Reading Progress

Jake and Viva are making progress learning to read. We have had to work around trips to Florida and Nevada. It seems like we've been doing the Headsprout program for months--and we have!--but it hasn't been that many months (three and a half). Learning to read well takes time and practice and patience. All those are in shorter supply when you have two children learning to read at the same time.

At first I thought Jake was clearly the better student, but Viva holds her own. When I do flash cards with both of them at the same time, she's as likely as he is to sound the word out first. However, when we switch to reading stories, she's slower because she doesn't recognize duplicate words on the same page and he does.

If a particular word or name appears ten times during a two page story, Viva will usually sound it out every time. That's good and bad. She's not learning to be a sight reader which is good. The bad part is the amount of patience it takes to sit through a reading lesson where almost every word is sounded out. (Although practicing patience is something all of us need!)

It definitely takes more work to teach four year olds to read than it does to teach five years old to read. A few times we've repeated a lesson. Some days we take a break from new lessons and do only flash cards and phonograms and stories from the Headsprout notebook. Throughout the process the twins have stayed committed with only an occasional whine. I'm impressed with their dedication.

What is the perfect age to learn to read? Bentley had to be coaxed into reading lessons last May. The twins were eager to start last December. It is what it is.

And it is good. Both Jake and Viva are making good progress.

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Since I am reporting on reading progress, I will include an update on Bentley's reading as well. Kara purchased an online reading assessment program last month. Bentley did fantastic scoring well above grade level in all areas except for sight reading. It was the first area tested so we aren't sure if he was a little hesitant and so didn't score as well since speed was essential to prove you were sight reading.

It's possible his sight reading (memorized words!) is just at first grade level because we used a phonics based reading program to teach him to read, not a sight reading program. He's not behind in this skill since he's only in kindergarten, but he did much better in all other reading skills. It's not a big deal. The more he reads, the faster he'll get at sight words.

Bentley started learning to read just ten months ago, so he has made excellent progress in his reading skills. He reads short chapter books on his own. Kara has him read to her every day, too, so that she can make sure he's reading every word and not skipping those he doesn't know.