading Queen

Nearly three hundred sixty five days ago Elise and I started on a journey of learning. She was learning to read and I was learning so much about our daughter's learning style, motivation, patience level and determination.



Based on the recommendation of some homeschooling friends, we picked up Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and got started.

We actually got started nearly seven hundred and thirty days ago, but I quickly learned that trying to teach a three-year-old {Elise} and a four-year-old {Wes} to read at the same time was useless and tremendously frustrating for everyone involved so at that point the four-year-old and I stuck with it while the three-year-old spent time coloring.

Over the next several months we diligently went through one lesson at a time, beginning with stories as simple as "see me eat," progressing toward stories with four or five full sentences, real punctuation and even some sight words. Along the way there was definitely some frustration for both of us and even some weeks where we had to just put the book aside and reset our attitudes.

But today, just four short days before she starts kindergarten {sob}, this girl finished her 100th lesson, is an accomplished reader and has earned the title "Reading Queen" around here.

"To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark." - Victor Hugo