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I started teaching my daughter letters at the age of three (eg "that letter looks like a snake, what does a snake say?") She was able to read basic signage whil

I started teaching my daughter letters at the age of three (eg "that letter looks like a snake, what does a snake say?") She was able to read basic signage while going around town before she turned four. She could independently read non-trivial books by the age of five. She was learning the Linux command line by the age of six. Young children learning to read isn't usually about their own innate ability. It's about whether they have someone who reliably puts in the hours with them. It probably also helps to model the behaviour, so they see you reading books yourself in your spare time.

mlyle 6y ago
And as someone else who's kids did this: You end up with no books that are an appropriate reading challenge but also developmentally appropriate, and a kid who is really bored in school and not using the time to build good study and homework habits. I think it's a neat party trick to have a kid who is 4 and a fluent reader, and that it has some utility... but I might emphasize different things if I had it to do over again. At the same time, calling out math problems to the back seat was a way that I kept kids busy during road trips, and I wouldn't change that at all :D
- SamBam 6y ago
  > You end up with no books that are an appropriate reading challenge but also developmentally appropriate What? It's just the opposite. What about the books that a parent typically reads kids that age at bedtime? Those are generally above the reading level, but at the developmental level. Indeed, the whole annoying thing with kids learning to read is that -- at least for kids who have been read to frequently -- their taste in books is well above the "see spot run" level that their reading is at. At age 4 and 5, my kids were into Ramona, Roald Dahl, Charlotte's Web, Pipi Longstocking, etc. It took them til age 6 or 7 to be able to read those comfortably. Learning to read early is in no way a curse, or a "party trick." For my kids, and many others, it has instilled a love of reading. Also the notion of a "party trick" is gross, like it's something the parents do to show off. The kids who learn to read early do so because they are interested in it. > At the same time, calling out math problems to the back seat was a way that I kept kids busy during road trips, and I wouldn't change that at all Ah, so you're just biased against kids who read early.
  - zdragnar 6y ago
    My personal experience as an early reader lines up pretty well with the post you're replying to. School was interesting, but the lack of challenge meant that I didn't really develop a lot of habits that would have been really beneficial later on. Conversely, rather than be held back by not reading as early, I wish there were more opportunities for students who were well past their peers but not so much that they could skip a grade. Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks to not having much choice in schools is being stuck with the lowest common denominator of expectation for students.
    - caddemon 6y ago
      I think the bad study habits thing isn't really specific to learning to read early though. Even if you were deprived of all outside of school reading you probably wouldn't have been particularly challenged by school. So it's not something that could be changed by "not encouraging early reading", it's something that can really only be changed by revamping our school system, or being lucky enough to have parents with the background/resources necessary to provide academic challenges outside of the school. I also think a lot more kids would be academically able to skip a grade than currently do. Skipping forward can be a nightmare socially, unless you do the skip really early and not more than a year or so ahead. When I was in 3rd grade the teacher actually told my parents to move me to a better school if they could - and they were willing/able to afford the tuition to send me to a good private school, but I liked my friends and refused to switch. I wish there were a good way to disentangle the social and babysitting elements of school from the academic ones somewhat. That could allow students to progress at a more personalized pace.
      - em-bee 6y ago
        that's what montessori is doing. they actually mix kids over a three year age-range into the same class. kids learning faster don't cause a problem at all. the older kids take part in teaching the younger ones, so even if a child already completed the curriculum, there is no end in interesting activities to do that they learn something from.
  - 6y ago

mlyle 6y ago

And as someone else who's kids did this: You end up with no books that are an appropriate reading challenge but also developmentally appropriate, and a kid who is really bored in school and not using the time to build good study and homework habits. I think it's a neat party trick to have a kid who is 4 and a fluent reader, and that it has some utility... but I might emphasize different things if I had it to do over again. At the same time, calling out math problems to the back seat was a way that I kept kids busy during road trips, and I wouldn't change that at all :D

SamBam 6y ago
> You end up with no books that are an appropriate reading challenge but also developmentally appropriate What? It's just the opposite. What about the books that a parent typically reads kids that age at bedtime? Those are generally above the reading level, but at the developmental level. Indeed, the whole annoying thing with kids learning to read is that -- at least for kids who have been read to frequently -- their taste in books is well above the "see spot run" level that their reading is at. At age 4 and 5, my kids were into Ramona, Roald Dahl, Charlotte's Web, Pipi Longstocking, etc. It took them til age 6 or 7 to be able to read those comfortably. Learning to read early is in no way a curse, or a "party trick." For my kids, and many others, it has instilled a love of reading. Also the notion of a "party trick" is gross, like it's something the parents do to show off. The kids who learn to read early do so because they are interested in it. > At the same time, calling out math problems to the back seat was a way that I kept kids busy during road trips, and I wouldn't change that at all Ah, so you're just biased against kids who read early.
- zdragnar 6y ago
  My personal experience as an early reader lines up pretty well with the post you're replying to. School was interesting, but the lack of challenge meant that I didn't really develop a lot of habits that would have been really beneficial later on. Conversely, rather than be held back by not reading as early, I wish there were more opportunities for students who were well past their peers but not so much that they could skip a grade. Unfortunately, one of the drawbacks to not having much choice in schools is being stuck with the lowest common denominator of expectation for students.
  - caddemon 6y ago
    I think the bad study habits thing isn't really specific to learning to read early though. Even if you were deprived of all outside of school reading you probably wouldn't have been particularly challenged by school. So it's not something that could be changed by "not encouraging early reading", it's something that can really only be changed by revamping our school system, or being lucky enough to have parents with the background/resources necessary to provide academic challenges outside of the school. I also think a lot more kids would be academically able to skip a grade than currently do. Skipping forward can be a nightmare socially, unless you do the skip really early and not more than a year or so ahead. When I was in 3rd grade the teacher actually told my parents to move me to a better school if they could - and they were willing/able to afford the tuition to send me to a good private school, but I liked my friends and refused to switch. I wish there were a good way to disentangle the social and babysitting elements of school from the academic ones somewhat. That could allow students to progress at a more personalized pace.
    - em-bee 6y ago
      that's what montessori is doing. they actually mix kids over a three year age-range into the same class. kids learning faster don't cause a problem at all. the older kids take part in teaching the younger ones, so even if a child already completed the curriculum, there is no end in interesting activities to do that they learn something from.
- 6y ago