What does a baby remember? Perhaps Samuel has warm, cozy associations with reading from infancy. As a survival tactic, I brought him and my newspaper into bed with me in the mornings. That way he could nurse and snuggle and I could read and doze until we reached a more reasonable hour to get up and start the day. When Baby U came along, we continued the pattern.
If you look around our house, you'll find tons of books, newspapers and magazines. The grandparents have both started subscriptions so the boys have their own materials coming in the mail. They hear the Bible read last thing before going to bed and see Mom and Dad studying the scriptures.
I don't think there is any way to imitate this love of reading or the richness of the environment in the home. Head Start programs likely give excellent instruction; but if Mom and Dad don't think reading is important, if Wilbur the pig and The Cat in the Hat aren't part of your growing up, you're not likely to gain the interest in reading that leads to life-long learning.
Samuel is reading amazingly well. Last night, on his own, he worked his way through Lois Lenski's The Little Train, a book which I expected to read to him. As I read E.B. Whites Trumpet of the Swan to Samuel, I know he's keeping up because he stops me every time we hit a hyphen to continue a word onto the next line. (One of those maddening details that he's obsessing over at the moment.) He has also become fascinated by the "ing" forms of verbs.
My point in all this, is that homeschooling offers a very organic form of learning -- part of the very life of the household, especially at this young age. As I make brief notes in my calendar of what we've done each day, it sometimes looks skimpy. I have to remind myself that learning takes place in far more ways than a curriculum dictates. I pray that what he remembers is far more than "short e" and ""long e" and that he carries the love and support of his home wherever he goes in life.
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