Blooming

In general, I realize that children learn things at their own pace,
That if I had two sons reading readily at four and five,
It is okay if two more still struggle at seven and nine.

A bell curve has outliers, but they, too, are a part of the curve.

So I noticed with thanksgiving this week
That Abraham, from one day to the next,
Went from reading sequels to Nate the Great
To reading almost 200 pages in Smile,
A graphic novel about a middle schooler and her traumatic teeth.
“My brothers kept urging me to keep reading, so I did!”

And, perhaps buoyed by this success,
He started to write a fable, illustrated, yes, but predominately words,
Not pictures.

And Joe, whom I have worked with daily for a year and more,
Who still forgets more than half the letter sounds,
Got a short movie yesterday that sings, for each sound,
“The B says /b/,” starting with A and going all through.
He spent the evening singing these sounds under his breath,
Writing them and erasing them on his created whiteboard.
An aural learner, perhaps, who needed less visuals and more sound.

And so we learn together.