Denver Does it Again



Denver chose to read this funny book
about an optical illusion.



He surprises me. Every day. About 75% of his surprises are wonderful. Yesterday was a good example. Denver read to me. Unprompted. Unasked. He just picked up an interesting looking book, brought it into the kitchen, and began reading aloud. Although he became frustrated halfway through and asked me to reread the entire book aloud to him, I was amazed and again humbled by my boys' motivation to learn when they are ready.

Because his two older brothers read often and well, I sometimes forget that Denver is younger and it is normal for him to still be struggling with reading. Because we are homeschooling, I feel responsible and embarrassed when Denver announces to the world (or more importantly, his father and grandparents), "I CAN'T READ." He makes this announcement regularly. Does he do this just to take the pressure off? Does he believe "reading" means being able to read as well as his brothers? Because he can read. His standardized test showed him to be reading at a third grade level.

Still, it's helpful to remind myself that John Robert-- a devoted bookworm who sleeps in a bed full of books-- could barely read more than his name when he was seven. John Robert has often told the story of his first day in first grade. The teacher passed out a worksheet with words to read. He knew NONE of them. Not knowing the procedure in a public school classroom, John Robert got up and walked around the room asking other students to read the words and trying to memorize them.

So Denver surprised me again. A good surprise. Not only is he learning to read-- but he is learning to LIKE it!