Did reading "click" for you?

[mommymilkies]

Kind of a strange question, I know. I remember being 6 years old and sounding out words in class, like STOP. But then I have a very distinct memory of sitting with my mother and reading Kim the Kitten. She asked me to read and it was like a lightbulb went on. What before was like a secret code just suddenly became clear and all made sense. It was a huge moment for me that I still remember. I was reading at a 12th grade reading level 2 years later and have always been excellent at it.

 

Dh, on the other hand, says that he never had a moment like that and still has issues with reading-decoding, comprehension, etc. My two oldest children also had these moments. One day, after sounding out for ages and slowly fumbling through, they just suddenly could read fluently and loved reading.

 

Did anyone else have a moment like that? Maybe not suddenly, but where reading "clicked"? I thought that was normal until my dh and I were talking about my 6 yo's phonics work.

[skueppers]

I never had a moment like that. I learned to read gradually, without explicit instruction - my mother thought children shouldn't learn how to read before first grade, so she was not encouraging it. I would describe it as a slow awakening. By the time I was 7, I was reading books like James and the Giant Peach.

 

My daughter has been similar, though I did explicitly teach her, at her request. Had she not asked, I would have waited until Kindergarten. Anyway, her reading has improved slowly and incrementally over the course of the last two years. She now, at 6, reads books like Magic Tree House at about 50 wpm.

[Chelli]

I dont' ever remember being able not to read! :001_smile:

I learned to read when I was 4 and I learned to read using whole words. This method was not on purpose! My mom would point to the words in a book as she was reading it to me and eventually I just figured out that c-a-t spells "cat." I did this with all other words as well. Needless to say when I started kindergarten (as a 4 year old because that is how the cut off worked back then for my birthday), my teacher wasn't sure what to do with me since I was already reading on a 2nd/3rd grade level.

Fast forward to first grade when we started learning phonics in school, and I totally didn't get it. Why should I sound out a word when I already knew what it said? My teachers wanted to make me repeat first grade because I didn't know any of my phonics rules or sounds. My mom went to bat for me though and told the school that were not going to hold me back when I was reading on a 5th/6th grade level by this point.

Fast forward to homeschooling and needless to say my biggest fear was to teach my oldest dc how to read. We grabbed RME and I learned phonics right along with her!

So there was no "lightbulb" moment for me (that I remember), but my daughter definitely had one. One day she was having to sound out everything and then the next week she picked up a Little Bear book and just read through it without even pausing. I even accused her of having had her daddy read it to her because I just couldn't believe the difference. She has really taken off now and can read just about anything!

[Ravin]

I learned to read (on my own) at 4, and have no memory of learning or of not knowing how.

[Sasharowan]

I learned to read (on my own) at 4, and have no memory of learning or of not knowing how.

This was me. I remember reading Nancy Drew in first grade and being totally bored in Kindy, but I don't actually remember learning to read.

 

My kids have all learned to sound out, but I didn't notice any big aha moment, just gradual progression to harder material. Ds15 i did have to bride with pizza to try harder books when he was flying through easier books, but intimidated by the size on harder ones.

[susankenny]

Honestly, I have no memory of learning to read, other than the "The Letter People" in kindergarten - that was 1976. I read well, no issues whatsoever.

 

 

Susan

 

Oh! I do remember the Electric Company too. I specifically remember sounding out words with the shadow profiles saying syllables to create words. :)

Edited March 6, 2011 by susankenny

[ccouch]

I learned to read pretty early (around 4) and it came quite easily. There is a favorite story that my grandparents like to tell about my reading aloud the writing on my grandfather's box of Total cereal as we sat around the breakfast table. Reading came quickly and easily for me. I don't ever remember any difficulties.

 

My DD (age 7) began reading in much the same way. Without any instruction outside of letter names/sounds, she began reading. I had no idea she was at that point until she read aloud (sounded out) a sign in the ladies' restroom one evening out: "Employees must wash hands before returning to work" at age 4.

 

I think perhaps that sometimes reading just does click for people. The way letters fit together just makes sense and it comes naturally. I'm interested to see what will happen with my youngest DD who is just 2 1/2 now. Time will tell, but it would be great to have it easy again! :D

[MrsMe]

I remember decoding Dick and Jane (and Sally too) in first grade. In second, I never learned comprehension and it's been a long battle since.

