Roving Cooks

January 18, Hot Springs, Arkansas – August 14, Madison, Wisconsin

A friend of Greg’s recommended the book “Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons” towards the end of last year, and a copy was magically delivered shortly after. The 2020-2021 year would have been 4K for Grayson in a normal year, but our COVID philosophy of “do what is the least stressful and most safe for everyone involved” stripped out any semblance of academic rigor in the fall. With the move into our RV in January, our primary focus was outdoor exploration; but, as I was moving to a full time parent focus, a smaller, structured academic activity like teaching Grayson how to read seemed to make sense. Especially with a step by step, phonics-based guide. If I’m being honest, I also felt (self-induced) pressure to “have something to show” for my mom-time. And, Grayson LOVES books. So 100 Easy Lessons would be fine, right?

Most of you reading likely know that my parents are (now retired!) middle school teachers. So I grew up seeing what a tough job teaching is, and not feeling called to it. We met many families on the road over the last few months who were also full time travelers, and in many cases one parent was homeschooling (often who had a background in education).

Well, Grayson and I forged into the book for our 20 minutes per day. Positives included: no prep or extra materials needed on my part, clear instructions and a consistent approach that made lessons predictable, and progress identifying sounds. Negatives included: Grayson being bored, not wanting to do it, and nagging/cajoling/negotiating/yelling being the worst 20 minutes of my day. Around lesson 37, I had a fully embarrassing 8pm post-bedtime breakdown. Tears, I suck at this mom thing, I cannot possibly say “it is hard to read the word when you are not looking at the page” for the 101st time without screaming, etc. Then, as if by magic (or release of negative juju?), lessons 38-75 or so started clicking along. Still not easy, but progress. We’re not talking about intrinsic motivation here – there were some days that involved chocolate chip rewards, stopwatches, and occasional promises of TV time – but there was less obstinate refusal.

Sometime in the spring, as we hit more of a groove, I did the math – 100 lessons should be about 4 months of time, so we could possibly get through the book before Greg’s vacation in May when we were at Grand Tetons. While still not my favorite activity, I do think phonics is great; Grayson was starting to read words! Then somewhere around lesson 55, the stories (while more entertaining) took up a full page and we started taking 2-4 days to get through most lessons. So, new goal: finish before kindergarten on August 16.

On August 14, Grayson read the beautiful words “This Is the Last Ending.” I was so proud of both of us.

Grayson established a great reading foundation and was (rightfully) proud of the hard work he put in on this 7 month effort. He still prefers being read to, but will alternate pages or sentences with me now. I feel like I completed a masterclass entitled “Negotiation and the Art of Tapping into your Child’s Individual Motivation”… or perhaps just reaffirmed my own stubbornness.