Once upon a time...

in a faraway land, Little Sister handed Hubby and myself a bedtime story and said,

"Teach me how to read. NOW."

Well, in actuality it was our last duty station, right after she turned 4 years old. But we made good on our promise to her. Technically she has been reading for a while now: short-vowel words, consonant blends, and level 1 sight words are what we have mastered in our Phonics workbook and Reading Pathways. Then we (she!) read a variety of level 1-2 readers for practical application before working on a little math, a puzzle or another snack. This is no longer daily routine, not with Pre-K, PTO, park, dogs, toilets and dishes...

And even though we are currently working on how silent 'e' affects a (previously) short-vowel sound so she's able to sound those words out and are no where near finished with all our level K homeschool materials, her overall fluency has just taken off. Enough to stop me in my tracks (or rather, piles of laundry mid-folding) and pull out the video recorder to document it.

Here is Little Sister reading Frog and Toad Are Friends. She read the entire thing, all 64 pages cover to cover, but I just recorded parts of The Story.


We are just absolutely tickled pink both our girls love to read and be read to so very much!! We see it extend to their love of all learning, their eagerness to ask questions and look up new information and answers.

And while you definitely will not hear us tossing the word genius around in this house, we both happily agree: we are blessed with some bright, curious little girls.

Thank you for letting us brag about our littlest for a moment.


P.S. If your preschooler has demanded politely asked you to teach him/her to read, I highly recommend the set Reading Pathways and Phonics Pathways, as recommended by the equally worthwhile The Well-Trained Mind; A Guide to Classical Education at Home.