Dec 02 2006
How can you learn if you can’t read?
Shannon over at Phat Mommy wrote a great post this morning in response to all the “experts” lately (Dr. Phil, Luis Huerta in the New York Times article and Bonnie Erbe in her US News and World Report column) who seem very concerned about unschoolers “making it in the real world”. In It’s the Parenting, Stupid she muses:
What I’d like to know is what about parenting? I don’t have any statistics handy, but I’d be willing to bet that a statistically greater percentage of people with problems struggling to succeed and survive in the “real world” - petty criminals and the like - can trace those problems back to the way they were parented than to the way they were schooled.
Shannon makes some very good points, definitely take a moment to read it.
In the comments a poster asked several questions about unschoolers who did not teach their children to read until they were “ready”. I responded over there, but also wanted to expand on that response a bit over here.
What is your take on unschoolers who don’t teach their children to learn how to read until they’re “ready”? This can mean 8, 9, or 10 from what I have been reading.
I know that the first time I read about homeschoolers who had kids who were so “late” in reading, I was a bit surprised too. This goes against everything that we commonly hear…reading is the key to learning. Early reading is important.
Many schools nowadays are pushing reading so that if kids are not reading by the end of kindergarten it is recommended that they take summer classes to “catch up”. So the idea of a child of 8 or 9 or 10 not reading seems like it must be the kiss of death. And probably in school it would be. But for a homeschooled child, it does not have to be and in actuality can be what saves the love of reading for that child.
I learned to read when I was 4, and even though I didn’t always “like” learning, I truly believe it one of the best things my parents ever did for me. I feel as though a fondness for reading is CRUCIAL to success in any capacity and should be cultivated early.
I definitely agree that a love of reading and books should be cultivated early. And this is exactly what I did with Jason. He has always had a passion for good books and good stories from a very young age. A fondness for reading and books however does not always translate to early reading.
Reading is like walking (or any other developmental area such as crawling and speaking) which has a “normal” range of anywhere from about 9 months to 15 months. Some kids are ready to read early around 4. Others are ready to read at a later time like Jason. I read somewhere that the average age of reading is 8.
You can not make a child walk before they are ready. You can not make a child read before they are ready. You can however make a child think they are dumb or learn to hate reading if you push them before they are capable.
It seems like many people (educators and the general public alike) think that learning to read is just a matter of being taught. If you “get them early” you can give them a “head start”. But some kids (especially visual-spatial kids) need more time to develop then others. They just are not ready. And no amount of teaching can change that.
Sure you can start teaching them early, but if reading has not “clicked” with them, it really is like throwing those marshmallows. Why push, why make reading something “hard”, why risk having a child start thinking that they are dumb when waiting can bring out the same (or better) result?
Also, just out of curiosity, how does other learning get done without the ability to read?
The same way it does when kids are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or… By being read to, by doing interesting things and by playing. This is one of the great things about homeschooling. Not being able to read is not a hindrance.
In the years before he learned to read, Jason learned in all sorts of different manners…I read books all the time, he listened to tons of audio books, he watched lots of videos and tv shows, he played computer/video games, we performed science experiments, we played all sorts of games, we talked (a lot!). Now that he is reading we still do all of the above…reading is just one additional way that he learns. (Don’t get me wrong…reading is very important and makes a lot of things easier…but it still is only one way out of many in which kids learn).
Not reading did not hold him back. Now obviously, this would not work as well with a teacher who has 30+ kids. He/she would not be able to spend that much individual time with each child. Reading is critical for learning in school given a typical school model. But learning can and does happen with or without reading at home because we are free to change this model.
And the most important thing is that even though Jason learned “late”, he still absolutely loves books and and does not hate reading. And I can hear the sense of pride in his voice when he talks about his reading ability these days.
Now I am also not saying that you should always wait until kids are older…some kids wind up figuring it out for themselves at an earlier date. For other kids it becomes clear that they are ready earlier.
