I feel very blessed to have such avid readers for children.  They definitely take after their father as I’m not as much of a reader as I used to be.

What blesses me the most about this is that Zachary was not a huge reader originally.  He wasn’t into it.  He would much rather play with his toys or what-have-you than sit down with a good book.  But you know, we never forced him to read.  He’d have to read to me occasionally so I could see that his reading level was increasing, but other than that, I didn’t force it.  It’d be like forcing Jason to cook.  He doesn’t enjoy it, so why make him do it (especially when he has a fantastic wife to do it for him! ;-))?  But you know, I’ll never regret that decision to not make him to read.  His love for reading has drastically increased in the last two years.  It just makes my heart happy.  When I see that huge blond-headed boy sitting on the couch reading, I just smile as big as I can.  We did SOMEthing right!

And Kylie?  Woah.  I thought we’d never get her to read.  She just. wasn’t. getting it.  I struggled a lot at that time, wondering if it was truly my place to homeschool my children.  It was really hard.  All of the sudden, one day, she could read.  It just happened.  It was miraculous!  It was AMAZING!  It was wonderful!  My baby girl can FINALLY read!

Mind you, it was right around the time that most kids were learning to read… but because Zachary learned to read at 4.5, I expected Kylie to do the same.  I know, I know.  Not all kids are the same.  She LEARNED to read right around 5 1/2.  That’s still pretty good!  And once she picked up a book, that girl was gone.  I can’t even believe some of the books she picks up to read.  It’s really amazing.  My little ol’ 7 year old just asked me yesterday, “Mom?  May I please read Anne of Green Gables?”  ABSOLUTELY!  I can’t wait to hear what she thinks of the book.  She is definitely WELL above her 2nd grade reading level.  Most assuredly.

Then we have Connor.  He was an okay reader when we started homeschooling.  I had to fix a lot with him because his kindergarten teacher encouraged them to guess the words and look at the pictures.  She would also encourage the parents to allow the children to keep their words misspelled and not correct them.  Grr.  So for his entire first grade year, we had to REALLY work with him on sounding words out and using phonics rules to read.  Our hard work paid off.  That kid.  I tell you what.  He is a READER.  My goodness.  My dad bought him Lord of the Rings for his 11th birthday.  In about 4 months, he shut the book and said, “I’M FINISHED!”

So anyway.  I just wanted to share with you the joy I get out of watching my children read.  It just makes my heart happy and puts a huge smile on my face.  I love getting to see the fruits of our labor.  I just love homeschooling those kiddos!

Now go read something!  Maybe I will too!  😉