When I began familiarizing myself with the Kindergarten curriculum, I actually found it somewhat funny that index cards for sight words are recommended. Sight words? For real? My son and I would spend hours each week on the local school district's 500 sight words page, mostly for the purpose of helping him with his speech. He could already read the words easily at age (early) 4, but the added benefit was that he learned to correctly spell them all and now writes very detailed lists, requests, and descriptions of his feelings (when his emotions overwhelm him too much to speak, a common difficulty with his speech disorder).
Many people are surprised when I tell them how early my children were reading, but I truly believe that almost all children are capable of much more than we give them credit for. For example, when my son was diagnosed with autism and an expressive-receptive speech disorder at age 2, crying and meltdowns were the norm. I didn't throw him in ABA therapy hoping someone could train him to handle his outbursts better; I examined why he was so tantrum-prone. I realized that he knew exactly what he wanted, but the words were not making it from his brain to his mouth. Words were flipped around, mixed up, and incomplete. He was frustrated, and understandably so!
Unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately, as it turned out - our county was minus a speech therapist at the time through Early Intervention. Through the University of Google (ha!) I did some research about my son's speech disorder and found that sign language could be helpful. I went to the local library and started requesting all the Signing Time DVDs I could get my hands on, and bought a few that were not available through the inter-library lending program. And, as a family, we learned sign language. I was amazed at my children's capacity to pick up and retain this new language. Even more profound was the marked absence of the daily meltdown marathon; it turns out my son has a great capacity for language, just not the spoken form. With the tools to communicate, he was so happy and could then focus on other things.
It occurred to me that they could probably learn just about anything, and well. I also realized something else; parents are their children's first teachers. We doubt ourselves. We believe that schools will teach them all they need to know, and that our duties pretty much end when they walk into the school building for their first day of Kindergarten. Even those who don't think they believe that still sort of do. Because I didn't think I believed it, but I did. Confused yet?
The realization came to me when I was contemplating the necessity of backpacks for homeschooled children and the study space we would use. I had a very 'inside the box' concept of education. I would turn the kitchen table into a desk for the academic portion of our day, and backpacks would not be necessary. Or, would they? We could take our books to the park and read for a change of pace. And for that matter, why does the kitchen table have to double as a desk? Wouldn't it be much more comfortable to relax on the couch with Why Frogs Are Wet? Ah, yes. I had great ideas, but still very conventional ideas about learning. That is evolving, now.
It isn't amazing that my children were reading books at early 4. They are bright children, yes, but I think somewhere along the line parents stopped believing they were a part of their children's learning experience. Sure, we know we are the ones who teach values and the importance of chores and making good choices in life, but we are so much more! Much more than many of us give ourselves credit for. We should all challenge our traditional views of how children learn, and our role in their education.
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