How (Excessive) Reading Pays Off

It is amazing what reading can do! I have been quietly tracking what the boy has been reading. Thanks to Mommy's crackdown on television and video games, and the fact that we were home most of last week, I counted over 60 books read by the boy. Some were Dr. Seuss books. He also likes to reread Geronimo Stilton or non-fiction fact books. Other titles included Rowan of Rin by Emily Rodda, How to Train your Dragon by Cressida Cowell, a few of from The Boxcar Children series, biographies of The Wright Brothers and Albert Einstein, The Big Book of Gross Stuff and many, many more.

I would guess he averages 30-40 books a week, my little speed reader. He is a true lover of literature. It is paying off big time!

This afternoon he came upstairs with a sign that said "Bos's Room" and asked if he had spelled it correctly. I told him he missed an S but was super impressed that he knew possession required an apostrophe. I never taught him that. Not in a sit down and learn grammar kind of way.

It got me thinking about many little things I have been noticing these days. His spelling has dramatically improved over the last few months. This boy, who would misspell a simple word six months ago is spelling words like "ready" without help. The mistakes he makes are not the ones I would expect either. Great was "graet" which he knew looked wrong even though he had the right idea. Not too long ago he would have written "grate" instead.

He reads so much that he now recognizes rules of writing and spelling without necessarily knowing what it is called or why he has to do it. Pretty decent stuff for a newly 7 year old boy. He is finally developing an interest in writing too. And with writing comes a new need to be able to decipher what he has written down. Last year if he wrote "kat came bak" he would know exactly what he wrote. Now the mistakes would bother him and he would see there were errors, even if he wasn't sure how to correct them.

Great things are happening. I really hope Izzy embraces books like her brother. We are off to a good start. She is very proud to be a beginning reader. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times. reading has to be my absolute favourite milestone of all. So exciting!