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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My neighbors's child is an incredibly strong reader and every time I ask the mom about it, she just shrugs and says "we got lucky." The rest of us in the neighborhood are all struggling to get our elementary age kids to read at all. Meanwhile, this kid reads way above grade level and even did the gospel reading--nearly flawlessly--in church a few weeks ago. Gotta be more than just luck.[/quote]

Probably not your neighbor, but we say this only to be polite. Our DD reads several grades above grade level and reads chapter books for fun.

We put DD in a Montessori where they were taught letters very explicitly from age 2. By Fall of 3 yr old year, all kids were learning Phonics via explicit instruction.  During that year, we taught our DD at home to read using Bob Books (learned about them from DCUM), but honestly her Montessori had all the kids reading well during the 4 yr old year. They all started K as readers with a solid Phonics foundation.  [/quote]

PP you quoted. Here's the thing, in our little neighborhood, most of us send our kids to a public Montessori school! Some of our kids are "fine" readers, but none of us would say they're strong (and some parents lament how poorly their kids read). A couple families go to a public dual immersion, same thing, fine but not strong. And yet this one kid, the only one who goes to a regular public school, is so far beyond everyone else.[/quote]

You could be talking about my kid. Reads several grade levels ahead, loves reading, loves writing, huge vocabulary, etc. Here are my secrets:

- Read to her every night starting from infancy. Every night. At least 20 minutes. When she was little we traded off nights. Then around age 5 we started doing it as a family. We'd read chapter books, 1-2 chapters a night. DH and I would both read. We did it together because then we'd all be able to connect over the book. Classics, contemporary books, whatever. We read our childhood favorites, things friends recommended. We'd go to the library or bookstore and ask for suggestions.

- Unlimited books. Library once or twice a week. Regular bookstore trips. Books for gifts. No such thing as a shortage of books. If she didn't have something to read, we'd rearrange our schedule to make sure we could pick something up. She got an e-reader when she was 7 and that helped a lot.

- If she asked us to read to her, we'd almost always say yes. Even if it was some book I hated (I learned to read some of those middle reader series books on autopilot while thinking about other things). I wouldn't read the whole thing. I'd be like "okay I'll read a chapter but then it's your turn." This really helped her build endurance because if I read a bit, she'd get into the story and want to read some on her own even if she was tired. Sometimes us reading a chapter or two would give her enough of a rest that she could then go finish the book.

- We strongly encouraged writing. Bought her journals, books about writing stories, wrote each other letters, etc. When she'd write stuff we'd make a big deal about it ("this is so great, I love the words you chose, you're expressing interesting ideas here"). Tons of encouragement. We'd talk about the relationship between reading and writing, how writing more makes reading easier and how reading more makes your writing better.

It was WORK. But it really mattered to us and we prioritized it above other things. There are things my kid is not good at or that you'd look at and think "what, your kid doesn't do XYZ!?" No one can do it all. We prioritized reading and writing and the result is a kid who is an excellent reader, great writer, and loves doing both.

I know how much some parents lament their kids lack of interest in reading, plus I know some kids have learning disorders that make reading harder. So yes I'd tell another parent "we got lucky" if they asked. And regarding LD's we did -- obviously our kid doesn't have dyslexia and if she did, this would be a different story. But also we made reading and writing a central priority in our parenting. It was not an accident.[/quote]

WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT???    Oh, I did.  [/quote]

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