I've been trying to be more consistent with Millie's education in this new year, after sitting in too many sloughs of laziness and miserable failure on my part in the old. At this point, she's reached all the modest goals I had for our first year of home education, and I couldn't be happier. She's still working through Saxon 1, but it's not that challenging so far, and, Lord willing, we'll be finished by the time summer returns.
She counts by 2's, 5's, and 10's, she tells time and "knows money," and though she's not taken the ultimate test of counting out change for her own pack of bubblegum, once Lent's over, we're taking the plunge. She adds, subtracts, and tells me about "parallelograms" that have "sides that are parallel...ogram." She's memorized almost all the phonograms (one of six yet to go is ough-- O/OO/uff/off/aw/ow-- I mean, c'mon!). Most exciting for me, though, is the fact that she reads books! She's about finished with her school primers, and it's so exciting to see her picking up books off the shelf. I love to hear her comical muttering as I read the Chronicles of Narnia to her and Annie, the almost inaudible soundings out of words that are paragraphs behind my voice.
In the last week, she's seemed to take one of those fantastic leaps that children her age take, when with nothing done on the teacher's part, they down lightening in gulps. These times more than make up for the times when we're both frustrated by the fact that though learning is often fun, it's a bit more often work. I'm amazed at children-- at the capacity God gives them to learn and learn and learn-- and I feel slow and clumsy at times as I think of how long it would take me to grasp the same amount of newness.
Yes, I know that billions upon billions of people have learned to read, that children of two and three are reading somewhere in lisping voices as I type, and that men of 80-odd are stumbling through books in a courageous choice to join those babes, but for a first-time teacher-mama, this common event is a shining marvel, a light-filled window, a reading Mildred!
awesome.
ReplyDeletethis is wonderful!
Oooh! I liked this progress report! Millie is flourishing! What a great great thing!
ReplyDeleteI realized about a week ago that I have sort of never taught much with numbers. I realized when Corynn was counting to 20 and started messing up at 14 and skipping all about. That was a blow, for sure! I have been working on time though-mainly because of her Christmas wish (a watch).
What great rewards for your hard work! Millie gets a whole new world opened up to her through books-and you get a deep sense of pride in your little girl and accomplishment. I guess it makes the hard work worth it, doesn't it?
I loved the last paragraph you wrote. That was beautiful.
my mom taught me to read.
ReplyDeletei think it's magical.
congrats to you and millie both!
Heidi's right- learning to read, and watching someone learn to read IS magical. Once I asked one of my teacher friends- who had been teaching for years- why she wanted to become a teacher. She told me a story about teaching a little boy and that sudden magical moment when- poof- he suddenly GOT IT- and read a word. She explained the look on his face and how it still has her captured. I can imagine that combining that wonder with the wonder of being a mama is worthy of much excitment.
ReplyDeleteI don't think any of us mamas will ever forget the first time our children learn to read. It IS magical and wonderful and worthy of much tooting of horns and praise! :)
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh about the "ough". YA, 6 sounds, for Pete's sake! That is one of Matthew and Stephen's favorites. They dissolve into peals of laughter for some reason after chanting it. Just like the "oo"- "OOoo, uh, OH!" :)
I think you're doing a great job, mama!