How Alex Learned to Read
Part Two: Age about 4 to 6
A lot of Alex's time was spent watching and acting out movies and musicals, building with Legos, playing games on the computer, going to the playground, painting, drawing, and collecting things.
Except for writing stories and playing games on the computer, there was not a whole lot of reading related stuff he did. Of course his pen and paper were never far away as he didn't go through a day without writing or drawing something. When writing his stories, he would still ask how to spell words and ask me to point out the letters on his chart, so he would be sure he wrote the right one.
As with most children, many of the letters he wrote were backwards, but I never worried about that. I don't remember exactly why, but I began to believe that there was a reason his brain was seeing things that way, and I felt that if I tried to correct it, I would be messing around with things I didn't understand. So I left it at that.
He also wrote stories backwards. If he wrote them on separate pages, he would put them in a folder or staple them with page one in the back and the last page in front. If he used a notebook or pad, he always started in the back.
There were a few times when Alex voiced his desire to know how to read. Not to "learn", but to "know". Although I would always help him read whatever he needed to read, he still wanted to know how to do it himself.
When I could see this desire was actually his, I would assure him that he would learn if he wanted to. I would ask him if he wanted to try small words or learn sounds the letters made, but on the rare occasion he said yes, this would only last a minute (literally). He didn't want to be taught. He wanted to just "know".
When I could see the desire was brought about by a good intentioned friend or relative mentioning something to him, I would assure him that he didn't need to worry about pleasing anyone but himself. I would tell him that one reason school children are prompted to learn earlier is because many of their learning experiences involve books.
Another reason is that it's simpler to teach thirty children reading at the same time, rather than individually when they are ready. I would tell him that nearly everyone around us was used to the way it was done in school. They didn't understand our way.
I'd been reading more and more about actual experiences of unschooled children, so I was able to let him know that many unschooled children didn't learn to read until much, much later. Luckily, Alex wasn't that concerned about what others said to him, so this wasn't a problem. For the most part, he didn't think twice about whether he could read or not. He had so many other things on his mind.
The computer games that taught reading got played more in these years than before. Still, he didn't play them much. They couldn't keep his interest. He would only play a few minutes at a time. After about age six, I don't think he ever played them. He never finished one.
Alex watched Between the Lions fairly often. He had an assortment of electronic toys with the alphabet and words. He started receiving Lego and Turtle magazines in the mail. And we were always adding books to our library.
I'm sure a great amount of the foundation needed to understand written words was acquired between the age of four and six. It can't be gauged because most of it probably went unnoticed in the course of his daily activities.
I know he thought about sounds and letters. Occasionally, he would come to me and ask if I knew things, like the letter "m" makes the "mmmmm" sound.
How Alex Learned to Read - Part Three
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