Engineer Memoirs
Q:
Is that right?
A:
And heaven knows, it didn't hurt him. But we did a lot at home on schooling. Not only
did Ernie teach them all to read, we read with them. We worked on their schoolwork
with them. We supplemented the schools, which they're now saying--I read articles in
the newspaper--is what they want parents to do. At that point, they did not want
parents to do that.
We often found that teachers thought we were meddling and we shouldn't be doing
these things. But we had to overcome the fact that maybe next year the kid wouldn't
be in that school, he'd be in an entirely different school. So he had to be able to cope.
Q:
Did your husband consciously set out to teach all four of his children to read? Is that
something he wanted to do?
A:
He consciously set out to teach Ralph to read. Having taught him, he felt he owed it to
the others. So, yes. He read a book on a plane one time--you may have heard of the
book, Why Johnny Can't Read.
Q:
Sure.
A:
He picked it up in the airport, and he read it. In the bibliography was recommended
Reading With Phonics, which is written by two men named Hay and Wingo. He
immediately bought this book.
At that point, he was working all hours of the day and night for General Lampert in the
nuclear power program and didn't see Ralph, who was almost four years old, very
much. But this was the time they had together--about an hour after supper that he sat
down with his HayWingo book and taught Ralph to read with it. That was their time
together. Ralph was quite able to learn.
I think almost any child can be taught to read at a very early age. And I think that the
educators are finding that now. At this time, they would tell us we were making
disciplinary problems because when the child entered school, he already could read so,
therefore, he would be bored. We felt it was up to the teachers to keep him interested
in something.
Q:
I'm with you.
A:
We had different problems, different teachers. But now they want the parents to help.
Q:
Which of your husband's assignments was the most difficult and stressful for you?
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