We had two reading breakthroughs here today and I mostly want to write about it for my own benefit.
I think today was the first day Millie (age 7 1/2) ever sat and read a chapter book silently to herself. She's been feeling under the weather with a cold, and has mostly been laying on the couch blowing her nose. I think the inactivity was just what she needed to slow her down enough to make silent reading appealing. Learning to read has been no easy task for her. It has been a long, uphill climb. But it is finally all coming together and she's becoming a fluent reader. Her book of choice today was a recent selection from the library (Lily in Full Bloom, which is in the Disney Fairies series). I think she is still skipping over some words that are too hard for her, but she's been telling me about the story, so it seems she's getting the meaning, if not all of the details!
The other breakthrough was Silas, who is just a month away from turning 5. I've worked with Silas some on letters and phonics, and I had a hunch that learning to read would come easily for him. And tonight for Silas it totally clicked. It was actually quite humorous to see him clip along page after page in the beginning reader (Book 1 in the I Can Read It! series), then the wide eyes and big smile when he realized what he was doing. A definite "aha" moment, which was very exciting for both of us. Tom was in the room too, holding Naomi, and I was glad he was there to share such a fun moment.
