"It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." A.Holmes

Thursday, November 19, 2009

The Gift Of Reading & Literacy

Our daughter home-schools her 4 children. I am very blessed and thankful she is able to do so. I home-schooled our children and if given the opportunity to raise my children all over again I would most definitely home-school them!No hesitation there for me...I am so thankful my husband worked 2 jobs so I could stay home with my children. I cannot even begin to proclaim the joys of being able to teach them and be with them , and I cherish that time with them to this day. "To teach is to learn twice." Joseph Joubert, "A book is the most effective weapon against intolerance and ignorance." L.B. Johnson "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." Richard Steele Our daughter has given me the privilege of teaching her youngest daughter MN to read.MN's older brother and sister took to reading pretty much as easily as her Mom and I did but MN is needing a little extra here. She is still pretty young , has plenty of time to learn to read and she gets lessons from her Mom, but every Tuesday she comes over to spend the day with me as we work together to understand the mystery of letters and words, and open that big book of adventure, discovery, and wonder called 'reading'. We have alphabet cookie cutters,play-dough, her first readers, paper, pencils and stickers for rewards. I am hoping that for her to handle play-dough and find the right letter cutters, cut them out and form them tangibly into letters will help her connect the letters in her mind to letters and words on paper. She is having FUN, FUN, FUN doing this. ( so am I) " There are so many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is (one of ) the best of all."Jacqueline Kennedy She spent last night with us , and after a day of fun with Grandma, which included reading lessons, she grabbed her favorite book and her blanket and baby doll ( notice how she placed her baby in Poppa's lap) for her Poppa to read this book to her. She just loves books about babies. So Poppa read this book to her, and she had him read it to her again. She also borrowed it to take home and read again. She was so cute, she just snuggled up to Poppa and seemed to emanate pure joy as she held her favorite blanket and read with Poppa."Reading aloud with children is known to be the single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills they will eventually require for learning to read." M.J. Adams "Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."Emilie Buchwald MN loves all these books and I am so glad I have saved them. She took some of these books to bed here( we were blessed by her being able to spend the night here with us), I always give my grandchildren a little flash-light to take to bed, so MN read books by flash-light. "There is more treasure in books than in all the loot on Treasure Island." Walt Disney I do not remember ever NOT being able to read, reading comes easy to me and I know I taught myself to read. My daughter taught herself to read by the time she was 4 years old. However, our sons took a bit longer. I am glad I home-schooled them because I was able to teach them how to read in a way that worked for each of them individually. "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture, just get people to stop reading them." Ray Bradbury When I was in high school I had too many credits for the school I transferred into from another state, so I was given elective credits for tutoring a junior high boy in reading. He had spent many of his school years in special reading classes and when I had him read to me, well, he couldn't. He could NOT read at all.How did he get so far in school with the inability to read? So I began to teach him how to read using phonics, and do you know, by the end of the quarter he could read. HE COULD READ!!!! When he read aloud to me a page of our lesson I was so happy for him. A few weeks later I got a hand-written letter from him thanking me for teaching him how to read, and he taught me the blessing and joy of teaching something I do not think anyone should be without~ the ability to read. "No skill is more crucial to the future of a child, or to a democratic and prosperous society, than literacy." L.A. Times
"The man who does not read books has no advantage over the man who can't read." Mark Twain
"It is not enough to simply teach children to read, we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations---something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own." K. Patterson
"We read to know we are not alone." C.S. Lewis "A man is known by the books he reads." Ralph Waldo Emerson

18 comments:

Candy Duell said...

What a great post! What a world you opened up for the little guy when you were in school. I also love reading, as do most of my children.

If I had to do it all again, I would of home schooled my children. I try to find cute little fun things for the grand kids to do. Just a little boost!

Enjoy your day!

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful post Kathy. What a blessing to have MN for special reading days on Tuesday. I love the photo of her with her Poppa reading to her and the baby doll. You have such a special collection of children's books and how fun to take them and a flashlight to bed. (Mama used to talk about doing that when she was very little) I wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving.

Farmgirl Cyn said...

I LOVE this post cause I LOVE to read! I also homeschooled my kids and for the younger ones we used "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". It was the best investment of our homeschooling years. Before the end of the 100 lessons they were readers. It truly does open a whole new world, doesn't it?

Connie said...

A wonderful post, Kathy. I have books saved from when I was a child that I shared with my boys when they were small. I intend on holding onto them to share with grandchildren should I have any someday in the future. Books are treasures to me.

Susie said...

Those are such sweet pics Kathy! Love the one of her and grandpa.

We weren't home schooled when we were little but mom use to read to us at bedtime. I always loved that!

I can't imagine a world without reading. Both hubbie and I love it. When some people tell me they don't like to read I have the hardest time understanding why.

Thistle Cove Farm said...

