No Sure Formula for Reading Readiness!

Teaching your children to read...or should I say encouraging your children to learn to read...is a concern for most parents. The freestyle approach allows for each child to develop at his or her own pace--trusting fully--that they will learn to read in their own time. It is different for every child, as depicted in Jody's article:

I have homeschooled for 13 years. My eldest was four when he started to read, and was reading "real" books(C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, and books on birding written for adults) for the fun of it by the time he was seven. Then my three girls came along -- one twin was nine, the other was 10; my youngest daughter was 11 before they could read with any assurance or pleasure. My youngest son was six when he could read with ease. He's much like his older brother which suggests to me that it's not that I "lost" my ability to teach the girls. They all had the same teacher, but each of them was a bundle of their own unique strengths and weaknesses, with their own learning styles.

This article will encourage those of you with younger children who haven't crossed the threshold into reading yet. I've included a link to a book that was a thoroughly enjoyable, quick read on the subject called Raising a Reader. The author shares her experience with her two daughters and their voyage into reading.