Feral Fridays: Early Reading Skills

This post was written by our special guest, Wanda Vesana, guru of the hip and cool Feral Homeschooling movement.  Wanda is mom to two utterly charming children who are blessed with many talents, son Silas and daughter Verna.  You can get the scoop on  her here.  She often posts here on "Feral Fridays".

This post is in answer to a question from one of my loyal readers.  The question is, "Wanda, what is a great way for Feral Homeschoolers to teach beginning reading skills?"  I'm so glad you asked!  Here's what worked for us.  When my son Silas was three, he was really into anything having to do with trains.  And, the third Pillar of Feral Homeschooling is to learn from direct experience as much as possible.  Naturally, I thought of the New York Subway.  The routes are currently designated by 17 letters and 7 numbers.  Sure, not all the letters and numbers are included, but who really needs those missing letters and numbers anyway?  We can ge7 bv jvs7 f1ne w176cv7 76em.  So, after familiarizing him with each of the route designations, I tape recorded instructions on his little portable cassette player, dropped him off at Times Square, and asked him to meet me in Queens, travelling via Brooklyn.  That was quite a day!

But for Verna, I needed a different strategy.  Instead I turned to one of the classics of children's primers, a book which has been a favorite early reader for more than half a century.  It was written by the acclaimed poet and author of such wonderful books as The Giving Tree  and Where the Sidewalk Ends, Shel Silverstein.  Of course, I'm talking about Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book.  With impressionable young minds, it's best to choose reading materials that not only help them to learn valuable skills, but also provide the kind of uplifting moral lessons and prods towards good behavior that young children so deeply need.  Here is his touching prologue, entitled,  "A Book For You":

"Many of my little friends have asked old Uncle Shelby why he has written this book and why he loves children so dearly, and to these I must answer that although Uncle Shelby has never been blessed with children of his own, the litte ones have always had a very special place in his tired old heart.  Yes, I have heard them crying late at night, and I have thought about them-  I have heard them playing and laughing outisde my window while I was trying to sleep and I have thought about them-  I have seen the pictures they have drawn on my car and I have thought and thought and thought about them.  And so this book- to help all my little friends get all the things in life they so richly deserve.  Your own, Uncle Shelby."

Below are some of my favorite pages, which I have loved since childhood, when Uncle Shelby's book first introduced the alphabet to me.  Verna loved this book just as much as I did, and I bet your young child will too! It will have them flinging eggs at the ceiling in no time.

You can send your questions to feralwanda1 at gmail dot com, or add them to the comments. Don't forget to vote for Feral Homeschooling in the poll on the sidebar to the right!  Let's give those Eclectics a run for their money!