I could read the words no problem, but nothing stuck...still doesn't. It's quite a problem.

[Mommy22alyns]

I also don't remember not knowing how to read. I remember my mom teaching me with "Green Eggs and Ham" and showing my dad when he came home from work. This was before kindergarten.

[regentrude]

I learned to read (on my own) at 4, and have no memory of learning or of not knowing how.

 

:iagree:

Don't know exactly how old I was, but I was definitely able to read before I started school. Nobody taught me- it just somehow happened, I guess.

[foxbridgeacademy]

I dont' ever remember being able not to read! :001_smile:

I learned to read when I was 4 and I learned to read using whole words. This method was not on purpose! My mom would point to the words in a book as she was reading it to me and eventually I just figured out that c-a-t spells "cat." I did this with all other words as well. Needless to say when I started kindergarten (as a 4 year old because that is how the cut off worked back then for my birthday), my teacher wasn't sure what to do with me since I was already reading on a 2nd/3rd grade level.

Fast forward to first grade when we started learning phonics in school, and I totally didn't get it. Why should I sound out a word when I already knew what it said? My teachers wanted to make me repeat first grade because I didn't know any of my phonics rules or sounds. My mom went to bat for me though and told the school that were not going to hold me back when I was reading on a 5th/6th grade level by this point.

Fast forward to homeschooling and needless to say my biggest fear was to teach my oldest dc how to read. We grabbed RME and I learned phonics right along with her!

So there was no "lightbulb" moment for me (that I remember), but my daughter definitely had one. One day she was having to sound out everything and then the next week she picked up a Little Bear book and just read through it without even pausing. I even accused her of having had her daddy read it to her because I just couldn't believe the difference. She has really taken off now and can read just about anything!

 

Same for me, I don't remember when I couldn't read. My Mom also had to talk to the teachers, because I could read by sight words, and had no concept of Phonics. I distinctly remember reading Lion, Witch,Wardrobe the summer after 1st grade. That being said, I could not spell to save my life(70 percentile on CAT in 6th grade), until I got to college.

DD startrd learning to read with phonics, but I think she had that aha moment, one day she could just read, and Spell, thank goodness. Her reading became primarily by sight.

[FO4UR]

I don't remember having an "aha" moment, but I remember not being able to read and wishing I could.

 

I don't remember much about how I was taught, but when I picked up SWR to teach my dc I knew all of the phonograms fairly well...just not the spelling rules. I am an OK speller/good reader.

 

I teach phonics to my dc. I have a high rate of "late readers" and dyslexia in my family tree.;)

[mommymilkies]

Honestly, I have no memory of learning to read, other than the "The Letter People" in kindergarten - that was 1976. I read well, no issues whatsoever.

 

 

I remember The Letter People! :lol:

[TracyR]

Honestly, I have no memory of learning to read, other than the "The Letter People" in kindergarten - that was 1976. I read well, no issues whatsoever.

 

 

Susan

 

Oh! I do remember the Electric Company too. I specifically remember sounding out words with the shadow profiles saying syllables to create words. :)

 

:iagree: Same here. I remember the Letter People. Don't really remember not ever knowing how to read. I've always been a very good reader. Always scored very high on standardized testing.

I even taught my sisters (2) and brothers(2) to read. I've taught all 4 of my daughters to read too. My easiest to teach by far has been my youngest. I have used Whole Word Method (with some phonics). Started 2 months ago and she is now reading at a 1st grade level at the moment. She reads better then all of the kids in her class , which is blended, prek/K.

 

Amazingly enough I went a toured the private Catholic school I attended as a child and they STILL use the Letter People. I didn't think anyone used that any more.

[Hedgehogs4]

I learned to read (on my own) at 4, and have no memory of learning or of not knowing how.

:iagree: This is why it has been hard for me to understand that my children did not "emerge from the womb with a book in their hands," as my sister and I did. My daughter is most definitely a reader at 5 (soon 6, but she has been reading all this year) but for some reason she thinks she is not a good reader. I think it's because she's not as good as everyone else in the house.

[3lilreds in NC]

I dont' ever remember being able not to read! :001_smile:

 

My mom said I taught myself when I was around 3 and would read signs to her in the grocery store. :)

 

I'm glad I remember when reading "clicked" for my girls though. Well, at least for Emma. Abbie took a lot longer and I had to let go of worrying about it so I don't remember exactly when.

