Learning Styles

This morning Stephen was sitting on the couch with one of his books. "Bird," he said, looking at the word beneath the picture. He put the book down and tried to spell the word without looking. "B, I, R...," he paused, snuck a quick look at the page and continued, "D! B, I , R, D, bird!"

"What are you doing, honey? Trying to memorize the spelling?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm rememberizing," Stephen said.

Stephen and Matthew have always loved their books, and now they are excited about being able to read words here and there. They especially love their Bob books, which they can read completely by themselves.

We are up to Lesson 25 out of the 100 in Teach Your Child to Read. I find it interesting to see how the boys' personalities are reflected in their learning styles. Stephen, who is the adventurous sort, is always eager to learn a new letter sound. He was quick to pick up and start reading the Bob books, whereas Matthew resisted them at first.

On the other hand, Stephen is more likely to try to guess at a word he doesn't recognize rather than sounding it out. He also has more trouble paying attention. His gaze tends to wander, he picks up pencils and fiddles with them, and he'll ask questions about matters completely unrelated to the lesson. I often have to draw his attention gently back to the matter at hand.

Matthew, on the other hand, stays focused on whatever we're working on. He is always the first to finish his writing practice sheet, and he does a great job sounding out words.

I was surprised at Matthew's reaction when I brought out the Bob books. "I can't read them!" he exclaimed, without even looking at them. Once he heard Stephen reading the first Bob book, though, he was eager to try it for himself. I think Matthew fears failure.

Teaching the twins to read and write has been a wonderful experience for all of us. They are thrilled with their accomplishments, proudly demonstrating their growing skill to Tab when he gets home at night. I am enjoying spending this time with each of them, and I'm happy to think I'm giving them a headstart.

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