| When my son was in nursery school he raised his | | | | and the little words were firmly in his long term |
| hand to get his teacher's attention."Yes, Daniel?"Daniel | | | | unforgettable memory, my son, not yet two and a |
| pointed to the word "Conneticut" written on the | | | | half years old, started to read - really read, not just |
| blackboard and said, "You spelled Connecticut wrong." | | | | parrot words he'd memorized. He was able to |
| She looked at the board and realized he was | | | | decode long words simply by sounding out the |
| right."Daniel, how did you know it was wrong?" asked | | | | letters. Was I proud!Daniel considered reading just |
| the perplexed teacher."It's because I have a young | | | | another game played with his Daddy. He thought it a |
| and powerful brain!" Daniel triumphantly replied.His | | | | challenge when I said those oft-spoken words, |
| teacher contacted me by phone shortly thereafter, | | | | "sound it out." As a result, after learning phonics, he'd |
| told me what Daniel had said, and asked me how he | | | | try to read anything. Since no one told him that |
| could possibly know about the misspelled word."I told | | | | words like plethora, obtuse, lethargic, and bellicose, |
| her that when he was almost two years old, I | | | | and erudite were big words - college level words - |
| started to teach him how to read.She was full of | | | | he'd tackle them too by sounding them out. Daniel |
| more questions. "Why did you bother to teach him to | | | | read every word in the Best Word Book Ever at |
| read? Surely he would have learned how to read in | | | | least a hundred times. "How about the Take Turns |
| school at the developmentally appropriate age."I had | | | | Game, Daniel?" I would turn to any page in the book |
| no idea what she meant by a developmentally | | | | and Daniel would start reading. He read three words |
| appropriate age. All I knew is that Daniel turned into a | | | | and then I did the same. Or, Daniel would read a full |
| superb reader so he must have been ready to read. | | | | sentence and I would read the next one. Taking |
| "Maybe yes, maybe no," I replied. As I see things, | | | | turns reading aloud made Daniel want to read - he |
| reading is too crucial for his success in school and in | | | | just had to keep up with his Daddy. Little kids, I soon |
| life to leave to chance. That's why I did the job | | | | learned, are intensely competitive and adore winning.I |
| myself. His education, I hope you understand, is | | | | did not limit his reading material to his kid's books. We |
| ultimately my responsibility. Don't you agree?" All I | | | | also read the newspaper, street signs, license plates, |
| heard in reply to my question was a muffled | | | | recipes - anything in print. Daniel wasn't fussy. Being a |
| grunt.She continued with a noticeable edge to her | | | | CPA, I was especially proud after he read the first |
| voice. "Who taught you how to do it? You must be | | | | page of a 1040 tax return. "Hey Daddy, what does |
| a teacher.""Nah...I am a CPA and no one taught me | | | | adjusted gross income mean?"Daniel made lots of |
| ...all I did was teach him the alphabet, the sounds the | | | | mistakes and so, to protect his ego, I invented the |
| letters make, and oh yes, I made sure he had tons | | | | mistake game. This game enabled him to catch me |
| and tons of practice. It was all really very simple. | | | | making a mistake. I reasoned that if Daniel saw that |
| Honest, his brain did most of the work."By the | | | | his Daddy could make a mistake and not have a snit, |
| shrillness of her response, I was sure she was about | | | | he'd learn to accept them. It worked.Daniel Let's play |
| to deliver a cow. "YOU REALLY TAUGHT HIM | | | | the mistake game.Me Okay, you go first.Daniel What |
| PHONICS WHEN HE WAS TWO YEARS OLD?!" She | | | | sound does CH make?Me ShhhhDaniel You made a |
| said the word phonics like it was three day old road | | | | mistake Daddy. Try again.Me Are you sure I made a |
| kill. This was my first indication that there was a | | | | mistake Daniel?Daniel Yes Daddy. A CH makes the |
| problem somewhere with our schools and phonics. It | | | | CHA sound.Me You're right! Gosh, are you smart!One |
| would not be until many years later that I'd learn | | | | of our favorites was the "DO IT" game. In order for |
| about the bizarre things going on in reading instruction | | | | him to understand that there is a reason for reading, |
| at our schools.* * *I remember the evening I made | | | | a message to be understood in everything written. I |
| that fateful decision as though it were yesterday. | | | | would print a message on a piece of paper such as |
| "I'm going to teach Daniel how to read to me!" I | | | | "close your eyes and jump up and down." If Daniel |
| hollered to my wife who was watching television in | | | | read the instruction and started jumping up and |
| the next room. Daniel was standing on his bed, and | | | | down, I knew he was reading for comprehension - |
