Saturday

Teaching our son to read

We have one son, our favorite person in the whole world -- other than each other, of course, but then ‘the two are one’ you know. We’re so proud of the man he has become; he’s in his mid-twenties, not married yet. But one of these days....

We always read to our son when he was a little boy, and I’m so glad Noe loved reading to him. Some of my favorite memories are of them reading together, as I was listening while busy doing other things around the house. There was one book called Funny Face at the Window he loved to hear over and over again, and Noe would read it every day, till they moved on to another book. They also read Wind in the Willows when he got a bit older -- somehow I missed reading that book when I was young, but then to me, it is a perfect father and son book to read together.

I count it a privilege that I was able to homeschool him, and of course, got to teach him to read. I don’t know if it’s a boy thing (since I didn’t have a daughter), or maybe just something he inherited, but he had trouble keeping his focus on words. By that I mean, he would start reading a word and then just guess what it was; there’s probably a name for that. You know, everything’s got a name these days...

Well, I worked with him, helping him to follow all the letters by having him “spell-the-word-out” for me, and little by little he stopped guessing at words. He became an excellent reader and grew to enjoy reading; as an adult he still does. His recreational bent is toward science-fiction, loves Star Trek kinda stories. Of course, like most guys, I just can’t get him to read those gadget manuals!
cindy

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