Jennifer, a mom who reads my blog, wrote about what happened to her little boy:
My middle child went to kindergarten last year at what was supposed to the best public school in the best school district in Kansas, which is one of the top states in the country. He is a kinesthetic learner with incredible spatial skills, but is a slow learner when it comes to reading. Watching his classmates “get it” while he struggled, killed his self confidence. His teacher progressed through the curriculum according to plan, and my boy was left behind. Not only did he finish kindergarten not reading, but he did not believe himself to be capable of reading. His teacher never raised with us any concerns about his reading—I’m not certain whether she even realized that he was struggling, because he is not the type to ask for help. Here we are now, homeschooling, half-way through 1st grade, and he is just now becoming confident enough in his reading ability to read to someone besides me. He still insists that he can’t read, but he’s reading cereal boxes, and he can answer for me when his little brother asks, “What does that say?”! Yes, he is behind where other kids with his same manufacturing date range might be, but he is a unique little person who is learning and growing every day and I am proud of him and the progress he has made!
Aren’t babies the greatest? They don’t give a smidgen of care to what you dress them up in. It can be on inside-out and backwards, and they don’t complain. They don’t mind if their hair isn’t combed just so. They aren’t self-conscious if they burp. Tummy gurgling in public doesn’t bother them a bit. They think they are wonderful! And they are right, too.
