Reading Board

The littlest one has many teachers. At this moment he and Ally are in the kitchen performing experiments with sound from Exploring Creation with Physical Science. It is, literally, jarring.

Last week, at Rest Time, I heard Sam ask Arden to read to him, before Sam was lost in his own reading. Two brothers, cuddled side by side, reading the easiest Bob Books.

Arden's just beginning to "read,"  though I think much of what he's doing now is memorizing. Simple, three letter, short vowel words. The most impressive reading lesson we had was on the day we were working with "mad" and started making short sentences on the white board. Sam is mad at Arden. Arden is mad at Kara. It was wonderful fun. Things really got out of control when we sounded out: the cat is mad at dad. Hilarious.

And so, Kara created the Reading Board. Snipping construction paper, adding in her earnest scrawl names Arden knows and simple words. The board was the back of a watercolor paper tablet, spaces hastily laid out to build sentences. I'd like to tell you Arden loves it, but truthfully, we haven't used it yet. We'll try it though, because Kara made it for him.

This is not a lesson on how to teach your little one to read. The bickering, arguing, and yelling around here reduce me to deep sighs. But, still, still, they love each other. They enjoy each other. They want each other to succeed, whether it is studying for the GeoBee or sounding out "cat." It's not about reading at all.

Time. Love. Space. Imagination. See what your kids will create.