Ry just came to me and said, "What if I really don't know how to read?" So I said, "Go get your book and your glasses and come sit next to me." She said, "Yuck, no." I said, "This is homeschooling. Go get your book and your glasses." She arrived two minutes later with her book and glasses.

Then she put on her glasses. Then she read the first long paragraph of the first story. She read fluently, nervously, and completely. I helped her with two words. And I listened with an indescribable feeling rising in my chest.

I said, "Now I will tell you something, Darling. Last week I began searching for a tutor to help you learn how to read. But now I am canceling that search. You do not need a tutor because you are a reader. You have tutored yourself. You have done the work and now you know how. It will only get easier and easier from here on out. Congratulations, my love."

And she picked up her glasses and carefully wiped them off and put them in their case. And she picked up her book. And she walked upstairs with a look on her face that suggested an indescribable feeling rising in her chest.

And she did it for herself. And now she knows how. And it did not happen in a school room. And it did not happen with a teacher who we will kiss goodbye forever, in a few months. It happened in her own time, on her own terms, and she owns this success completely.