when i walked down the steps this morning first thing, i was met with a view of my two sons sitting together on the couch. it isn’t that this never happens, but what made it so special was that the older had a book open and was reading to the younger. and no one had asked him to.

now, before i had ever convinced myself that homeschooling was for our family, i asked my oldest sister why she did it. she said, one of the reasons was there was a sort of life-affirming feeling you get when you teach your kids how to read. she may not have said it in those exact words, but that is how i remember and put it in my own.

i was saying some of these things to a friend of mine on the phone later today, and seb piped up, “mommy, you didn’t even have to do anything!” so maybe we’re in disagreement as to who did all the work of teaching him to read–it seemed to happen on its own. i will concede this much–if i did the work of teaching, he did that of learning.

this is good work.

Posted on January 25th, 2010