Last October (~6 months) ago, we came across this book when looking for ways to engage little EC with reading. The author claims that children in her little Canadian academy can read by 2 years old…so obviously we were behind with her having just turned 3! But EmpiricalMom really took to reading the book and trying out the strategies detailed therein. And what do you know…it works!

The fundamental strategy (which worked well for us, since little EC had already learned to identify letters and in many cases what sounds they make) was to create a “school” with her “friends” (stuffed animals, mostly bears) and have HER teach THEM how to read. With EM as the teaching assistant, and usually as the voice of the “friends”, EC’s task was to teach each friend the letters, their sounds, and to dispense treats to those friends that did well (and some for herself, naturally). Letters evolved into diphthongs, which evolved into words, which recently evolved into simple sentences. We are now, at about 3.5 years old, at the point where she can read specially prepared ~5-word sentences made up of words of 3–6 letters, usually in upper case.

There are lots more details about how the process has gone and how it works, but suffice it to say that it’s all in the book and that EM has done an amazing job adapting those suggestions to little EC.

We are hunkered down now “social distancing” to prevent the spread of COVID-19. (Some of her little “friends” have been “social distancing” as well, though they do it all together.) We’re lucky to be with my parents, with lots of land to run around on while staying away from people. Little EC and I spent the last two days building a garden out back to plant some vegetables; with Grandma she has already planted many more that are peeking out of the ground. There are many more days to go, but there is a lot more that we can do.

In the last few months little EC has developed very good table manners; very good conversational abilities; great posture and handling when drawing, coloring, or tracing letters; and in many ways is just seeming very grown-up. She exercises these abilities of hers on her own schedule, of course—some days she declines to employ them! But when she does I’m completely blown away by what she is capable of. Many people recently have confused her with a five year old. She’s still hugely taller than other kids her age. We’ve started measuring her on the wall of Grandma’s kitchen and we can see the inches pile up.