We can read!

Today marks a momentous occasion: the day my three oldest children officially became readers.

We've been working on their sight words and using their phonics lessons to learn how to sound out what they don't recognize, and today it all came together as they each read the first story in their readers.

I'm so happy I could cry.

This has not come easily. My daughter has struggled in learning to read, and because she is the oldest our entire experience of homeschooling thus far has been frustrating, to say the least. We're on our fourth phonics curriculum. And I'm afraid that in my concern that my daughter not be the last reader among our three bigs I've held back my two boys, who have been ready to take off for some time, now. Even today, my daughter struggled and hesitated, needing several minutes to decode the pages while my boys read the text easily.

It's hard to watch her fight for what came so easily to me. I was an early, strong, voracious reader. I can't remember a time when I did not love books. But it seems that my daughter takes after her Daddy, who also struggled with reading in his early elementary years.

So tomorrow we'll be reading the next story in our readers, and will continue on in the days that follow. And hopefully by the end of our school year, I'll have three children who love books and reading, and have moved beyond learning the mechanics to being fluent readers.