The Reading Begins

Emma has always had a love for books, words, and letters. Ever since Emma could hold a book, she has never been far from one. It may have something to do with all the reading we do with her, both planned and spontaneous (as in street signs, posters, and other things we see in our day to day travels)

A few months ago we where visiting family in NH when Emma decided to sound out a word she found sitting on a window sill in my sisters dinning room. The word was 'family'. With no help, and no prodding, Emma sounded out and read the word all by herself (makes me think this unschooling thing might just work out). I have to tell you, that is an awesome feeling, and the huge smile on her face made it even better.

Two days ago, Emma decided she wanted to learn to read. She has told me this before, and we had given it a go before, but now seems to be different. She seems to really want to learn to read.

So, we start small. When I read with her, I have her sound out a word or two each page or so. Last night in the tub I brought out the laminated words. Emma read a word, then blew bubbles, read a word, blew bubbles. She did a great job, and I am excited about her learning to read.

Our biggest problem I think will be that she likes to try to guess what the word is instead of sounding the word out. We are working on it.

I think a blog post with no pictures is kinda boring, so on days when I have no relevant pictures to post, I think I will leave you with a picture taken by Emma.

From on of the Bone books written by Jeff Smith