We are on lesson 41 of 100 lessons to teach Aidan how to read. So far, the program has been great and his progress is nothing short of amazing. We have continued with each lesson but he seems to get tripped up with the word “said” and didn’t seem to be getting it. If you start to really analyze the English language it’s amazing that any of us can read or spell! Take a moment and try to sound out the word said and it becomes “s” “a” “i” “d” and it sounds NOTHING like “said.” There is no rule to explain the weird sound and so I just found myself telling Aidan, “you just have to look at it and remember it is said “said.” Easy peasy, right? Wrong. “Said” has become another version of the “s” word it would seem. Five days of reviewing this and still no luck. We did finally break ground today with a silly story about a fish eating a rock and a cow eating the fish. There was some dialogue there so we got to put the word into context. Yet, I am still fairly confident that tomorrow morning I will get the blank response when he encounters those 4 little letters.
Upon tucking him in bed we talked a bit about what reading and writing do for us in life. We were excited that in a story a pig really can fly or a hippo can dance. It’s powerful as a 5-year-old to be able to make nonsense REAL. He has really become sold on the idea that reading (although hard) is worth the work in the end. He even brought up the “s” word (what he actually called it at first). Then my sweet, bright boy, says “you know that word mom that I can’t remember. It’s got the s, a, i, d.” I was floored. He couldn’t remember the word but he could spell it. The human brain is amazing.
I am writing this as a reminder to myself of why I am doing this, why I am choosing to homeschool my children. On the bad days I have caught myself thinking that someone else could be dealing with this and on the REALLY bad days I think that someone else would be BETTER than me at teaching him. This struggle has brought on a few new realizations. First, if he was in public school and struggling with a concept (surely said will not be his only bump) I wouldn’t necessarily know that he was struggling. I wouldn’t be there for the special moment that he broke through the struggle. I would miss that priceless smile of pride and confidence in himself. I might also be a tad alarmed when he tells me, “I can’t remember the S word.”
Sometimes he gets a new concept the very first go. I tell him something once and it sticks like super glue. Other times, it slides right down like rain on the windshield and it takes days to get one simple idea. It’s nice when it’s easy. But where is the real learning in “easy.” We think that we don’t want things to be tough for our kids but this is where true character is built. This is where they learn what they are really made of and how far they can go. There is something to be said for learning what you can accomplish with a lot of hard work and determination. He does not give up. He has never voiced to me that he wants to stop trying to read or that this is “just not working.” Those are my own nagging thoughts. We don’t have to fit into a time frame. We are not bound by minutes, hours, days or even school years. The things that he just gets will move us on quickly and make room for the stretches of when he needs more time. We can adjust to life. He can work through the difficulties in a supportive/comfortable place.