And I am not saying that you sit back and do nothing for kids who do not seem to be ready. There are tons of things (such as reading and talking about letters and sounds and so forth) we did before it clicked for Jason. But his not reading was not the focus of our homeschooling. I did not try program after program to figure out what the “problem” was. I had faith (thanks to listening to other homeschoolers who had gone through the same thing) that when he was ready it would click and I would know what he needed. And that is exactly what happened.
Waiting for a child to be ready also works for kids who are ready on a more “typical” timeframel. Last year when he was 5, Kyle became very interested in learning to read. He is much more of a sequential/typical learner, so I figured that we would give it a shot. After doing some lessons in 100 Easy Lessons it became apparent to me that he really was not ready. He loved the lessons but they were not sticking and I could see that he just was not totally getting it. So I stopped suggesting that we “do reading”. Kyle did not notice or remind me. We continued doing what we normally do…read and talk about reading and letters.
This fall, he again became interested in learning to read so I decided to give 100 Easy Lessons another try. The difference is incredible! He totally gets it. And remembers it. He reminds me to do his reading. It is coming very easily for him.
Now I could have spent this past year slogging through the lessons. But why risk him possibly learning that “reading is hard”? By waiting until he is ready, he is learning that “reading is easy” and reinforcing the belief that “reading is fun”.
And that, for me, is the best possible outcome…a child who enjoys reading and loves books.
~Stephanie
Amen and amen to all that. You’re so smart.
AND articulte.
Also, on the “Dr” Phil show, the first lady used the throwing marshmallows quote and I squealed out loud and thought of you.
AMEN … and eloquently said (as always)my friend.
In school, they *need* to have the kids ready to read by 1st grade because
1. failure to have the kids succeed on standardized tests will arouse the concern of parents and invoke government wrath and
2. in a classroom with 20+ students, teachers *need* to be able to have the kids reading independently. They can’t snuggle on the couch and read a book which interests the child but is beyond his reading ability. And they can’t “count” all the learning that happens through bed time stories, dinner table discussions, walks in the park … (and so forth). To demonstrate success, schools need to have the kids assimilate a standarized set of facts and skills and excel on tests. These generally require reading skills.
“Real learning” simply requires an open mind, a healthy environment, and adults who care passionately about you.
Great post. Too bad we have to say these things so often. My daughter had a great teacher when she started school (I only started homeschooling later), who addressed the increasing parental demand for reading as the measure of school effectiveness by having a parent meeting in which she explained all the PHYSICAL development that has to happen before reading is possible. She then explained how doing jig-saw puzzles (of increasing difficulty) helps to develop certain visual skills, etc. etc. the fact is that many kids are not PHYSICALLY ready to read by age 5. (My daughter could read at 3 but her physical development was advanced in other areas, too. And I never claim she is “normal”, whatever that is.)
My big question is how school systems that don’t require early reading do it. I know that in the Netherlands, for example, kids don’t get taught to read until they are 8 (by which time they are all practically begging for it as far as I can tell). So there must be a way to have a school system that could wait a while for reading. Anybody know?
Bravo, and well stated! I, also, thought of you when the lady on Dr. Phil’s show make the marshmallow quote.
I, personally, think it is much harder to let our children take their time with reading and other aspects of learning. There is a lot of pressure to keep up with other, age-level kids. Many times I have felt that pressure when speaking with parents who have children in the public school system. They think we homeschool, either because our child is too gifted for public school (in which case, they are always looking for evidence of giftedness), or we homeschool because our child cannot handle the public school environment. In our case, and probably others, we homeschool because we CAN, and because we feel as if it will be better for our child in the long run. And it HAS been better for him.
Well, thank you, Stephanie! As several mentioned, you are so articulate in making your point. I’m glad you’re my right-hand man . . . eeerrr, woman . . . LOL!
I’ll have to reference everyone to this post and create one to go along with it as well. I already have another one almost complete that also stemmed from the discussion on homeschooling creatively, but maybe I’ll have to do this one first . . .
You are awesome, girl! And it feels so good that you “get me”!
