I wish I could ask my mother questions about how I learned to read and when. I know that she didn't seem that surprised when my son started reading at 2 but she wouldn't tell me why. I think my younger sister read very early, after I started school and started bringing home books. I remember my mother telling me that my sister ( 2 1/2 years younger) cried and couldn't understand why she couldn't go to school when I started. They didn't have preschool available back then.
I know that once I was taught to read in first grade, I was usually the best reader in the class, even though I was one of the youngest in the class, because I could finish my work early and pick out something to read from SRA, which I loved because I thought some of the stories were interesting and I could chart my progress. I felt good about being at the highest reading level in the class, but more importantly I felt in control of how fast and how much I learned. Even though I was very shy and didn't have a lot of friends, I felt good about that. My teachers encouraged me to learn.
At our public school, if kids finished early, they got to color. They thought something was wrong with my son because he didn't like to color and instead wanted to learn. The focus seemed to be more on making all kids the same and less on learning. It seemed like school was very different from what I remembered many years ago. I just assumed that our schools would have made improvements in their teaching methods but I was wrong.