[poetic license]

Isn't it funny that most if not all of us who posted so far found ourselves reading before attending school and without explicit phonics instruction...yet here we are, teaching our kids phonics? :001_smile:

 

I still use phonics for my DS though, but thought that this was an interesting trend.

[cjthedog64]

My mom said that I was 3 when I learned to read. I don't remember 'learning' but I do remember her thinking that I was just guessing when I read Chicken Little to her. Then she gave me a brand new book and I read that too.

 

I remember doing coloring sheets with the Letter People on them. I got in trouble because I kept reading my Nancy Drew book under my desktop. :D

[MerryAtHope]

I have always wished I could remember how I learned to read! I remember learning the alphabet in K (because once we could recite it, they gave us a Hershey's bar). Then I remember the first day of 1st grade being in the advanced reading group, seeing the word "been" and knowing it was pronounced "ben" and not "bean." But I don't know what happened between K and 1 or how I started reading. When my kids were learning I always wished I could know and translate that experience into helping them!

 

Merry :-)

[mom2bee]

I remember learning to read via Hooked on Phonics when I was around 4yos. Because of the schedule I was on, it was kind of boring, but not very difficult at all, I did however HATE those Beginning Dr. Suess books because I had to read them every.single.day for about a year. Even though I could read easily, it would usually take me hours to get through

Dr. Suess's ABC Book

The Cat in the Hat,

Green Eggs and Ham,

In a Peoples House,

Are You My Mother?,

"Red Fish, Blue Fish, One Fish, Two Fish" and

Disneys Bambi, and something else I can't remember right now.

 

Learning how to read was the prerequisite to starting 1st grade in our homeschool.

 

I learned both to read, and to hate those books--for a long time I couldn't stand the sight of them. While I struggled with that mandatory "Daily Reading List" I read the BoxCar Children, Moores of Spain, Great Expectations, The Holy Quran in English, Dick and Jane, and various library books and stories in the afternoons and at night in my bed, so reading wasn't ever a problem.

 

I read those books in the 1st grade at 5 years old.

[texasmama]

I don't recall my own early reading experience, but the "sudden click" describes my youngest dd, who learned to read this year. It was magical.:001_smile:

[Ravin]

Same for me, I don't remember when I couldn't read. My Mom also had to talk to the teachers, because I could read by sight words, and had no concept of Phonics. I distinctly remember reading Lion, Witch,Wardrobe the summer after 1st grade. That being said, I could not spell to save my life(70 percentile on CAT in 6th grade), until I got to college.

DD startrd learning to read with phonics, but I think she had that aha moment, one day she could just read, and Spell, thank goodness. Her reading became primarily by sight.

 

I did get phonics instruction in early elementary. I DO remember some of learning how to spell; I attribute my good spelling to phonics. Phonemic awareness also came in handy when learning Spanish and Polish (I can at least pronounce them fairly well, though I doubt I'll ever achieve 2nd language fluency).

 

DD was NOT an early/natural reader. She's now starting to develop some stamina and her decoding skills are above grade level. But it's taken a good deal of patience and a lot of phonics. She's started WANTING to read chapter books and such; I'm hoping that "aha!" moment comes for her soon.

[MorganClassicalPrep]

Me, too! Because of this, I guess I expected the same to happen for DD, who is almost six, but no. We're progressing through phonics slowly but steadily. She's not reading much on her own yet.

 

I don't ever remember not being about to read. There are pictures of me reading the newspaper at 3 years old, I used to read it to my grandfather. I also never expected that DD would actually need instruction. Plus, since I didn't get the phonics instruction, it is a very difficult subject for me to teach.

Luckily, DD seems to be getting it nicely, but we are still waiting on that aha! moment. :tongue_smilie:

[Ellyndria]

I don't remember learning to read, I don't remember *not* being able to read. I asked my mom when I learned to read, she said I was seven. She said it was like I woke up one morning just knowing how. (I turned 7 shortly after 1st grade started.)

 

I do remember we had phonics lessons via the "chart" in 1st grade. A lot of kids didn't like chart, but I didn't understand why because I thought it was easy. (I don't know the official name, I just know it was a big paper chart and we did it together as a class.)

