Another wonderful benefit of unschooling is that each person can take their own journey into reading. There's no list of early readers you must progress through before being allowed to read something else. There's no shame in not being interested in reading when you're six, or seven, or even ten! The kids are free to enjoy books and look upon them as friends, not as an adversaries to be conquered.

Before they are reading on their own they can listen to stories read by a parent or older sibling or with an audio version of the book. They can enjoy the many pictures - not only is picture books but in detailed illustrated guides as well. They can play with letters and sounds and words. And don't forget that they can enjoy great stories through movies and video games. And even when they are reading on their own it's great fun to snuggle up together and share a favourite story!

I Can Read, You Know! is an article I wrote in January 2004 about my daughter's road to reading. I have also included occasional updates at the end of the article.

Want more stories? Learning To Read Naturally is a section of Sandra Dodd's website. It's a collection of stories about unschoolers and reading.