Should mothers be natural teachers?

December 5, 2007 | Filed in: Motherhood

My eldest kid is in nursery school and their class lessons have started getting more and more advanced. Previously, he would bring homework where he only had to trace lines, letters or color some images. Now, we are on phonetics and reading syllables.

When I go back and recall, my son learned how to speak very fast. He was very talkative during his first year. And on his second year, he even managed to say “shuttlecock” very very clearly.

So it frustrates me that he is having a not so easy time reading syllables and then translating them in his brain so he could pronounce them properly. He could easily tell me what letters I have written on his notebook and the most of the time the sound that each letter has (although we had some challenges with the “g” and “y”). Combine them into syllables and the task became such a feat.

I did my best to be patient until he could speak the words himself. There were moments though that I wanted to pull my hair and cry. And when he said - “Mommy, my throat hurts already”, I knew I had to stop and let him rest.

We have been doing these reading exercises for a couple of days now with little improvement. And now I think, maybe I am pushing him too much? How can I be a good teacher to my son when he doesn’t seem to be learning from me.

Years ago, I was an instructor to college students teaching subjects like statistics and electronics to grown men and women. I was not daunted then.

But now I am frozen by my frustration. *Sigh.

13 Comments so far

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ApplesH, how old is your son? Maybe the expectations at school may be too high for his age?

mothers are mothers first we have our teeny weeny bit of expectations… patience is always good and having fun!

It is tough to find the line between pushing and encouraging, especially with our own kids. I found it frustrating, at first, when my daughter turned out not be one of those “early readers” like my nephew.
But, recently, it seemed like everything just clicked for her. She is sounding out her letters correctly and i just love seeing her expressin when she has sounded out a word and she realizes what that word was.

Megamom - My kid is 4 years old. I kind of think that its not the school but me? I guess since he is my eldest, it is with him that I am experiencing the “firsts”. So in this instance, I am uncertain sometimes as I also do not want to permanently “affect” him in a negative way. I just want to do my best and hope that is what’s the best for my child.

raqgold - You are right. I am working hard at the patience thing and do my best to recognize the small accomplishments. I even sometimes mimic the stars that he gets from school so he can understand that he has done something good.

MarysMom - I know! It is indeed a challenge to avoid the pushing part. I really want him to love the learning part as that will make it easier for him to absorb the teachings. On the other hand, I also want him to take school seriously.

you know your son could be like my daughter (M). She struggled with phonetics. She couldn’t read it. At aged 6, she couldn’t read phonetics. Then I found this book that explained that some kids can’t comprehend phonetics and instead preferred to see it read as whole words. example “pa-per” looks really incomprehensible to my daughter. But when I showed paper as the word, she understood it and remembered it.

Now don’t think your son is dumb or anything. I nearly thought my daughter was slow learner. She is a right thinking brain learner. Look up on it more. Today, this same daughter labelled “slow” by her first teacher is in UP, with university scholar standing ( magna cum laude)

Noemi - That is actually what we are doing right now as my son can relate better to the words that way. He learned to speak very early and learn what everything is called based on pictures or picture books.

Interesting concept. I admire your daughter… and you for bringing up great kids!

my kid is also 4, I home school him until the time I can afford to send him to a regular school, hehe. he learned his phoenetics at 3. I found a website that teach phoenics through a song (rap song) and I think leapfrog helps too. he’s capable of reading and spelling simple words of up to 8-letters now. just hang in there, it’ll get easier.

[...] teachers? I am not sure anyone can say they are the ultimate expert in parenting to qualify as a teacher of the subject. Its not like its Math or English where no matter how much the earth moves 1 + 1 [...]

pinkqueen - Oh my you are so great to be able to home school your child. Good news though is that my kid is over his struggles and is now as advanced as he can ever be. I am actually surprised how much he has caught up with his age.

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