 

But... I think I knew how to read a little before that. I know, because I got in trouble in Kindergarten for putting people's names on the Valentine's, so I'd know who to pass them out to. We were supposed to leave them blank and just pass them out randomly, but I was horrified, what if a boy got one that said, "I love you!" So I put people's names on the envelopes. I also got in trouble for writing my name in cursive in kindergarten.

 

I also remember sitting next to my mom and following along in the books she was reading to me. My mom said that when I did start reading, I went right to the big books. I do remember being annoyed when going to the school library in the younger grades and only being able to check out picture books.

[DawnL]

I don't remember any lightbulb moment. I know in Kindergarten I was learning my letters. By 1st grade I was reading very well. Although I don't remember a specific "click" moment, I seemed to pick it up very quickly.

 

My daughter was like this, too. She was trying hard to write and read and spell words before kindergarten. It never occurred to me to try to teach her at home and she went to public school through 3rd grade. But in kindergarten, all of a sudden, she could read. And read well.

 

My son, who is 7, wasn't like that. But then, he hasn't been as interested in reading as my daughter has. He is still sounding things out, and although he is doing this very well, there still hasn't been a "click" moment like that. It's gotta be right around the corner, though. It's all about interest, I think, and he is getting more and more interested. He wanted to know what I was reading this morning and read the title. He has Scribblenauts for the Nintendo DS, where you have to type in words to create things. It's hard to do that if you can't read so he is working hard at it.

 

My youngest son is 4 and we are working on the alphabet, with phonics, on the Leapfrog DVD. He is getting interested and I have a feeling he will be more like his sister than his big brother.

[Osaubi]

I would consider myself a natural reader. My dd 5 is the same way. She just started sounding out words before I sat down to teacher her reading.

 

My ds on the other hand struggled and struggled. Then about 2 months ago something clicked, and he went from step 4 reading books to a 6th grade reading level. I was amazed and so was he!

[Mom0012]

My mom bought Hooked on Phonics for me before I went to K. I remember skipping around the playroom while listening to the record and I remember feeling like it was a whole new world opening up to me. It all just made so much sense to me. Sometime shortly after, I remember sitting on the couch and reading a book to my mom.

 

Lisa

[boscopup]

I don't remember not reading either. I stated reading at 3. By 4, I was writing other children's names. I taught myself to read when we were just reading books together. I think I picked up the phonics on my own.

[AngieW in Texas]

I had one weekend when it all clicked for me in 1st grade. It was near Easter. I was in the lowest reading group at school. Suddenly, it all made sense to me. I was moved up to the highest group by the end of the next week.

 

My middle dd had a sudden click around the same age (and same time of year too, since her birthday is just two days from mine).

 

My other two didn't have an experience like that at all. My oldest was a very early reader. It all made sense to her from the moment she first demanded that I teach her to read at 3yo. My youngest is dyslexic, so her road to reading was full of obstacles and was very sloggy.

[momofabcd]

Well, it looks like I'm in the minority here with all you natural readers, LOL. Reading didn't click for me until I was around 10. I remember reading a Dr. Seuss book to my baby sister and realized that I actually read it fluently and was so surprised. After that, my reading took off. But, I didn't really read any books on my own until I was an adult.

[Farrar]

Another who learned to read before school - maybe around age 3 or 4? I can remember sitting sitting on my top bunk reading Beatrix Potter in preschool. The way I learned was, I'm sure, very whole language.

 

I do have many other memories of those "a-ha" moments though and I really treasure them. I can remember suddenly getting multiplication in second grade, learning how exclamation marks work in kindergarten, etc. When I was teaching middle school, I had a class where we read an essay by Richard Feynman about some of his early memories of discovery and then I had the kids write reflections on those moments in their own lives and it was so fascinating. A couple of the kids wrote about moments when reading or math issues clicked. But one kid wrote about learning that meat was from animals. Another wrote about discovering what the subconscious. It was really cool.

[sonsmama]

I was not an early reader either. I was in the lowest reading group into 6th grade. Unfortunately, I don't remember when reading "clicked", but I do know that by 8th grade I was reading classics on my own and haven't stopped reading since.

 

I never had any phonics training, sight words only until I was in education classes in college. I remember a time in 6th grade when I didn't know how to spell a word and the teacher said look it up in the dictionary and I was lost. How do you look up word if you don't know what it starts with? I made sure my son had at least some basic phonics. He is better than I am with sounding out words.

