My 5 year old has just finished up Kindergarten.  If he was in public school he would probably be starting to read.

3 years ago I had 6 year old who finished up Kindergarten and couldn’t read. Although I had pushed him more, sitting down with excruciatingly boring phonics curriculum that made me want to jab myself in the eye with a pencil. Foster was (is) such a flexible, kind child that he humored me and was only occasionally driven to tears.

Foster and I soldiered on and finished that whole stinking phonics curriculum by the end of 1st grade.
He was starting to read at 6 but still out loud and slowly. I was really starting to worry. What was wrong with this kid? (Poor first child.)

Then, the spring after Foster turned 7 he took off. He started reading everything that wasn’t nailed down. At 8, I had to order a grade level above for his readers. Now at 9, he’s reading at a 5th grade (or above) level. He reads constantly. As in, I think he just finished almost 150 Hardy Boys books from our local library. He stays up reading until 2 am sometimes.

Katie, my second, had a little less pressure from me, but pressure just the same. Being a much more sensitive child, the amount of tears and wailing caused us to do less in the book and only make it through about half.  Now she is 7 and guess what? She is starting to take-off. She’s reading chapter books in her bed. Staying up with her flashlight to read all about Ramona and Beezus, Judy Moody and other little girl favorites.

So with Theodore the third, I did pick up the book a couple of weeks before Kindergarten was over. I felt like I should. We sat down 2 or 3 times and tried to get through a page. He didn’t cry. He was compliant, he just didn’t get it.

A few days ago, Theodore was on the couch looking at a Star Wars book I had gotten him. He looked over at me and said “Look Mommy, I can read this.”

I was in shock. I couldn’t believe he was about to just read something to me. Then he looked at his book. First the left page, then the right, tracking the words with his eyes and being completely silent. He looked up with the best, big dimpled smile and said “See, that’s how you read Mommy! You look at the book and be real quiet.”

This morning, Theodore told his 3 year old brother Parker, “I can’t read those words out loud. I can only read them quite.”

So if you ask Theodore if he’s reading yet, he’ll be sure to tell you he is.

And one day, he’ll be telling the truth.