Learning to Read
I believe that parents are put under undue pressure to make their children learn to read by the age of five. All my own children have learnt to read at different times - ranging from seven to eleven years old - and they are all now enthusiastic readers, well versed in literature, well able to understand technical material and reasonably fluent in at least one language other than English. My
experience with my own children, and with other children, is that
they should not be taught to read at a particular age, but that their
desire to learn to read when they want should be respected. For some children this may be when they are less than five years old but for most children it will be when they are older - and parents should not worry at all if their seven year olds cannot read very well. Putting pressure on children makes them anxious and can exacerbate problems that may otherwise clear up of their own accord. One phenomenon that is not clearly recognised in schools but which I have frequently observed in home-educated children is that children will learn to read one or two of their favourite books - which gets their parents very excited - but will then not want to read that book, or any other book, again for a year or even two years. It is as though they know that they will have to learn to read one day but, having established that it is something that they can do, they return to doing the things that are more important to them at that time - which is basically playing. When parents can respect this innate and profound good sense in their child it makes for a harmonious and happy household.
Useful links:
|
||
|
Caring for Young Children Childcare Nursery School Links Learning to Read |
