Miriam Is Reading! (And Angela is too.)

A LONG time ago, I was a new homeschooling mom.  I had a 4 year old daughter, Naomi.  I wanted to teach Naomi to read.  And it was very intimidating. I had never done such a thing!  Could I?

 We had our bumps in the road because I tried to start too soon, but yes, I did teach Naomi how to read.  She was actually quite fluent by age 5!  Lydia, the next child, also learned to read early.

 Then came our boys.  They didn't pick up reading quite as easily.  But they did learn. I was on the lookout for dyslexia but I don't think either is dyslexic.  Isaac is a very fluent reader now and Joseph really is too, though Joseph still struggles a bit.  Both boys often pick up a book and read it for fun, which is an important milestone.  For a long time, reading was more "work" than "fun".  That's over!

  Miriam will be 7 years old in a few months.  She is a quick learner.  As you may recall, this is the sweet girl who memorized the entire times tables in a couple of weeks.  (As an aside, she couldn't remember 8 X 4 yesterday, so the multiplication facts are not embedded in her memory forever.)

  I think if I had worked with Miriam more, she would have learned to read fluently a year ago.  Like our older girls, she has done well with phonics.

 This week has been fun because she has "turned the corner" with reading fluency.  The first 5 kids have all been somewhat the same. When they first learned to blend words, every single word was a struggle.  They had to think about the sounds of each letter, and then put the letters together to make the word.  It could take 10 minutes to read a book with only 4 or 5 simple words in it. 

  With practice came more fluency, but for each child there has been a magical week when reading really seemed to "click".  Miriam had that week last week.  She is reading a Pathway Reader Pre-Primer and the words are flowing from her mouth in a moderately effortless way.  Yes, she occasionally runs into a word she can't sound out, but in general she is just READING without agonizing over the words.

  I love it.

  Angela learned to blend together a few simple letters in the last couple of weeks.  She read "MAT" and "SAM" on her own.  I'm excited.  I love every momentous step in the journey of learning to read