Spencer is a Reader

After more than a year of struggling, Spencer is officially a reader. He has caught on and is soaring! He's just shy of reading at fourth grade level. He's in second grade. His improvement literally happened in a matter of 2-3 weeks.

After Spring Break Spencer's teacher, Mrs. Irvin (love her) changed things up and started requiring more of her students. She's trying to get them ready for third grade. She says going from second to third is a big step in the education process. I guess they really begin to let the kids start pulling their own weight, less coddling, less individual attention, more structure, and higher expectations. To prepare the kids one of the many new guidelines is reading chapter books. Spencer took the challenge head on and is knocking it out of the park. I am so proud.

We've read to him most nights for his eight years. He loved (and still does) to be read to. He's always been the kid that will sit for a long time listening to a good book. But when it came time for him to read, it was a battle. His frustration level went through the roof and he would usually end up in tears. I made him keep trying, but it wasn't fun. We had the 'Don't Say You Can't' conversation 1 gazillion times.

Over the past two years I've reached out to friends with kids his age and older, and they assured me to just keep reading to him and having him read to me. They promised that it would "click" for him eventually. They were so right!

Since the Spring Break challenge, Spencer has been reading like a champ. Choosing to read his "chapter books" at night, for hours on the weekend and in the car traveling here and there. Even his giant bucket of legos has taken a back seat over the past several weeks. I knew he finally got it. He's caught the reading bug. Today his teacher confirmed it.

This morning I got a pleasant e-mail from Mrs. Irvin telling me that Spencer recently completed the STAR literacy test and that his score went up more than a grade level in about 9 weeks. I was more than excited and proud of him. I immediately forwarded the email to Matthew who sent me back an email saying we needed to do something social to celebrate. He's such a good Dad - we're taking him to lunch on Friday. Spencer picked Braum's, I'm certain it's for the ice cream.

When I picked him up at school today and he hopped in the truck asking what was for dinner, I turned around in my seat, lowered my sunglasses and said with a serious face, "Spencer - I got an e-mail from Mrs. Irvin today." His sweet little face broke out in a huge smile... he knew what I was going to say, and knew that I would be proud of him. He was so giddy he lowered his chin and stuck out his little tongue trying to contain his emotions. The exact same move he used to do as a little, little guy when he got embarrassed or nervous. I haven't seen that look in a long, long time. It instantly brought tears to my eyes.

I pretty much climbed into the backseat to give him a hug and a kiss and to tell him how proud I was of him. When he asked me why I was crying - I explained it's because I was so proud of him. I told him again how important reading is to success, to education, to knowledge to excitement and entertainment, to creativity... how he was going places now that he could read. He was proud of himself too, then the cutest thing happened. Maggie started crying and said, "Now I'm about to cry." Spencer and I both looked at her quizzically. She said, "It's a happy cry. I'm so proud of you Bubba." My heart broke into ONE MILLION pieces. I think we're doing something right.

Spencer told me before bedtime that his goal is to read at a 5.0 level (5th grade) so he can check out Harry Potter at the library and read it this summer. He has set his own goal and you better believe I will break my neck to help him reach it.

Spencer - I love you. I couldn't be more proud of you.