Liam Reads!!!

Liam is starting to read! 

On August 29, Liam (4 years + 2 months) read aloud his first book by himself!  (Not memorized, I promise!)  Doug and I were both able to hear him read it out loud.  It was one of the Bob books, "Mac."  Normally Duog would have been at work, but he was home sick, so he was able to witness the moment.  He said he wished we would've captured it on video...

Liam was SOOOO excited that he had read a book!  Doug was seriously impressed that Liam was able to read so well.  Liam has gone on to read other Bob books from the blue box series (Beginning readers).  We are so happy for him, that he is interested in reading. 

Miss Ebony (his teacher at Lighthouse Academy in pre-K) has been amazingly instrumental in helping him along.  They use the Abeka reading program at the school, which emphasizes a phoenetical approach to reading.  Miss Ebony means business, too!  The kids were used to more “play time” in their last class (3 year-old class), but in Miss Ebony’s class, it is more like school.  They sit at chairs, have assigned seating at tables and do quite a bit of school work.  So, thanks to Miss Ebony and Abeka, we’ve been able to sound our way through the Bob books.  J 

At bedtime lately, Liam brings a stack of books (anywhere from 3 to 9 books!) to us, to start reading.  At first he bawked at the idea of reading a Bob book before any of the other fun books in the stack, but now he automatically knows we will be reading a Bob book before any other books, and brings the Bob books with the rest of the stack.  ;-)  He does so well with it!

When we head upstairs for bed, we also read two Bible stories in the kids’ beds, before prayers and turning out the light.  They have a bookmark (a popsicle craft stick) they use to keep track of which story we read the night prior.  We finished with the more elementary (simple) Bible story book, so now we’re reading the comic-style version of the Bible that Grandpa Dean and Grandma Dolly gave to Liam for his birthday. 

I’ve told Doug (and I firmly believe) that kids who read the Bible are among the most well-read.  (How can you NOT be, if you see words like Nebuchadnezzar?  ;-)   The kids seem genuinely interested in each of the stories.  I love to hear their comments about the stories we read.  J

I’m so geeked for Liam! Knowing he can sound words out definitely makes me feel confident he will do well in Kindergarten.  He will be “assessed” in May, to see if he is ready to take on kindergarten in the next school year.  I have no doubt he will do well with the assessment.  With such a late birthday for the Georgia cut-off (September 1), I'm trying to work hard with him, to be sure he is ready for Kindergarten next fall. 

Some of Ava’s fellow kindergarteners had summer birthdays and were purposely held back by their parents.  I think, given that Liam is already used to day care / a classroom setting, he will do well. There were some kids (two) in Ava’s kindergarten class, who, when I was volunteering in her classroom, I noticed didn’t know very basic words like “the” and “and”.  L  (After I was finished with basic volunteering tasks, the teacher asked if I would work with one of them directly.)  Those two students went on to repeat kindergarten this year.  Knowing Liam can sound out words and they couldn’t even in kindergarten, makes me more confident Liam will go on to thrive at Murdock, next school year.  We will be focusing on more fine-motor skills in the next month or so, to be sure he can write his name as neatly as possible.  He can write his name now, but we’ll work on practicing it more.  J Our normal early-morning routine of "playing school" - after big sis Ava heads to the bus - is paying off!

Peace, love and books!

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam