Makana's first chapter book - Pony Pals - No Ponies in the House! by Jeanne Belancourt

Makana occasionally picks up chapter books like the Happy Hollisters or Pony Pals or Santa Paws and brings them to bed with her.  Sometimes she takes them to the bathroom or in the car.  She doesn't usually finish the books, just kind of start them as she can't yet read all the words.  Sometimes she will spell out a word so we can tell her what it is.  Other times she does her best, likely skipping over words she doesn't know.

This past Thursday, she finished her first chapter book - Pony Pals "No Ponies in the House!"  She had been telling me different parts of the story as it unfolded for the past few days.  On Thursday, she brought it with her on our trip to Freeport and told me about what was going on every so often.  Towards the end she was hoping that Alfie the Teddy Bear hamster would be found (and he was!).

She still enjoys the Dr. Seuss and Little Golden books too and those are the ones she brings a pile of into the bathroom with her.

Makana reads Go Dog Go

This morning Makana (age 7) picked up Go Dog GO to read to Kanoa (age 3).  He lost interest, but she read it to me and herself aloud!  She was so surprised that suddenly she could do it!  I was excited for her!  Before she could only read some words.  This time, she got all the words except for two of them!  This is an example of her being able to read when she was ready.

Whenever she got in the mood for a book, Go Dog Go was the one she picked up to look through and "read" more than any other book and I know she really wanted to be able to read it word for word by herself.  She would say aloud (to herself, me or someone else) what she remembered on each page, coming up with similar sentences descriptive of the pictures, but not necessarily exactly what was written.  Most of the time she read it the way she could and got much enjoyment out of it.  When she was frustrated in the past at not being able to read the way Jim or I or Katie or Li did, I told her that she'd be able to read when She was ready and that people are ready at different times and it would happen.  We made a list of the words that she did knew and that seemed to please her.

I suspected that her ability to read it was coming as she's been writing alot over the past few months while gaming and skpying, asking me to spell or write for her when needed.  I noticed that she could write and spell more and more words and I noticed that she was able to read more words as well.  It was so exciting this morning to hear her read aloud and feel so happy about finally being able to do something she has been wanting to do for so long!  She said that I had always said it would happen when she was ready, and it did!   Awesome!

I'm Epic

Makana asked to be able to write her own text/chat messages on Roblox yesterday. After adjusting her account settings, the first thing she wrote was "I'm epic."


Then some random person on the game she was on typed a "?" 


Makana then typed "I'm epic" again.


He/She typed "ok"


Makana typed "I epic, you no epic"


He/She typed "I'm epic, you're not epic." and then "Do you want to fish?"


Makana typed "Ok" and they went fishing.  






I thought it was so nice that she felt so good inside she wrote she was epic!  Interesting to watch, though I told Makana I didn't think it was nice to tell someone they weren't epic(I had been doing something else when she wrote that part).  


She's been learning how to spell and read so much from various computer games and skyping (as she types or reads or asks me to read or how to spell words).  Li has been learning how to spell more and more words too.  


Makana asks how to spell "I'm" and understands it stands for I am and gets how to use it, but pronounces it with a short vowel sound (im as in rhymes with dim).  Love watching their learning unfold and grow and change.  So much can happen in such a short time! 

First Homemade Books for Children about themselves

I thought the idea Laurie Block Spiegel had for creating a child 's first book was a nice idea.  Here is the link, but scroll to the very bottom. If you click on the 2 homemade book titles, there are pictures of each page.  I bet my little guy would love a book about him, especially one where I am playing a find Kanoa type of game.
http://www.homeschoolnyc.com/resources/reading-primer.html

There would be no coaxing my child to read or pronounce words.  We would be reading for the pure pleasure of it as long as he wants to and is interested.  We may play a find the letter game as he sometimes likes to find a certain letter like a D for Daddy or a K for Kanoa.  I believe that the ability to read will happen when my child is developmentally ready as words and books and all sorts of things that provide information we wish to know surround us and most of our family often models reading.  I also believe that when a person is developmentally ready is different for each individual - and if we have expectations we are holding on to, we can practice being patient and accepting where our child is at and how they learn.  Many kids don't read until later, and in a short time you can't tell the difference between "early" and "late" readers.  And if we force a child to do things before they are ready, they will become frustrated and might learn to hate whatever is being forced upon them.  Better to let them learn with ease, when they are developmentally ready, when whatever they wish to know has meaning to them.  This helps them learn that they can do and find out about what they are interested in and keeps their passion for learning in general alive.  This doesn't mean don't do anything to help your child learn and find interesting things though.  Do make the effort to find things that your child shows interest in or even introduce things to your child that you think they may be interested in.  Don't have an agenda, but do offer, introduce and explore together and help when needed.  Be a partner and a friend.  Not only is that a great way to help children happily learn, but it is enjoyable and can even strengthen your relationship.

Here's a link to Peter Gray's blog about children teaching themselves to read.  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201002/children-teach-themselves-read

And somewhere in this blog I think I wrote about how Katie learned to read around age 3.  Li learned slowly over time and I'd say he was reading well around 9 yrs old.  Makana (6) is still learning, although she can read some words.  Kanoa, 3, likes letters.