SC writes: I just read your latest writing on WorldNetDaily. We are blessed to have two boys, ages 5-1/2 and 4. I am not a teacher by profession, but my Mother taught me to read by age four. I am a passionate reader and knew I wanted my children to share the love of reading. And I knew it was possible….
Anyway, I did nearly exactly what you described because I didn’t find a reading program I was comfortable with. And it has gone just as you said. It was much easier than I ever expected. We don’t spend more than 20 minutes a day on phonics and we frequently miss days. I am by no means spending much or most of my days teaching my kids to read. My oldest goes to kindergarten at an academic Christian school. But he is so far ahead of the other children in reading and mathematics that his teacher says, somewhat disdainfully and disapprovingly, that he is bored. She hasn’t done a thing to challenge him more, even though we have requested it.
So we researched and picked the ‘best’ school district. After preschool at a Christian school, we figured we’d have to put him in pubic school. We went to register him at the public school and spoke with the principal, then the teachers. When we asked the principal about the reading programs, he told us phonics went out with the dinosaurs. I was surprised and told him of the progress we’ve made. He replied, “Parents need to stay out of their kids’ educational lives and leave teaching to the professionals.” He repeated this three times in ten minutes, admonishing us that working with them at home does a disservice to kids by giving them an unfair advantage that doesn’t even last. He said that ‘by third or fourth grade they are all in the same place anyway.’ We were in shock and it lasted for a couple of weeks….
We are no longer interested in having our kids in public school.
The significant question is, why doesn’t it last? The answer is, because public schooling is not designed to teach children to develop their abilities, it is designed to educate children to suppress them. The difference is crucial.