SPIN-OFF COMMENT 1

Comment 1 from Penny Thoughts

Heather said...
Any ideas on how to get my four-year-old boy to come out and admit he can read? Besides bringing me stickers and telling me, "This is an exhaust pipe," I mean, we've thought of Daddy working with him, but more ideas wouldn't hurt. :) 




Hi There Heather, :-) We missed you at MNO!!

Ah, reading. It's a topic near and dear...

I remember riding in the school bus as a little girl. We would pass a stop sign, that had scribbles on it, every day. I used to look at the scribble and wonder why someone would scribble on a stop sign. One day I looked at the sign and noticed that the scribbles weren't scribbles at all. They were WORDS!! They said, "I love Bobby" with a squiggle under it. THAT is when I realized I could read. So, to you I say, he probably doesn't get that he can read! LOL

No matter what age it "clicks" I'd say "focus time" or "thinking time" is a huge asset in developing reading/math skills. I was looking out a window of my schoolbus, sitting alone in the seat, daydreaming when this occurred.

Much of the time I find that my boys enjoy thinking alone. They'll spend a long time playing games alone, messing with the computer, putting a puzzle or toy together. They enjoy time just to think by themselves. Funny enough, Brisan told my father a week or so ago that his favorite thing to do is "just think." Alone time is special to all of the boys.

I've found that many times parents are spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to get children to "do this WITH...parent, friend, sibling" and forget to allow them to develop the skill of being alone. Alone time to think, relax, explore, imagine is a very important skill. It is when self reflecting can be accomplished, praying and getting to know ones own thoughts; getting to know ones self, is accomplished on a deeper level.

That is where reading, zoning out, looking at clouds, computer time and video game time, come in handy. They can focus and think uninterrupted. They can be as mentally involved in the activity, or uninvolved, as they please. They can make mistakes, learn from them and fix the problem during the game. It's a learning tool that helped Kazz, Brise and Vinze to read and is helping them to think on a deeper level. They come up with awesome questions and I feel that "thinking time" is the reason.

I have posted what "I" do to help them learn to read but the better opportunity is what "they" do. They WANT to learn so they focus when they have moments of calm and alone time. I've seen this over and over again.

My advice...keep doing what "you" are doing but also allow him to have time alone to focus on a game, toy, computer, learning manipulative...etc...Uninterupted by family or friends for AT LEAST an hour a day. He will probably come to you now and then, eventually to ask a questions or get a drink but he'll go back to "thinking" after he knows you are right there to help him figure out something or answer his "thinking" question. It's a daily do in our home and has been very successful for imagination, stress maintenance and just plain fun time for them.

Thank you for the topic!! :-) Please post about what you do to teach them to read. I would love to read it!