Freedom, Fresh Air and Time

I love books. I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. I have an ever-growing list of favorites and always wish for more time in the day to sit down with a good book and lose myself in it. I love to read at the beach, at the pool, in bed before I fall asleep, on a cold day in front of a crackling fire, next to the window on a rainy day, by headlamp in a tent, you name it. When Waddles and Hopper ask me what my favorite thing to do is, "Read", I say.

Reading came easy to me. I would have to confirm this with my mother, but I was practically born reading. According to TDH, however, reading did not come naturally to him. In fact, he didn't read for pleasure, or by choice, until roughly 2 years ago. And he still prefers to be read to. He subscribes to Audible and can be found listening to books anytime of day, any day he is not working. He consumes an enormous quantity of books this way. It cannot be argued that he, too, loves books!

That being said, one of the driving reasons for us to begin homeschooling this year was that Waddles struggles to read. It is surely not due to a lack of interest. He shares our love of books, and he will listen for hours on end when he is being read to (like his father). He won't necessarily sit still during those hours (again, like his father - TDH gets a LOT done while he listens to audiobooks), but Waddles never misses a word and his comprehension is truly out of this world.

The fact remains that when he reads it is painfully slow and full of inaccuracies (e.g. he reads "what" instead of "that"). He has to sound out many words and has limited recall of any words he previously sounded out. He skips lines and becomes increasingly frustrated as the number of words on a page increases. He was barreling toward 3rd grade with all those "reading-to-learners", but he was still learning to read.

"Have you had him tested?", you may ask. Yes, we have. The pertinent question TDH and I began to ask ourselves was, "How much and to what end?". During 1st grade, Waddles was diagnosed with visual learning disabilities. We followed the prescribed 12-week vision therapy program and saw improvement. Nevertheless, through 2nd grade he remained below the expected reading level. I will spare the details of many conversations with teachers, optometrists, an occupational therapist who prescribed another several month long program to help eliminate (related/unrelated) "movement seeker" behaviors, etc. Suffice it to say, we were receiving feedback from multiple sources that Waddles was having difficulty fitting into the classroom.

Last Spring, he came home from school several times with those words - "I can't do it" and "I'm not smart enough". I know neither of these statements is true, but I also know that the likelihood for him to feel increasingly inferior and incapable of meeting expectations was a guarantee. 

TDH and I reached our conclusion to remove Waddles from traditional schooling and teach him at home in a way that works better for him. I admit, I want many things from this choice. Part of what I seek most is the opportunity to allow for Waddles' reading skills to develop without sacrificing content or complexity of material and without causing him to develop the sense that he is "stupid". I have no doubt his reading skills will catch up, but I don't want that need for more time to stand in the way of his ability and desire to absorb substantial amounts of information and to satisfy his thirst for knowledge.

With this in mind, it thrills me to say that our first official day of homeschooling was spent reading. It was a packing/moving day back in Oregon. TDH and I opted to divide and conquer, as we often do. He stayed at the house with Audible playing in his ears while the kids and I skipped off to a large, open field at McMenamins Grand Lodge . We found a spot under the shade of a large tree and began reading The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. I read while they listened, for hours. They begged me to continue from chapter to chapter, they inquired about the plot and characters throughout, and I occasionally quizzed them to ensure they were not only paying attention but actually "getting it". We read all day long, shifted to a picnic table for lunch, enjoyed a few chapters at bedtime, and so on. We finished the book in 2 days. I even rested my head in Waddles' lap for part of the time. It was magical - we were blessed with freedom, fresh air, and time. It was just what we needed to get started on our flavor of homeschooling.

When we arrived in Hawaii, it was time to choose a new book to read. I exercised my hard-to-define and impossible-to-repeat approach to book selection. In doing so, we discovered Calvin Coconut by Graham Salisbury. I can't say enough about how much we are enjoying reading these books together as a family. 

Calvin Coconut is a boy about Waddles' age who frequently, through little fault of his own, gets into what Waddles calls "funny trouble". He has a younger sister, Darci, about the same age as Hopper. This sibling relationship is key to my enjoyment of the books because it reflects that of Waddles and Hopper in their mutual support and obvious love for each other. Calvin experiences some lessons in life - bullying, divorce, and making new friends for example. These books offer a way for us to discuss these challenges in a safe and low-stress context. In fact, this post may have just been a really long way of saying if you're looking for a fun book for your kids to read, or to read to your kids, I strongly recommend Calvin Coconut!

Who knows what we will read next, but for now I am happy to say that reading together is a large part of our homeschool curriculum. I look forward to rereading several of my old favorites as well as selecting new books. All we need is a little freedom, fresh air and time. I am grateful that our new way of life permits just that, so we may enjoy this and countless more educational activities stress-free, considering that our experiences over the past three years have been anything but!