By Leah McDermott, M.Ed.
One of the questions I hear over and over again (and I bet this is one that you’ve had streaming through your head a time or two) is “But what about the ABCs?” Or, in other words, if I don’t TEACH them, how will my child ever learn to read or write?!
​​This is something that starts to freak parents out BIG TIME the second they get excited about child-led learning. That fear kicks in and a lot of times, they run away from the unstructured, free and flexible learning experiences for the rigid, “sit at a desk and learn stuff on paper” way of learning that they’re used to.
​​But you don’t have to do that.
Just like they learned how to walk, talk, and eat with a spoon, they will learn to read and write as well.​
You see, learning to read and write is actually a very natural process, and one that children will pick up on when they are developmentally ready. Just like they learned how to walk, talk, and eat with a spoon, they will learn to read and write as well. ​
And yes, there are things that you can do to facilitate this learning and make it a meaningful and enjoyable experience for everyone! ​​​​And I’m going to share some of those with you right now. But first, you have to let go of that fear that it’s never going to happen. It will. I promise.
