John Holt interviewed on New England Today 

It's impossible to teach yourself how to read. Everyone needs someone else to tell them what the sound that the word is supposed to represent

You are so right! 👏💯

Jeremiah, Thanks for sharing your story and insights. The GWS philosophy, as you note, is not about creating conventional school success stories, but to encourage people to help their children learn in their own ways, as you did.

Oh wow really?

Just looked him up amazing!

That's great to know; thanks for sharing.

I'm glad this helped.

Children can learn to read on their own, as the comments here and in Teach Your Own prove, and my own experience with our own children. I agree that not every child can follow the same method. In school, if you can't read by third grade, you're destined to fall behind since so much schooling after that requires textbooks. But there is no biological reason that all children will be ready to read by third grade-it's only because educators have decided that should be the cutoff. Late reading is common in homeschooling and alternative schools, and the children do learn to read and continue to read for pleasure and information as they get older. There are many paths that lead people to learn to read. Indeed, schools cant' guarantee that children will learn to read by a certain age using school's methods either. Recent studies indicate the methods schools have used for decades have not produced competent readers-which is why the Science of Reading reform is currently in vogue in schools.

@@Johnholtgws my parents taught me how to read by following along with children's books. If anything, it's the parent's responsibility to teach them to read as it is to talk.