Just five minutes.....

My daughter, LuLuBean (as we refer to her), was ready to begin to read! We worked on letters, sounds, and beginning writing. It was time to combine all we had learned and take the next step.  

What an exciting adventure we will have together exploring new books, new characters, and drifting away in our imaginations! I imagine trips to the library. I imagine sitting for hours on the couch snuggled up enjoying our discussions of in-depth characters, lands far away, and dreaming with our books. I imagine discussing the literary greats, the recent Caldecott and Newberry Award winners, and sharing our favorites.

We began using the wonderful book, "How to Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons", written by Siegfried Engelmann.


                                                  

    
I was apparently much more excited than she was.  

She hated it! Strange letters creating strange sounds, long vowels, silent letters..... when does the good stuff come? I recall hearing her say, "I am never gonna get this! This is dumb!"

Each day her frustrations grew and her angst for reading was mounting. How could I get her past this emotion? How could I help her to see that this all does make sense? Were my dreams fading as each day passed? 

I recall telling her, "Just 5 minutes...."   I would set the timer and tell her she would only have to read the stories for 5 minutes. Wherever she was at when that buzzer rang was good for me!


                   

Those five minutes seemed like an eternity to her some days! And truthfully, for me as well! She would struggle, wiggle, complain, whine and moan through those words and combined letters. As soon as the timer would ding, the book was slammed shut, her energy was regained and off she was singing and laughing.

Until one day.............


She didn't wiggle. She didn't complain. There was minimal struggling. What was going on?  

She asked for one more minute. One more word. One more sentence. 
             

                                     


YEAH!!!!!! She is getting it!!! The love of reading has been born!!! 

Each day that passed was more exciting than the previous! She asked for two more minutes, two more sentences. Her passion began to grow and her love for these word combinations began to make sense. 

From that day on, she has asked to read more and learn more. Trips to the library, purchasing stories on Kindle, and reading any chance she gets.  We have talked about story-lines, interesting characters, lands far, far away. We have discussed our favorite authors and hoping for the sequel to our favorite books to be released soon.

But I now have one more dilemma.  Now the tables have been turned. 

She is now begging me for just five minutes........ 



“There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all.” 
^{- Jacqueline Kennedy}