[momofabcd]

I was also in the lowest reading group until mid way through 6th grade. In 6th, I was in this class that had us independently work through these little boring readers, take a multiple choice quiz, grade it, move to the next reader and so on. I regret to say that it was so boring, I memorized all the answers to all the quizzes in order to get 100% on them as fast as I could so I could get out of that class. I was moved to the "regular" reading class after the 1st quarter. They were reading Old Man and the Sea. I went from reading stupid, dumbed down readers to Old Man and the Sea. It was so refreshing to be able to read a real book, and I did just fine. It was so demeaning being in the lowest reading group.

[StartingOver]

I did have a moment where reading just clicked. Three years later math just clicked. My son is 4.9 years old and reading just clicked for him, we still do phonics, but he really doesn't need anymore I feel. He just gets it now.

[ocelotmom]

I think I did.

 

During the second half of kindergarten, each kid would come in for some time in the afternoon once a week for one-on-one time with the teacher. I remember reading one story and suddenly having it make sense in a way it hadn't before. I think I must have been reading CVC words before that, because the word "play" was a big deal.

 

DS seems to have had a gradual progression, punctuated by "aha!" moments. I'm hoping for another one soon, as he's really close to reading well, but not quite there yet.

[MeganW]

I cannot believe how many of you have ANY memories that far back! My earliest memories are from 3rd grade, and even those are few and far between and are almost all related to pictures in photo albums!

[JessieC]

Reading came so easy to me, I can't remember not being able to read. I was three when I started reading on my own. It is actually strange to me that my 5yo isn't reading fluently yet, even though she is above her grade level, as it came so naturally to me.

[boscopup]

I cannot believe how many of you have ANY memories that far back! My earliest memories are from 3rd grade, and even those are few and far between and are almost all related to pictures in photo albums!

 

LOL! I remember waking up one morning at age 3. That is the start of my memories. Though I did have a dream back in high school that my mom was rocking me as a baby and the room was arranged differently from what I remembered at 3. It turns out that as a baby, the room was arranged like in my dream, so I guess it was sort of a memory? Very strange. My actual conscious memories definitely start that one day when I was 3.

[momto2Cs]

Honestly, I have no memory of learning to read, other than the "The Letter People" in kindergarten - that was 1976. I read well, no issues whatsoever.

 

I had totally forgotten the Letter People until now! Yes, I went to kindergarten in 1977.

 

In answer to the op, I don't remember a time I couldn't read. My mom says I was 4 and taught myself by memorizing 3 or 4 favorite stories and then figuring it out from there.

[MominIN]

I taught myself to read at 4 and can't really remember not being able to read.

[txhomemom]

I remember the letter people too, yes I was in elementary school in the 70s as well! I don't have memories that go back as far as most of you. I think I have memories starting from around age 5 or so. Back then kindergarten was half a day and it was mostly just playing, no real formal school.

 

I have always been a really good reader, enjoyed reading, and have no memory of when I actually learned to read. I would almost swear I was born reading...that is how much I like books. I do remember that when I went to first grade I started getting bored with school. They would give us a list of readers that we had to read throughout the year and I would sit there and read them in a week or less and then have nothing to do. They pretty much did not know what to do with me. Don't laugh, but I spent a lot of time making fingernails out of glue at my desk...so much for a great public school education!

 

Anyway, I do not think they taught us phonics back then and when I decided to homeschool my dd during her 1st grade year I was thoroughly confused by how to teach phonics...it just made absolutely no sense to me, still does not make sense to this day. Luckily, she pretty much just started reading on her own so we were able to drop the phonics books early on and she is a really good reader despite the fact that she does not love books as much as me.

 

I have another dd that I will have to teach reading/phonics to in the next 3-4 years and I have no idea what I will be in for this time around, but that at least gives me some time to figure out what I want to use. Mostly, though, we just like reading lots and lots and lots of books.

[boscopup]

My DH didn't read before entering school. They taught him using the whole word method. He's an excellent reader, but can't spell to save his life! So that's why I'm making sure my kids are taught phonics. Even my MIL told me long ago to make sure I taught phonics, because she hated the whole word method used for her son.

