Mom Is Teaching

A post over at Life Without School got me thinking about reading. Back to the Beginning by a great guest author Christine is such a great look at her sharing a love of reading with her son. As a mom of a three year old myself I had to chuckle a little reading it. From the moment we get up until the moment we go to bed I am repeatedly attacked with “What do those words say?”. Now don’t get me wrong, I love that he’s so interested and is buildign such a strong love of reading. As a fellow bookworm I am positively thrilled to share with him my passion for the written word. But after the first 500 times that the question has been asked and I’m still on my first cup of coffee it can get a bit tiring. And let me tell you, mommy is no good at reading every single sign and staying in the correct lane at the same time. Who knew learning to read could be dangerous?

Every time he gets absorbed in the shapes and patterns of letters and words all around him and I start to feel frustrated because we’re late, or I’ve already read that cereal box 20 times, or I’m just not in the mood to translate the world to him I think back to a moment I had in grade school. It must have been second, maybe third grade. Every day day lunch we had quiet reading time for half an hour then moved into our history lesson. That day I had found in the school library The Indian in the Cupboard. I didn’t just read this book, I devoured it. I became completly lost in the story of the young boy and the magical world he had found. The next thing I knew I was begin started out of the story by my teacher’s voice. You can imagine how red my face was when I discovered that not only had I read through all of the reading time, but also through half of the history lesson. I never noticed the teacher tell us to put our books down, I never heard the lesson begin, and I was totally unaware of the rest of class reading aloud and answering questions. There could have been a fire drill and I would have sat there reading.

This is the kind of magic I hope to create for my own sons. The ability to get lost in a book, to leave everything behind for a little while and do the things that they might not ever be able to do in reality. And I want to give them the freedom to spend the entire afternoon reading as much as they want without the sharp realization that all eyes are on them. Because a history lesson can wait until tomorrow, but the experience of being that lost in a book is a rare treat.

P.S. While I’m on the subject of books Tiny Treasury has the scoop on a contest to win free children’s books. Find out about it here

reading, books, learning to read, homeschooling, preschooler