Beginning Reading

Our five-year old Senior Kinder is challenged by his Reading subject. His lesson right now is reading three-letter words. I want to help him in his learning journey. After all, parents are children’s first teachers. 

I believe that learning, to be effective, should not be forced to keep up with the curriculum. He should learn at his own pace and he should enjoy learning. That is why I previously considered home schooling. I had to give up that option though as I am working full-time. 

Nevertheless, I am thankful that as early as two years old, we introduced him to books. Books about boats and ships, about a boy who tries and tries until he finally learns to bike, about the first day in school and other real life situations. The classic fairy tales are in our line-up, too, such as Three Little Pigs, Pinocchio, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Mostly were bought from Booksale and Books for Less. 

I am happy because he remembers the plot and the values the story wants to impart. Sometimes, he even narrates the story to himself. At one time, he asked me to act out the Wolf while he enacts the role of Little Red Riding Hood. I take these as a sign that he appreciates the reading that we do.

It helps that his school’s approach is the use of a story as a springboard to reading, vocabulary, math, science, and values education. The school, AA Total Achievers Academy, also designated a library day to cultivate a love for reading among pupils.  

Opening the world of books to little boy blue made it easier to introduce the alphabet. If only I could make the ABC interesting enough to catch and hold his attention instead of simply reciting it. So now we sing the alphabet, sound out each letter, and describe how each letter looks like: B has bumps, L has a standing line and sleeping line, W is like the waves of the sea. Such literal clues will let him recall with ease. I learned this when I sat in during his summer classes at Gymboree in Serendra.

Repetition is a key. While I rarely assist him on weekdays because I stay late in the office, I make up for it on weekends. His school also gives assignments, lengthy though, only on Fridays, which we work on the whole weekend. 

Come study sessions, we turn off all distractions. I bring on the table my patience, too, mindful that I may already be raising my voice. I can sense his frustrations as well with that sad pout, so I prod him to try and try.  

In the school meeting we had in June, parents were discouraged from hiring tutors. We were advised that parents should make time to teach their children. It sends the message that parents are there for their children even during difficult times like learning to read.

We’d go: ba, be, bi, bo, bu and when we add a third letter like g or y, what do we have? Ba-g! Be-g! Bi-g! Bo-y! Bu-g! Yehey! We did it! We would embrace each other for our little triumph of the day.

I pray that little boy blue becomes a voracious reader. In the meantime, I’ll cherish our comic beginning reading anecdotes like this one: We saw the word ‘entrance’ with a drawing of an arrow below it. He told me, “Mom, look, ‘eh’ referring to the beginning sound of ‘entrance’ and with confidence uttered, “Eh as in ‘(eh)rrow’.