The Zerbeys are front-row types.
I never formally taught Isaac how to read. His mother and I read aloud daily, attended storytimes multiple times a week (here we are at Brandywine River Museum of Art eight years ago), modeled a love of reading as adults, and filled our world with books.
My sons were able to develop a love of reading without authoritarian dictates. They discovered themselves in books, and continue that lifelong process.
We are born with an innate understanding that knowledge is critical to survival. The acquisition of knowledge should not be outsourced to any authority. It must be an independent endeavor that partners with sources of information to create a true and meaningful map of the world.
Knowledge means survival, but to thrive, we must extrapolate knowledge into wisdom. My sons and I gather information from books, videos, podcasts, mentors, and any variety of disseminators of information, and then we discuss the validity, interconnectivity, and usefulness of the data. I struggle with their interests in social media challenges and video games, and they struggle with my refusal to dumb down my language because I’m talking with children.
Somehow, we find enough patience to listen to each other and try to respect when the one of us isn’t up for Marvel movie theories, Minecraft hacks, or Biblical translation comparisons.
Although reading is largely a solitary excercise, we integrate it into our relationships with community, clubs, friends, and family. It is central to our learning lifestyle.