The Reading update

So, we have begun teaching Nikhil to read.

It is a very telling sign when the second letter your child learns to recognise is M... for MacDonald's!

When I decided to undertake this task, I printed out all the letters, capitals and lower case, in a good, simple font. I painstakingly cut out each letter and taped them, capital letter next to lower case, all over the dining room and kitchen, and ignored the strange looks from visitors (we've had lots of people coming to give us removals quotes).

Nikhil looked at them a few times, then proceeded to tear them off the furniture and eat them. Well, at least he's, ahem, taking them in...

But he has been learning well, albeit from other sources. He can now recognise 19 letters, and will key in the correct letter on the keyboard if you ask him to. He can also recognise a few numerals. The most valuable tool has been a program called Baby Smash, where the child can bash away at the keyboard and the letters appear large and bright, with a voice saying what it is. Function keys yield coloured shapes, so he now knows shapes like hexagons and trapezoids. Another great tool is a play dough set with alphabet cutters that my sister gave him for his birthday.

As much as I tried to avoid the "A for apple, B for ball" method, all the alphabet books we've found teach it that way. It's a problem, especially at this age. Nikhil will see a numeral, and say "Four! Four for...? Mommy, what's four for?" as if it's a letter to start a word with. Also, he knows D is for Dad, and B is for Brad, so he says "B for Dad!" and I'll have to say, "No, B for Brad." Then you can see his little brain thinking "That's what I said. Brad, Dad, same person!"

The great thing about teaching kids is that they are so eager to learn, they will force you to teach them. I have to admit, I've slacked off a bit recently (it does get tedious singing the alphabet song so many times) but Nikhil hasn't taken a break. We'll be rushing around at the mall and he'll point to a sign and say "Look! S!". Then I stop myself and point out the other letters to him.

And it's that excitement that has me wanting to homeschool my kids. The joy of learning something new, the satisfaction of discovering a proficiency - that's something I want to keep alive for all their lives.Because once they love learning, the subject matter is unimportant - they will always be able to learn whatever skill they need in life.