The Panic
Have you ever experienced the panic that sets in when you fear your child is behind his peers?
I know I have!
It happened when a woman came up to me one day in the park. She was a homeschooler, and she told me she had taught her daughter to read at age four.
Not knowing any better at the time, I panicked because my daughter was five which now put her behind in reading, or so I thought.
I started to teach my daughter phonics, but it wasn’t clicking for her, and she grew quickly disinterested. And then it occurred to me that I wasn’t taught to read until first grade.
Why would someone teach their child to read at age four, anyway?
I discovered a lot of fascinating things about child development around that time, including that your child is better off NOT learning to read at age four!
You see, each child develops at his own pace, and it isn’t until your child reaches certain developmental milestones, that he’s ready to learn to read.
So if you’re wondering whether or not your child is is ready, here are 3 Signs that your child is ripe for learning how to read.
3 Signs of Reading-Readiness
Here are three easy signs to help determine whether or not your child is ready to learn to read, based on the work of Susan R. Johnson, MD:
He can skip using opposite sides of his body rather than parallel motions
Without losing his balance, he can stand on one leg, holding his arms out with his palms facing up, with his eyes open for 10 seconds and then closed for ten seconds
When asked to draw a picture of himself he will draw his head, neck, torso, arms, fingers, legs, and toes without being prompted.
If he isn't able to do these 3 things, you may want to wait.
The reading-readiness age is usually around 6 1/2 to 7 for girls and 7 to 7 1/2 for boys, according to Mark Van Doren and Mortimer Adler, both 20th-century scholars and experts on all things to do with reading.
Too Soon Is Harmful
What this means is that if you push your child too soon, you may inadvertently raise a poor reader. He will be frustrated learning to read, and if he is in school, he may he may even feel humiliated because he can’t keep up with his peers. Therefore, he will learn to associate reading with something unpleasant.
As your child grows older, the reading material will become more and more challenging and he will fall further behind his classmates.
The Sad Prediction for Poor Readers
If he does learn at an early age, he is 4X more likely to drop out of high school and, therefore, never attend college, according to the American Educational Research Association.
Their assertion is that being a poor reader by grade 3 will put a child at risk, but why are so many children poor readers by grade three?
Poor readers are largely bred out of inappropriate expectations by educational bureaucrats who don't understand child development or how to instill a love of reading in a child.
On top of that we have a medical profession that labels children as “learning disabled” when the child's only problem is the establishment. A child who is developmentally unprepared for learning to read does not have a learning disability!
“The convinction that the best way to prepare a child for a harsh, rapidly changing world is to introduce formal instruction at an early age is wrong.
There is simply no evidence to support it, and considerable evidence against it. Starting children early academically has not worked in the past and it is not working now.”
If your child is in school and struggling to read, you might consider taking him out of school until he is a little older. Preschool and kindergarten are not mandatory in most states. For working mothers, you can search for a learning center that is play-based rather than focused on academic learning.
When homeschooling, you have the flexibility to postpone teaching your child to read until you know that he is ripe to learn. When he is ready, he should learn to read with relative ease.
It is the joy of reading that begs us to read more, and when we find joy in doing something, we want to become good at it.
Introduce learning to read in a way that your child enjoys it. Chances are, he’ll grow up to become a skilled reader, as long as you keep the screens away.
Raise a Reader! Learn more about Elizabeth's unique course, How to Teach Your Child to Read and Raise a Child Who Loves to Read!
Don’t miss your free download, 6 Reasons Homeschooled Kids Have Better Social Skills.
Get a copy of Liz’s “could not live without” book, Education’s Not the Point: How Schools Fail to Train Children’s Minds and Nurture Their Characters with groundbreaking Essays on educating your kids by John Taylor Gatto, Dorothy Sayers, and Liz herself.
About Elizabeth Y. Hanson
Developing a comprehensive understanding of how to raise and educate a “whole” child, based on tradition and modern research, Liz devotes her time to helping parents to get it right.
Liz is a homeschooling thought-leader, as well as the creator of two unique online courses, Raise Your Child Well: Preserving Your Child's Natural Genius by Laying a Solid Foundation During the First Seven Years and the Smart Homeschooler Academy: Homeschooling the "Whole" Child for a Well-Trained Mind and Character
As an Educator, Homeschool Emerita, Writer, and Love and Leadership Certified Parenting Coach, Liz has 23 years of experience raising children and working in education.
Liz is available for one-on-one consultations as needed.
"I know Elizabeth Y. Hanson as a remarkably intelligent, highly sensitive woman with a moral nature and deep insight into differences between schooling and education. Elizabeth's mastery of current educational difficulties is a testimony to her comprehensive understanding of the competing worlds of schooling and education. She has a good heart and a good head. What more can I say?”
—John Taylor Gatto Distinguished educator, public speaker, and best-selling author of Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. For a copy of The Short Angry History of Compulsory Schooling, click here.
