How long does it actually take a child to learn to read when they aren't learning to read at school?
Reading is one of the areas where homeschool parents can carry the most worry, especially when a child's timeline looks different from what we see in school.
Earlier this year, families inside the Day in the Life community completed a survey about their children's reading journeys. We wanted to know what happened between the earliest signs of becoming a reader and independent reading: how long it took, what support children received, how often they practiced, who led the process, and what parents noticed along the way.
In this episode of the 90-Minute School Day Podcast, DITL member Elizabeth Schroder joins us to share and discuss the results of our community survey on how children learn to read outside of school.
Elizabeth brings a particularly interesting perspective to the conversation. She has a background in elementary and early childhood education, has worked with children both individually and in classrooms, and watched her own daughter learn to read English entirely outside of school while learning Japanese literacy through traditional schooling.
Together, we unpack the survey results and talk about:
The three stages of learning to read
Why reading develops on a spectrum rather than a single timeline
How long children in the survey spent as emerging readers
What reading support looked like in real homes
Who initiated reading practice
Why learning to read outside of school can look so different
The worries parents often carry when reading takes longer than expected
This conversation is part 2 of 4 of our Rethinking School and Learning series and connects with Heidi Steel's chapter "How Children Learn to Read in the Real World" from School Isn't for Everyone.
If your child's reading journey doesn't look like the one you expected, this conversation offers a chance to step back, look at the whole process, and consider what might actually be happening.
Learn more and find resources:
DITL is an online community for parents supporting one another as they raise neurodivergent children outside of school. Doors open three times a year, in late October, late March, and late July. Join the invite list at 90minuteschoolday.com/day-in-the-life/
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