The Reading Hump

I used to hold my breath a lot when I listened to H read. Deep breath before the the word know, exhale, I can't believe she knows that word. Quick inhale before the word measure..wow, how did she know not to make the -ea into a long vowel sound?

There is a hump in learning to read I think. Some kids climb up and over the hump easily. Some struggle. H has made it over the hump. The hump is enough language, word and spelling awareness to decode. From an early age, teachers emphasize phonetic sounds and my little H dutifully learned the short and long vowel sounds. But phonetic sounds aren't sophisticated enough for the English language so about 1 in every 5 words (an estimate) breaks the phonetic rules. And then a reader just has to know. H struggled last year, and for the first quarter of this year with reading. In her smart school, she was lagging behind her friends who could already tackle the annoying Junie B. A little time, a switch to leveled reading groups, and some phonetic maturity and H actually likes to read a little. She gets it, but a game of chase will probably always be more appealing.

I am relieved-- though I still hold my breath too much. I always knew she would get it, that it would be fine, at least that's the confidence I verbalized. But my English teacher, arrogant, academic-self harbored a secret fear that she wouldn't. Why wasn't my kid an early reader? What if all the parts of reading never came together? What if I had to pull her out of her smart school? What if she was the worst reader in her class and it forever scarred her? Wow, can my mind travel. And it traveled even as I reassured another mom, who somehow found out I having a reading endorsement, that every kid learns to read at a different pace. And I believed my words--about that other kid.

Today I just want to say, that H is a reader and I am not as confident as my words indicate (who is?). I am so proud for H. She no longer shies away from trying to read signs, cereal boxes, and labels. She regularly asks questions about words she can't figure out and no longer throws books on the floor, having reached a peak in her patience level. She proudly reads words like nectar (on the honey jar) and then announces,"Mom, I can spell nectar." She can read, and I was privileged to watch the process. It's amazing.

Updates

A few updates to our life. Just in case you wanted them...

H is finally getting the whole word formation/ decoding thing. She is reading all the signs and exhausting my patience in a wonderful way by constantly reporting on new words she found and asking what certain spellings mean. I enjoy watching this learning process. Her school finally put the kids in three reading groups and she feels so much more comfortable with kids at her own level. Those super readers were making her feel intimidated and inadequate. The English language is maddening.

K is testing the limits. She breaks rules when she thinks she won't get caught. She says things like, "I didn't know" or "I didn't do it on purpose" if she thinks it will help her get out of discipline. If her sister comes to tattle on her she will stand and scream at the top of her lungs hoping I won't be able to hear H. K appears so quiet and sweet to people, but right now, she is definitely the more manipulative and sneaky of my two kids. Each morning I pray and try to prepare to be consistent and calm in these disciplining moments. Because of her deceptions she can no longer be alone while I shower or clean. I offered to let her play in her room while I showered the other day but she opted to stay in the bathroom because because she didn't think she could follow the rules about staying out of her sister's bed. (The girls share a room and they can only climb into each other's bed with permission.)

One of my computer savvy friends read this old post about a computer failure causing the loss of my writings about the girls. He was able to save all my documents, including the journals, for free! Thanks Beau. I have successfully saved the documents on my current computer. And another friend helped me discover Google docs, where I can store my documents online for free. If I keep up with saving my important documents there, I won't ever lose them due to computer failure again. Now I just need to get them in printed format too.