One More Reason I Should Never Homeschool

Remember the old game show ‘_Password_?’ There would be a secret word, and two contestants – the clue giver and the clue guesser – would go back and forth until the guesser figured out the password or time ran out.

Reading with Julius is kind of like playing Password.

The sentence is… “Mac can tag Mag.”

“Okay, Julius,” I encourage, “let’s sound it out. What’s the first letter?”

“M!” Julius shouts with confidence.

“That’s right, and how does M sound?”

“Mmmmmm” Julius says, making a funny face.

“Great! Now what’s the next letter?”

“Mmmmm,” he continues, totally amused with himself and the sound.

“Yes, yes,” I say semi-patiently, “but what’s the next letter?”

“A!”

“Right again!” Julius grins like he just bought a vowel and got four (but that’s a different game).

“And the last letter?”

“C.” He automatically sounds out, “Cacacacacaca.”

“So we have Mmmm, aaa and cacacaca.”

Julius listens to me intently and repeats, “Mmmmmmm aaaaa ccccc.”

“That’s right!!” I say, bouncing with excitement in my seat. “Now put it together.”

“Mmmmaaaaccccc. Cat!” he says triumphantly.

“_Cat?_” I ask, incredulous. “Cat? Where the…” I stop myself and regain my mommy composure. “Uh…no. What does cat start with?”

“C!” Julius says.

“Right! And what’s the first letter here?”

“M!”

“Right. And how does M go?”

“Mmmm” he says, and starts with the silly face.

“Right again!” I say, ignoring the fact that he’s still mmm-ing. “So let’s sound it out again. Mmmmmm aaaaaa ccccccc… say it with me.”

Together we say mmmm aaaaa ccccc, pulling it closer and closer together until we get…

“MAT!” Julius cries with happiness. My face twists in agony. This is actually painful.

“Close!” I say cheerfully. “But the last letter is a C, remember? C. What’s the last letter in Mattttttttttttttt?”

“T!”

“Exactly. So it’s not Mat, because the last letter is a C, not a T. So it’s Maaaaaaaa…” I feed him the sounds while staring at him bug-eyed, nodding freakishly.

He looks at me and then looks at the word. And then me. And then the word.

Finally, with uncertainly, he says, “Mac?”

I lean back in my chair and puff out in relief, like we’ve just finished Homer’s ‘_Odyssey_.’ Wow. We worked our way through and got it!

I was busy patting myself on the back when I realized that Julius was still looking at me and then down at the book. I came down off my reader’s high, looked at the book and sighed.

There were still three more words on the page.

Gathering my strength, I returned my attention to completing the sentence.

Mac can tag Mag.

“Okay. So we’ve got the first word.” I look at Julius, expectantly, and point to it. He looks at me, expectantly, eyes wide.

Please don’t say it. Please don’t say it. Please don’t say it, my brain whispers.

“Cat!”

Oh my god. Pass!

Alisa is a SAHM to three delicious boys. She loves reading, staying active, eating ice cream (sometimes up to twice a day!), and writing for her blog, Ice Scream Mama.