 

I use phonics for spelling, but I don't directly remember being taught phonics. I may have been taught them and may not. No clue. I know I learned to read without them, because like a PP, my parents read to me a lot, and I started out by memorizing the books, and somehow that progressed to actually reading new material. My oldest did something very similar, though not quite as early as I did. He's an excellent speller once he's been taught the phonics for spelling those words. Without the phonics, he doesn't know how to spell, and just does the inventive spelling (which his school encouraged in K :tongue_smilie:).

[Jenn in Mo]

I remember reading at 4 but don't remember learning. However, I have seen the "aha" experience with my children. My daughter, 7 1/2 the most distinctly. She has been learning since she was 4 because she wanted to, but was still on 3-letter short vowel words at age 6. She slowly started her way through a Frog & Toad book at that time, but it was painfully slow. Suddenly, about a month ago, she started reading on her own....roadsigns, advertisements, can labels, and finally books.

[shanvan]

Kind of a strange question, I know. I remember being 6 years old and sounding out words in class, like STOP. But then I have a very distinct memory of sitting with my mother and reading Kim the Kitten. She asked me to read and it was like a lightbulb went on. What before was like a secret code just suddenly became clear and all made sense. It was a huge moment for me that I still remember. I was reading at a 12th grade reading level 2 years later and have always been excellent at it.

 

Dh, on the other hand, says that he never had a moment like that and still has issues with reading-decoding, comprehension, etc. My two oldest children also had these moments. One day, after sounding out for ages and slowly fumbling through, they just suddenly could read fluently and loved reading.

 

Did anyone else have a moment like that? Maybe not suddenly, but where reading "clicked"? I thought that was normal until my dh and I were talking about my 6 yo's phonics work.

 

Yes! I have an almost identical memory except mine happened while I was reading a Tasha Tudor book. I was 6 years old too. I remember that suddenly I did not have to work to read and I had complete comprehension. I think it was the first time I actually felt absorbed by the book (so to speak)!

 

I have always wondered if anyone else had the same experience.

 

Shannon

[Soror]

I have no idea when I learned to read or how. My son is 6.5 and still learning, we have had little aha moments, but nothing big. It is funny as I expected him to get it all of a sudden. It seems we make big progress for a while, then we have a standstill and a little regression. Then big progress again. Right now I think he is really on the verge for taking off but we are going slow and letting it all sink in, it is becoming much more fluid though and easier for him.

[jelbe5]

Lightbulb moment here. I still remember the day I learned to read. I was in first grade and was having difficulty. My parents purchased one of the first portable tape players available and my mom recorded homemade books on tape. One day I was sitting with her and suddenly all those letters made sense. One of the most empowering feelings I have ever experienced. Within a few months I moved up from the lower level reading group to the highest level.

 

ETA I just asked my family this question. DH learned gradually and does not remember when he learned but thinks it was pretty early. Oldest DD's experience was similar. Younger DD, who is a late bloomer, had a lightbulb moment, like me. We are all still working with The Boy.

Edited March 6, 2011 by jelbe5

[ColoradoMom]

I taught myself to read at 4 and can't really remember not being able to read.

 

I think I did too. I can't remember not being able to read but I do remember that I could read in kindergarten.

[mommymilkies]

Gosh. It looks like almost everyone started real reading by age 4. I am the earliest reader I ever met and I was barely 6 or maybe 5.5. I'll have to ask my mom for sure what year I was in kindy. Is reading early more normal than I was ever taught in my work or education? Were my classmates not taught well? Does it correlate with being read to more as children, maybe? Is it just a biased view on here since so many of us now educate? By early reading is everyone talking actual reading comprehension or just sight reading?

[StartingOver]

I teach my children as my mother taught me, and her mother taught her. We kids were all reading and doing basic math before we went to kinder. It is just the way it was. Most of the children I went to school with were raised similarly.

 

I see so many more relaxed now, talking about how they expect so much from children now. They expected a lot more from us. But I am 42, so maybe that is the difference. My parents never even went to high school, they expected all of us to work hard and make good grades.

[Elfknitter.#]

My aha! moment was being almost 5, looking at a giant billboard from our car passing by and saying "f-o-x... fox!" and my mom saying yes, that is fox. Afterword, the decoding became much easier.

 

My children's aha! moments have been much more gradual.