What a great post and what fabulous quotes; we are so in agreement on reading! I was reading newspapers by the time I was five and learned to read by watching Mother and Daddy read. To this day, they start their day by reading the Bible...what a gift, both to them and me. Another gift...schooling your children at home. I am SO in favor of home schooling; children learn more quickly, deeply and well when they have the undivided attention of the parent, especially the mother.
You and Jim make a formidable team!

Deanna said...

Thanksgiving Blessings to you!
Liked your post today.
It's so nice to know about your blog and be a follower.

God bless,
d

Mary said...

MN needs grandma's touch, and I am sure you are thrilled to be there for her. And I give her momma so much credit for handing it over to you! And, I give the both of you credit for home-schooling.

I too had a child that taught himself how to read. One day,when he was 4 years old, I could not find him. He was in the house, no doubt. The bedroom that he shared with his brother was dark, but I could see light from under the closet door. My precious young man had taken a lamp into the large closet, along with books, pencil and paper. He told me, "Mom, I am doing my homework!"

Reading is an absolute blessing in life.

Vickie said...

Excellent post, Kathy! I spent countless hours with my kids on my lap reading. I have hundreds of kids books that I'm saving for my grandkids. I can't wait to do the same for them. Reading to them helped them all do better in school, and the best part is - We get lots of snuggle time together. I miss that SO much!

Karen said...

This is an excellent post. I read a study when I was in grad school about the most effective way to teach a young child, and it was for the child to either sit on his parent's lap or close beside them while reading together.

Julie Harward said...

I couldn't agree more! I feel the same way about reading to children, we read to them every day and now they love reading and read to their children. I love this saying;
" You may have tangible wealth untold; Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you can never be-I had a Mother who read to me."
Come say hi :D

audrey y said...

Oh, what I missed by not knowing enough about how important it is to home school. But I praise God that you and Autumn are able to do so. My daughter Scarlett does also

Flower said...

My eyes moisten while reading about the boy you taught to read. What a gift you gave him..time and phonics! Sometimes they don't get phonics in school..depending on what is popular at the time. It is the key, a key, to reading.
Your granddaughter is very lucky in so many ways...but so are you!! :)) Blessings to you!!

KathyB. said...

Candy, all your experience and helps are even better with Grandkids!

Mildred,I wish I had had a flashlight to take to bed when i was little. I read far into the night if left alone to do so.

Farm Girl Cyn, thank-you, I might just look up the reading lesson you mentioned too, never know just what helps work best til I try!

Daisy, I KNOW you appreciate books, and you will be surprised one day at how quickly life hands you the privilege of Grandchildren...all in the right time, of course!

Susie, I am puzzled by people who don't like to read...I used to read a chapter of a book every night at the dinner table, sometimes if the book was a long story and very, very exciting, I would read several chapters. We did that for much of our kid's childhood.

Thistle Cove Farm,Thank-you. for the kind words.I think home-schooling is the best if the parents have the opportunity. really, it was special to provide my children with their education at home.

Deanna,Thank-you!

Mary,what a cute story!Is he the father of your new grandchild?

Vickie, you are so right about reading to one's children. You don't have to home-school to help your kids learn better...and reading to them and providing lots of books ( visits together to the library) help immensely!

Karen,sitting close to children while reading is what makes it special to the children, and to us old folks..it is a bonding time, I know you enjoy reading and story time with your grandchildren and Sunday school children. Thank-you.

Julie, I love that quote, I might have to use it some time! Thank-you!

Audrey,I don't think homeschooling was a considered concept when I was younger, as it would not have been when your kids were young. Only people in remote places where schools were unavailable even did it..

Flower, thank-you!I believe phonics is the key too!

A. Joy said...

Because you are able and willing to have MN come over for reading lessons - I'm sure she'll look back on this learning process as being very enjoyable and one of the best 'lessons' she ever took. She will enjoy reading as opposed to feeling like it is a chore. I sat her down with math problems today and she was able to do those quickly and easily so maybe numbers are more her thing? Anyway, a big thank you for your help with teaching her. Those story books are like old friends to me - they were my favorites too. While MN was at your house I found CT and KN lying in their beds working on helping each other spell out words for their book reports. They didn't want to stop to go to sleep!

KathyB. said...

A.Joy, she sounds more like her Uncle Daniel as far as learning. He took to numbers first, then reading.

MN being here is a joy and a blessing for your dad and I, thank-you.

And I don't think reading should ever be a chore and hopefully, neither will she, it is FUN and an adventure.

Robin said...

Kathy
It is so nice to find someone else who likes to read.So few people take the time anymore. I love to read and have so many books.
I buy books for my grandkids all the time and read to them as much as I can. Sometimes I think I buy them more for me than the kids.

BT said...

What a fantastic post. I wouln't have had a clue how to home school my children, I think you are very brave and how lovely to be able to help with the little one now. The photo with Poppa is just lovely. Well done to you both.