I called my daughter yesterday in North Carolina. I asked how the kids were doing—she home schools three of them. She seems to like it but said that her oldest is kind of slow at reading and maybe has some dyslexia. I told her that sounds like me. I never was a good reader, and I’m still slow, but I like to read things that interest me.

Later that evening I got out one of my college text books: A History of Philosophy. Good grief! It was and still is incomprehensive to me! I can’t read one sentence without stopping and rereading it. And even in High School they tried to get you reading all the classical stuff. That was hard for me, and still is. I feel bad that I couldn’t do it. And I really tried. Come to think of it, I struggled with reading all through High School and felt bad because of it. I went to a Christian college, and that was better because I could pick and choose my courses. And I developed a strong desire to write research papers; and so, I could pick and choose the books I wanted to use.

I encouraged my daughter to let her oldest child read at her own pace and read only what interests her. I think that is so important—important for me too, so that I don’t get discouraged. I read a book on Lewis and Clark. I read it slow (and twice), and I really enjoyed it. What an adventure. In the last few months I’ve been reading a series on the Heroes of the Faith, by different authors. All the books are very readable—I suppose by design. I’m reading about George Muller now. Before that I read about Martin Luther, John Wesley, Charles Finney, and others. I’m loving it. It’s too bad my High School teachers didn’t give me more readable choices. Why were they pushing the classics so hard? Books (text books) I had no interest in. I think schools should figure out how to teach kids at their own pace—and their own level of learning. I know that some kids are really good readers and brilliant. But others are slower (for one reason or another). And we can’t just ignore them and fail them; or in some cases find a way to pass them on to the next grade without helping them.