Sequoyah - A Story Inspires Curiosity

Today, as we read from the Salute to Courage book, I watched a small miracle.  Laura listened attentively as I read.  She usually does. She loves to be read to more than anything else we do for school.

I read the story Sequoyah: The Cherokee Who Captured Words by Lillie Patterson.  The story talks about the Cherokee Indian named Sequoyah that wanted to be able to write his language for others to read.  It took him twelve years, but he finally created a Cherokee alphabet that consisted of 86 symbols representing different sounds in the Cherokee language.

Sequoyah was so instrumental in influencing and advancing the Cherokee culture in the early 1800s that he has many national monuments, towns, counties, a national park, and even a tree named after him.

Laura had enjoyed the story.  When I read the part in the end about the tree and national park, she just had to know what they looked like.  The story told of the trees being the tallest and oldest in America.  I watched as true curiosity formed in her little brain.  I went online and pulled up pictures of Sequoia trees and the Sequoia National Park.  She looked in amazement at the beautiful pictures of the trees.  Our read aloud suddenly became a science lesson as she read and learned about the majestic Sequoia trees. 

I know that Laura could read this book on her own.  She did read the first portion of it by herself after I first bought the readers.  Published by Abeka, they are meant to read on their own. Laura usually did okay on the comprehension questions when I made her answer them.  What I have noticed, however, is that the same curiosity is not aroused by her reading to herself.   When I read the stories to her, she asks questions and often rereads the story on her own when I am done.  This doesn't happen with every story, but it is happening more and more often.

On her own, Laura was still reading the Illustrated Classic Little Women.  She is nearly through with the book, and has asked if she can read the full, unabridged, version by Louisa May Alcott.  I hesitate to let her just yet.  The copy she is reading is in the fourth grade reading level, however the unabridged version is almost 8th grade level.  I don't want to focus too much on levels, but I am not wanting to push her either.