I have often wondered what one of my children’s pediatricians thought when he wrote the letter “B” on a piece of paper and asked 4-year-old Bernadette, “What is this letter?” I know that he was surprised when she responded, “/b/”. He automatically replied, “It’s b.”

I smiled when Brendan told me that one of his friends had told him that you don’t spell God “/G//ŏ//d/”. I then explained to him that spelling God, “G-o-d” is the same as spelling it, “/G//ŏ//d/”.

Several years ago, I read Ruth Beechick’s An Easy Start in Arithmetic (now included in her book, The Three R’s) and I immediately implemented some of her ideas into our home learning. Last night, I started to read A Home Start in Reading and the above memories came rushing back to me. I found someone who understands why you teach a child to read when they show signs that they are ready to read. I found someone who understands why it is necessary to teach a child the letter sounds, not the names of the letters, when starting him on his lifelong reading journey.

I haven’t taught my children the traditional alphabet song. Somehow, they have learned that on their own. I have, when they showed me they were ready to learn to read, taught my children the sounds that letters make. Teaching my children the sounds that letters make has enabled them to start reading easily and without much effort from me.