Larger than pictures
January 31, 2010
I remember the first meeting with my son’s 2nd grade teacher. We had home schooled him until that point not wanting to send that little inquisitive mind off to the unknown but it was time, both for him and his mom who was valiantly trying to keep up with his studies and raise his 2 younger sisters. He went in for testing and although he was ready age-wise for 3rd grade he has some difficulty with reading. Actually it might have been more stubbornness than an actual learning problem. You see he had come to the conclusion that he could discern a book by its pictures. Reading was optional. So he started 2nd grade that year.
He and I stood awkwardly outside his classroom as his teacher Mrs. Schweigert walked up to us and said, as much for me as for him, “Hi there, it’s great to see you today! I just wanted you to know that by the end of the year you will be reading fluently. We will work together on that.” I handed him his lunch box and into the class he went. Simple as that.
Within a few weeks she told us that he didn’t have a reading problem but was bored. She suggested that I start reading a book that was “larger than pictures” and read to him every night. I started with “Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien and was amazed as we walked through the Mines of Moria, Lothlorien, and Gondor meeting fantastic creatures that he tracked along with every step. And his reading did improve. Markedly. To the point in his final year at high school he was excelling at his studies and had time to read 60 plus books a year, for fun!
God placed the perfect teacher in my sons path at just the right time, to adjust both of our habits and attitudes and to open up the life long joy of reading to him.
- Father of a NCA graduate
