Learning to Read; Continuing to Read

I am inspired to write about reading today after reading Fran McVeigh's post yesterday (https://franmcveigh.wordpress.com/2023/03/03/solsc23-reader-ness/comment-page-1/#comment-18605)

I learned to read with Dick and Jane. The "point and say" method.  As a retired teacher who taught quite a few kindergartners to read, point and say doesn't make sense because it doesn't teach decoding. But I did learn and, in spite of never being in the top reading group (whatever bird it was named after) I did become an avid reader. I was very fortunate to have an uncle who gave me a book for every birthday. He was a confirmed bachelor so in retrospect, I think he must have visited a good bookstore and asked for recommendations. Among the books he gave me are the first two Mary Poppins books, the Outsiders, and The Return of the Twelves, a little-known but absolutely wonderful novel about a young boy who finds the set of wooden soldiers that belonged to the Bronte children. That novel sent me to read Charlotte Bronte's novels. 

I still read a lot today. I take a book almost everywhere I go. As an introvert I once caught myself wondering if I should bring a book to a party I was about to go to. (I didn't.) I have an eReader, but mostly read physical books. 

I read to both my children when they were young. My son learned to read in kindergarten. He had a wonderful kindergarten teacher. He also loved me to read to him, but I also wanted to encourage him to read on his own. We were reading one of Jon Scieszka's hilarious short novels, which he wrote with boys in mind. We got to the end of a chapter with a cliff hanger and I said, "Okay, that's it for tonight." He said, "Give me that book!" And that was the start of his reading adventure, though we kept reading together as well.

My daughter learned to read in first grade, though she did not develop a love for reading on her own. In fact, I started to notice that she avoided reading whenever possible, though her teachers kept assuring me that she was reading above grade level. While at a teacher conference at a session on hidden disabilities, I realized the presenter was describing my daughter: reads above grade level but tries to avoid reading, falls asleep while reading, has trouble retaining information from reading. The presenter said there were optometrists who specialized in treating convergence insufficiency. Once we found help, she was able, with a lot of work, to overcome the insufficiency. Today she is an adult and not only reads, but reads very challenging texts. My son, on the other hand, has pretty much stopped reading.

We now have a new grandson and I am so looking forward to reading to him when he is just a little older.