-Cindy
Thank you for such a fantastic response! I am so glad to be hashing all of these concerns I have out before I start homeschooling. (Although in many reguards, I guess I started at Braedon’s birth!) I would hate to struggle with something unnecessarily just because I didn’t do my research. My son is almost 6 months old, and from day one I knew I wanted to HS. I am so thankful for all of you fantastic bloggers sharing your successes and learning experiences with the rest of us. The more I think about it, the more your responses are to some degree just common sense. It is obvious that I have been conditioned to believe something that just simply isn’t true. I am already learning that to be a successful homeschooler I have a LOT of letting go to do.
Oops I left the wrong link to my blog… here we go again.
K_baz - glad that you made it over here. The more and more you read about learning and about homeschooling, the more your perspective will shift. I do remember reading for the first time about kids who did not learn to read until 8 or 9 and had the same reaction that you did. How can that work? But it does.
But I had wonderful experienced homeschoolers who helped me understand and now I have my own kids proving that they knew what they were talking about.
Andrea - I got a kick out of it when I read that she used the throwing marshmallows quote on Dr Phil LOL! Of course it is not *my* quote…it is just one that resonates with me and I thought would make a great title for a blog.
Still kinda cool though!
[…] So I was reading a couple of other parenting blogs today and felt compelled to add my own thoughts and opinions on the education system and how it doesn’t work for every child. These opinions are based on the fact the educational system didn’t work for me. It may have failed me but I was fortunate enough to make it through and earn a college degree. It seems like many people (educators and the general public alike) think that learning to read is just a matter of being taught. If you “get them early” you can give them a “head start”. But some kids (especially visual-spatial kids) need more time to develop then others. They just are not ready. And no amount of teaching can change that. - Throwing Marshmellows […]
My oldest went to school through 2nd grade. So much classroom time was devoted to reading that probably COULD have been spent on many other things — art, nature study, reading aloud, music. The reading curriculum took up a major part of the day and some home time as well. The teacher told me with a bit of wryness that no matter what you did, some kids would be reading fine before they entered first grade and others would catch up in third, and you would not be able to tell the difference by fourth grade.
My oldest learned to read right on track but didn’t enjoy it or do it by choice until we started homeschooling, where he almost immediately jumped to test at high-school level in the standardized comprehension tests.
The other four kids learned to read more at their own pace, at home — ranging in age from five to nine. By ten they all read very well and love reading. So I just can’t buy that “waiting until they’re ready,” will cheat them out of anything.
I think you’re right though that at school my kids would have had to sink or swim at age six or seven and I think it would have adversely affected their enjoyment and confidence in their abilities.
I think your “throwing marshmallows” line applies so well to this kind of debate. I think I read once about a six month old that was taught to walk, but did it without pleasure and very stiffly. Just by waiting, you can get that natural surge forward that really boosts a child’s emotional and character strength as well as their physical ability.
[…] Stephanie from Throwing Marshmallows has an excellent post about the ins and outs of learning to read. She starts with a comment from someone else that said thus: What is your take on unschoolers who don’t teach their children to learn how to read until they’re “ready”? This can mean 8, 9, or 10 from what I have been reading. […]
Story From a Late Reader…
Stephanie writes about learning to read. She is one smart mama.
Her son was a “late” reader. He was lucky. His mama didn’t push him (well, she tried a little, but it didn’t work very well since he wasn’t ready). And now, e…
[…] As Stephanie pointed out in her wonderful post on reading, “right brain” learners are often “late” readers, by our society’s standards. The two-dimensional world of printed words does not “click” for them early. […]
[…] This certainly reminds me quite a bit of some of my sons and I thought I’d share some of our experiences here. Stephanie at Throwing Marshmallows wrote a good post about late readers and Cindy at Applestars wrote a follow-up . One point was that in past times, and even now in some countries, people have waited until 8 or older to start seriously teaching children to read. Raymond and Dorothy Moore have done research that seems to indicate that some children, often very bright ones, are not ready to read until later than six or seven. […]
[…] NCLB seems to forget that children have their own timetables and strengths. Not all children are going to know how to read at 6 or have their times tables memorized at 9. No matter how much “schooling” they get. Some kids just aren’t ready. What does it matter if a child doesn’t read until age 8 or 9 or has does not have their multiplication facts down cold until 11 or 12? […]