Aubree's Reading Journey

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Aubree has learned to read and I fully intended to write up the story behind that process in a timely manner. However, my camera decided to fight me (it wouldn't upload the videos I took of her reading) and I got caught up with some reading-related research (see the end of this blog) and time got away from me. Here's the story:
Back in April or so, Aubree had mastered all her letters and letter sounds. On her own, she began blending sounds into words, which astounded me. "Okay," I thought, "it's time to focus more on this blending stuff and start the process of teaching her how to read." So, I began to do research on reading programs. I remembered reading a blog entry of some friends of mine (Hi Alec and Jen!) talking about the book "Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons," and how it was very successful for their son. I really respect Alec and Jen, especially in matters of education, so I checked the book out of the library.
I read through the introduction and the first five lessons and thought "this is perfect!" It seemed to be exactly at Aubree's level - working with letter sounds, very basic blending skills, and word awareness. What also appealed to me what the sound research-base behind the book (it fit with all I'd learned about reading fundamentals), the fact that it is systematic and thorough, and that it is only intended to be at most 15-20 minutes a day.
Aubree and I began working through the book, and I kept one lesson ahead of her. It wasn't until around lesson 25, (as the reading words had turned into sentences, then paragraphs) that it occurred to me to look at the end of the book. I was SHOCKED to see whole pages of text that supposedly Aubree would be able to read in just a few months. I realized that had I looked at the last lessons when I first got the book, I would never have started. Not because I didn't want her to read, but because I wouldn't have thought it possible. But, since she was already on lesson 24 and hadn't had much difficulty to that point, we kept pressing forward. As we got a little farther, we did make adjustments as needed. Sometimes the lessons took longer than 15-20 minutes (especially as the stories got really long), so we split the lessons into 2 lessons. No big deal.
Aubree was almost always the one to beg for "school" and to do "her reading lesson." When she didn't want to do her lesson, we didn't. Once we got to lesson 75, she stopped wanting to do them at all, so we haven't done one since. But, now she's reading regular books, so I'm not worried about finishing the text book. She's a funny kid though - she prefers to read the Book of Mormon ("she's really good at reading, "and it came to pass...") and the "Illustrated Old Testament Stories" over other level 1 type readers.
So, that's the long version of her story. Here is a clip of her reading:



And not to be left out, here's a clip of Bryce reading too...



Soon after I wrote the first post about how Aubree was reading (a month or so ago?), as I was looking online for practical ideas of fun educational things to do at home with her, I stumbled upon an number of articles and websites that suggest that not only is teaching a preschool child to read unnecessary, it can also be damaging! Many of the articles brought up ideas I'd never heard of or even considered (which I find annoying since I spent 3-4 years getting a master's degree in a School of Education). Since then I've spent countless hours researching, reading, and thinking about education, trying to wrap my head around all the differing opinions and fields of thought, and attempting to determine what it specifically means for Aubree and Bryce. I feel like I dove head first into a swirling sea of theory, and am just beginning to come to the surface to gasp for air. Mostly I've decided that I'm learning what the questions are. I certainly don't have the answers, but at least for the moment, time is on my side.