"Twaddle" and learning to read

I just had to share this funny little story about how even young children can pick up on twaddle when they have been exposed to living books.

My first 3 children learned to read easily all when they were each 4. I just spent lots of time reading good books to/with them, showing them how to sound out words. I never did use a formal phonics program either.

My 4th child, who is now 6, had been having a really hard time learning to read. My husband was wondering why she still wasn’t getting it, and I was getting worried too, as the older 3 were so easy to teach and much younger. So I tried a “highly recommended in homeschool circles” phonics program…it was painfully boring for both me and her, so we dropped that. Then I tried another well-known phonics program…again it was so boring for both of us, so I dropped that. I was getting frustrated thinking there was something wrong with me in that I could not get through to her. (Just wanted to add that I am not at all anti-phonics, but some of the materials out there are twaddle and very, very expensive)

I was telling a friend my concerns and she gave me some easy readers from a well known homeschool supplier. My daughter was so turned off by the boring and way too silly stories and I actually dreaded when it was time to get out those readers. It is so true what Sonya says in one of her YouTube videos that “if you cringe when the child brings you the book to read, it’s probably twaddle”. My 6 yo had recognized the books as twaddle, too, although she didn’t say the word twaddle! So I kept praying about it and felt to just stop the reading lessons for a few months then try again this summer. (They were not the Pathway Readers recommended here…I have not seen those, but only heard good thing about them).

I happened upon Karyn Henley’s Day by Day Begin to Read Bible in the library. The bible stories are written for a beginning reader. It is not dumbed down, but written in simple but rich language. We have been working on it a little each day and she’s loving it and asks to work on reading every day! She said to me, now I love to read because I already know the stories from you reading the Bible to me and it helps me while I read these stories. I even bought her own copy for her and she loves it.

What a delight! I’d much rather have her reading bible stories anyway from the Greatest Living Book of all time.

Nanci