| probably wondered what his silly Daddy was yelling | | | | the only reason for reading. He never lost that game.. |
| about. He didn't know then, nor did I, how much | | | | Some spelling instruction systems say that it is all |
| those few words would eventually change our lives. | | | | right for a child to invent his or her own spelling, that |
| Suddenly Daniel's bed became a classroom and I | | | | sooner or later kids will learn the correct spelling. I |
| became his first teacher. From that day on, things in | | | | didn't buy that invented spelling nonsense. I thought it |
| our family would never be quite the same.My lack of | | | | better for him to learn how to spell correctly the first |
| teaching experience never bothered me a whit. I | | | | time around than to unlearn the incorrect spelling |
| never created lesson plans and took every lesson | | | | later.* * *Final results? After investing about 30-40 |
| one day at a time. I simply relied on old-fashioned | | | | minutes a night for about two years, the results |
| common sense and trial and error to chart my | | | | were quite gratifying. Daniel entered kindergarten |
| course. This was nightime learning fun between my | | | | reading and spelling at the fourth or fifth grade level. |
| son and me. As it turned out, my total ignorance of | | | | But even more than that, when he was four I had |
| current early teaching methodology was of crucial | | | | him tested by an educational psychologist who told |
| importance to my later success. For example, my | | | | me Daniel had a genius level IQ of 148.Some people |
| ignorance kept me away from developmentalism. | | | | tell me that Daniel could read because he was born |
| This idiotic philosophy says that it's wrong to teach | | | | super-gifted, unusually bright, a genius. I'd sure like to |
| preschoolers how to read because in some way, it | | | | think that is true, that he inherited my brainy genes, |
| would damage them. Had I known about this, I never | | | | but I know better. Daniel wasn't born a genius with |
| would have taught my son how to read and I would | | | | anything that millions of other children across the |
| have missed what was the most joyful experience | | | | world do not possess. What I did, however, was to |
| of my life.The lessons began . . .To start, I began to | | | | make him use it. I did not teach my son how to read |
| teach Daniel the basic building blocks of reading -- the | | | | to make him smart. At the time, I had no clue about |
| letters of the alphabet and their sounds (phonics). | | | | the interesting byproduct of early readng. Learning |
| That turned out to be the wisest possible beginning. | | | | how to read exercised his brain which acted like a |
| A friend gave me Richard Scarry's Best Word Book | | | | brain growth catalyst.and made him very smart. The |
| Ever which has the alphabet on the first two pages. | | | | realization of what my teaching had done to my |
| In the most entertaining ways possible, I taught | | | | son's intellect fascinated me to no end. I had literally |
| Daniel the alphabet, both lower and upper case. We | | | | created high intelligence! This was sure a lot more |
| practiced and reviewed the letters on those first two | | | | interesting than mindlessly filling out tax returns. Why |
| pages for several months, literally branding the | | | | didn't I go into education instead of accounting?* * |
| alphabet and their sounds into Daniel's long-term | | | | *Soon enough, I became an educational gadfly. I |
| unforgettable memory. Another great aid in teaching | | | | began to put on seminars at continuing adult |
| him the alphabet was the alphabet song. I must have | | | | education centers and even went on radio talk |
| sung it with him a million times and he enjoyed it | | | | shows to spread the message that we can make |
| every time. Unlike adults, little kids love | | | | our children very bright and there was no longer any |
| repetition.That's how they learn best.And so it went. | | | | excuse for school or reading failure. Parents can |
| Every day I added a few new letters and constantly | | | | prevent that . . . that we parents must get involved |
| reviewed letters previously learned. I somehow knew | | | | in the educational process . . . that we are or should |
| that he had to learn the alphabet and their sounds as | | | | become our children's first teachers.Not everyone, I |
| well as he knew his own name and constant practice | | | | learned to my surprise, was enthralled with the |
| and review (drill and practice) was the best way to | | | | promise of much higher intelligence for their children. I |
| do it. If there was any one key to my success, it | | | | was suddenly at odds with most of the educational |
| was certainly constant long term repetitive practice. | | | | establishment who wanted nothing to do with early |
| When I learned that educators speak of drill and | | | | reading instruction. At first I naively thought |
