Dragons? Where?
"Dragon" my three year old shouted out excitedly, while pointing at a souvenir baseball in a shop window. Nick and I exchange questioning glances as our daughter continues to jabber about dragons. "I didn't teach her that. I definitely did not teach her how to read, and I most definitely did not teach her the word dragon" he points out while inspecting the baseball. Upon looking at it myself I noticed that the baseball was rather plain; white stiff leather, crimson red stitching, and in forest green lettering "Dragons". It was at that moment that I realized that my sweet little girl opened the magical doors of literacy, and she did it all on her own.
Before that incidence I half-heartedly worked on Val's phonics and did nothing more to be honest. To a degree I did not want to believe that Val was ready, or able, to retain such knowledge, but boy did she prove me wrong. I did not even start right away on expanding my daughter's education, that did not happen for another five months, instead the odd occurrence drifted to the back of my mind. After my second daughter was born I started to notice Val was playing some educational apps on her tablet and that is where I truly got to witness Val dexterously write her letters and form sight words with minimum direction. Out of curiosity I requested her to write a few letters on a pad of primary paper with a pencil. Not only did my daughter manage to trace my dotted letters, but she was able to freehand A,C,D, and E. Furthermore I was impressed by her ability to hold a pencil the correct way. Where did she learn this all from? The answer was rather shocking, maybe not to some parents, but when I discovered that she was watching video's on YouTube my jaw dropped.
From there on forth I began investing a hefty amount of time into her education. Every day we write a whole page worth of the letter of the week and then we go through the sight word of the week. We read simple books together and do a related activity. I add a little bit of mathematics every other day, but I stop if it starts to stress Val out too much. I am guilty of adding a few educational videos from YouTube to our classroom studies (Alphablocks1 Is a great channel), but I do find them to be a valuable resource when used in moderation. I surely will add more to our curriculum as time progresses, but for now I am establishing a slow and steady schedule.
Did your children display early literacy skill? If so, what was the indicator? Comment and share your experiences down below.
References:
1. “Alphablocks.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 Jan. 2015, www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qs3c0ehDvZkbiEbOj6Drg.
