I (mom) am very excited to post this! Esher is finally reading.
August last year, i bought a very expensive English curriculum (Sing, Spell, Read and Write) package so that I could home school her. It was my goal that at the end of the school year, she would be reading then. By October, i got hired at an international school that admitted Esher to attend classes for free. The school's English curriculum was really good. By February, i moved to my current school which has a standard curriculum as well plus a very caring teacher. I did very little teaching at home then since I became very busy. Few months before she turned 5 in July, i was getting a little concern because she's not reading yet. I thought, "i need to do something." I started reading her the first reading of the curriculum i bought her. She loved it and she got all the books and kept it in her secret place. Though she does not know how to read yet, she likes to look at them and pretend she's reading. Greg and I read to her before bed time and almost every night she likes to read only Dr. Suess's "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blues Fish." Seriously, reading this book every night for many months was annoying but she liked it so i did not make her notice that i was getting annoyed.
Last night, after dinner, i wanted so much to have my quiet time and read my book. So while the girls were taking a shower, i reclined in my bed and was having a fabulous time reading. Not long after, they're dressed for bed, all clean, came to my room and started making noise. I asked them to go to their room and make noise there. They did not! Aleeyah sat in my desk and worked in the computer quietly while Esher took a Bible story book and sat beside me. Then she started reading aloud. She read from one phrase to a sentence then more sentences. Instead of getting mad, I was shocked, put my book down, took my phone and started videoing her. This is just one of her stubbornness that i tolerated. I was so excited! She's finally reading! The goal i set for her has been reached! Ah praise the Lord! As a special reward, we're gonna visit the bookstore soon and she gets to choose few books for her to read! Then I thought to myself, "Ow, what fun, i actually just finished writing my article for my school's newsletter September issue entitled Raising Young Readers." I thought, "at least I practice what I write." :)
Now, this school years' goal is for Esher to write her stories by herself. Esher likes role-playing a lot. She likes to make her own stories. Recently, she likes to type her stories in the computer. She is currently working on a story "The Good Horse." The problem with it is that she does not really know how to spell yet. So she asked the spelling of every single word she likes to use, which can be again very annoying. But then again, i make it sure that she does not feel my irritation and patiently spell the word for her. Hopefully, after one year, she'll be able to write her stories without me helping her with spelling. :)
