The Kids Are Reading

Well, sort of.....

Sophia has steadily been making progress in the reading department.  She has been able to get through small books on her own for several weeks now.  She still makes mistakes and takes a bit of time sounding her words out, but she has memorized numerous sight words and she quickly recognizes them when she comes across them.

Keenan's pre-school teacher taught Kindergarten up until this year.  So she has been working with the kids on phonics since Day 1 of school and Keenan frequently practices the letter sounds.  

The other day, I was working with Sophia with word flash cards.  She was struggling with a word when Keenan stunned me by supplying her with it.  I ran 30 flash cards by him and he read nearly every word.  I asked him how long he has been able to read words and he just shrugged and replied "a while."  The long and the short of it is that he reads when he feels like it and I'm just going with the flow, making sure I don't pressure him in this department.  

As for Sophia?  The fact that her 'little' brother is now reading was a great motivator for her. I can hear her over the monitor before she goes to sleep, practicing reading aloud. It's pretty funny what can inspire a kid to learn. 

In the meantime, Sophia is now enrolled for next year's partial immersion Mandarin 1st grade class.  She has already gotten a great start with Mandarin in Kindergarten, but starting next year, all of her math and science is taught only in Mandarin. The administrators are hoping (and so are we) that the program will continue to grow with the kids and they will have Mandarin immersion through high school. We are hoping that Keenan will also be in the program.  As a sibling, he has some priority, but our kids are also open enrollees, so time will tell.