Raising Readers

I finally finished my round of first quarter parent-teacher conferences.  (I know, I only have three kids in school, but getting to three conferences felt like a lot.)  Our school is different that way-- they like to do conferences right at the beginning of the year so the teacher can tell you where your kids are starting from and what the goals are for them for the year.

For all three of them, I already had a pretty good idea where they stood, especially with their weak areas.  M is struggling with timed division facts, J has random moments where he just gets up and wanders off during class, and B is still trying to figure out her numbers and is too chatty with her neighbors when she should be listening.

But there were some surprises as well.  M is actually talking to her classmates and will even make comments if her teacher calls on her.  J tested at a reading level halfway through 4th grade & is barely challenged by the math.  B is apparently ready enough to read that she has been placed in the higher-level reading group and started right off with the "Sam books."  Also, the amount of progress she has made in her writing journal in the first four weeks of school is astounding (considering that she could barely hold a pencil when school started).

Terence and I were talking a little about this-- after all, I would love to take credit for my kids' success in these areas, but it's not like I've made a big effort to work with them at home.  I did make more of an effort with M (natural with your first) but often with J and definitely with B I was too swamped by meeting the basics to worry about if my kids were learning their letters or colors or numbers.  In fact, I had lots of horrible moments of feeling guilty when I realized that though I had been wonderful about reading books to M from the time she was six months old, I only read J one book at bedtime (usually to both kids at once) and with B, I barely read to her at all, even at bedtime.  K never had stories read to him and even M noticed, asking me why I didn't ever read to poor K.  I was just too anxious to get the kids into bed by that point.

So how did I end up with kids that are ahead of the curve on reading?

Terence pointed out that it was no big surprise that our kids do well in reading-- after all, they have a mother who is a voracious reader.  I take them to the library almost every week, and they constantly have the example of a mother with a book in front of her nose (even while doing the dishes or folding laundry).  I don't know if it's genetics or example, but M will regularly settle down with a book and read for up to two hours straight, just because she's interested in the book.  My mom also observed that we play audio books in the car (she was speculating that it might have been part of the reason K is speaking so much better than my other kids did at his age but it would be another exposure to reading also).  I also realized that reading scriptures as a family every day has to make a difference.  If you have your second grader taking turns reading from the Book of Mormon out loud, it is going to improve his reading fluency, even if that isn't exactly the goal.  Apparently even K has caught on to the book thing because now he vehemently insists that I read him a book before he goes to bed.  (He brings me the book and shoves it under my nose until I sigh and read it to him.  Right now it is the same Hot Wheels book every night.)  I guess that's one way to make sure that he gets read to, even if I'd rather just kiss him and dump him into the crib.

I'm not writing this to brag about my kids (though I am proud of them) but to point out how little concerted effort is involved.  It seems to come from having a parent with a natural love/ability in this area.  What areas of strengths do you have?  Did it ever occur to you that if you are an artist, your love of art may well prove to be a natural boost to your children in that area without any effort at all?  If you are a musician, maybe the same?  Same thing with soccer or other sports?  Perhaps Heavenly Father even took that into account, sending children to your family that would thrive in just the kind of environment you would provide without thinking.

Yet another reason to tone down the mommy guilt. . . .