He's Learning To Read!

Jacob's teachers have been trying very hard to get him to learn to read the alphabet. He didn't seem to have any interest in it at all and would even refuse to cooperate at circle time some days. I was beginning to worry that there was a bigger issue than just not wanting or being ready to learn to read.

Last week, I took Jacob to the library to look at some alphabet books. I realized that we had never really spent any time away from school working on it. He would spend about 15 minutes at group time listening to the kids spell their names and a little time tracing letters but that was about it. I decided to try to find some alphabet books that he would like and work on them.

We found two books that had truck themes. We read them together at the library and he decided he liked them and wanted to borrow them. It has now been about five days. He can now read all but about 5 or 6 letters! The letters he gets confused on look similar to other letters and they are not ones we use very often. I still need to find a book or way to work on the lower case letters but we are off to an excellent start. I can now put my worries that he has a learning disability or other more serious problem to rest.

By the time he goes through the three-year-old program, he will have the letters mastered. It should also help him feel more confident at school when he knows the letters before his friends do this year. He won't feel like he has to catch up to them. That is what I really want for him. To feel confident in school and have fun learning. He can already complete the requirements for kindergarten so he will be ready in two years when he is old enough.