And Then There Were Three

First, the twins—Maika and Nikka, 7 years old, first grade.  They come every Saturday afternoon at four for tutoring by the man of the house, whose lion-like manners belie his lamb-like heart. 

Now it's the twins plus another tutee, aged 10, fifth grade.  Her name is Neneng.

This ten-year-old and the twins are neither related nor know each other.  They met at home for the first time one Saturday afternoon two weeks ago. 

Neneng is the daughter of the lady we recently hired to help us with household chores once a week.  While her mother worked,  Neneng watched TV. 

The lion-lamb took an old Walt Disney book from the shelf and said, "Reading is better than watching TV.  Here, read chidlren's classics—every child should know them."    

Neneng reluctantly turned off the TV and started reading.  But the reading advocate wouldn't leave her alone.  "Read aloud," he roared.  

She did, with much difficulty. For a fifth grader, she was struggling—mispronouncing simple words and syllabicating longer words. We were appalled. 

That was the roarer's cue to sit down and pronounce for her "difficult" words, explaining what they meant in the process.

Not a minute too soon, the reading exercise turned into a full-blown tutoring session.

What has become of our public school system—don't they teach kids to read anymore?  Or is it lack of exposure?  Or simply lack of libraries?  Or parents' negligence?

To my mind, 10-year-olds are supposed to be reading children's books with aplomb. I remember buying Hardy Boys,  then The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and other children's classics for my sons when they were in first grade.    

What happened? 

As lawyers like to say, there are many mitigating circumstances. And so the tutoring continues.  I hear three kids reading aloud, and being asked questions about what they had just read. 

By God's enabling grace, the book lovers' club will have three more members—a pair of twins and a ten-year-old—in the days to come.