| practice in disparaging terms, I began to understand | | | | educators would embrace my ideas. Was I wrong |
| why we have a reading problem. How could anyone | | | | about that! Because they thought of me as a home |
| be against long term practice?I learned quickly that I | | | | schooler in disguise, the educators despised |
| must not bore him, so I played lots of fun learning | | | | everything I stood for.Educators spend much of their |
| games. I laughed and smiled a lot, celebrated Daniel's | | | | time dissuading parents from early reading instruction. |
| triumphs and showed genuine enthusiasm for his | | | | They use words like hot housing, developmentally |
| progress. In other words, I joined Daniel in his world. | | | | inappropriate, elitism, parental pressure, let kids be |
| It would have been ludicrous for me to expect Daniel | | | | kids, and other such self serving nonsense. For the |
| to come into my boring and stuffy adult world. To | | | | longest time I could not understand why these |
| make things even more interesting, I rarely dwelled | | | | educators are so steadfastly against early reading. |
| on any subject too long. I might start a lesson with a | | | | What can be more harmless than parents teaching |
| five-minute conversation about the "B" sound and | | | | reading to their tots and toddlers? Even more than |
| then ask Daniel if water is a liquid, gas or solid. After | | | | that, they seem to downgrade or ignore the vast |
| that, I might ask him to show me four fingers on his | | | | importance of high intelligence, as if intelligence does |
| left hand or even what the ancient Greek Democritis | | | | not really matter. They call themselves |
| is noted for (he coined the word "atom."As the | | | | developmentalists. Watch out for and avoid them like |
| weeks of nightly instruction continued, I discovered, | | | | the plague.The following is an exercise that will tell |
| much to my delight, that this teaching business was | | | | you why one reason why educators despise very |
| not a chore. Instead, I found myself eagerly looking | | | | early academics. Think of twenty poor inner city |
| forward to the lessons. I was enjoying myself | | | | black kids who were all taught to read as I taught |
| enormously and I was fascinated by the speed of | | | | my son. Picture them all entering the same |
| Daniel's progress. I hadn't yet grasped how amazingly | | | | kindergarten class. See them all carrying the |
| fast little kids learn. Of particular enjoyment were our | | | | newspaper or their favorite computer manual. See |
| Socratic like learning conversations. "Daniel, do you | | | | the teacher who is all prepared to teach these kids |
| know that everything in the world is made of little | | | | the alphabet with wooden blocks. All the kids are |
| bitty things called atoms?" The subjects of these | | | | already reading at the fourth grade level. Seeing the |
| conversations varied. Since my two year old had the | | | | disaster before her eyes, what is the teacher to do? |
| whole world to learn about, almost anything that | | | | Whatever she does, she knows she must throw out |
| popped into my head was of value. Needless to say, | | | | the blocks as well as her old timetables. A whole new |
| he reveled in all the one on one attention I lavished | | | | world was before her eyes.So what would finally |
| on him.One of my neighbors who is a teacher | | | | happen? After innumerable meeting and conferences, |
| warned me not to pressure him too much to learn or | | | | her peers and the powers that be in education would |
| he might burn out. I told her that she had the culprits | | | | have no choice but vastly smarten up the curricula |
| mixed up. I told her, "Once Daniel got a taste of the | | | | and adjust to the children's amazingly high intellects. |
| fun lessons, he pressured me for more and more | | | | The kids nor their parents would accept anything less. |
| learning time. He became utterly relentless!" What | | | | This is how our tots and toddlers will eventually |
| started out as fifteen minute lessons soon became | | | | change our educational system.Finally, let me end this |
| forty minutes or more.Then came the little words . . | | | | on a positive note. My thoughts are not focused on |
| .the most commonly used two and three letter | | | | my son's accomplishments. Instead I think about the |
| words. We practiced them until he knew them | | | | joyous learning times he and I spent together. Sadly I |
| instantly by sight. Count among them: the, I, a, you, | | | | think about the fact that such times can never be |
| is, to, me, he, it, was, can, if, in, are, on, of, and | | | | repeated. Frankly, I envy those parents who have |
| maybe fifty more.Amazingly, after about four or five | | | | read this article and decide to live that teaching |
| months, when the alphabet with their related sounds | | | | adventure. They will never regret it. |