Ep. 63 - How to Raise Strong Readers with Spencer Russell - The Christy-Faith Show

Episode Transcript
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Christy-Faith (00:00):
Hello, everybody. Welcome to today's show of the

(00:03):
Christy Faith Show podcast. I amexcited about our guest today.
If you've been with me for onehot minute, you know literacy
matters to me. And I invited aspecial guest here today.
His name is Spencer Russell.He's an award winning educator
and the head of literacystrategy at Lovevery. He's the

(00:24):
founder of the groundbreakingearly literacy program, Toddlers
Can Read, which helps thousandsof parents across the world
teach their kiddos to read. Hiswork empowers parents and
caregivers by making the scienceof reading more accessible and
easier to implement at home sothey are better equipped to
support their children's readingjourney. Thank you so much for

(00:46):
joining me on the show today,Spencer.

Spencer Russell (00:59):
Thank you. Thank you. I'm ready to go.

Alright. Let's get after it. Alright. First, I
really wanna hear yourbackground, how you became
interested in literacy.

It's a great question. I started as a
kindergarten teacher. I taughtkindergarten, then I taught
first grade. And when I wasteaching, I wasn't super
interested in literacy. Like, II cared about my kids' social
and emotional well-being.
I loved them. I I cared aboutwho they were as people and how
they behaved and all this sortof stuff. It's not like I woke
up every day excited aboutreading, but I realized really
early the connection betweenreading and literacy and all

(01:32):
these other aspects of a kid'sexperience. I think when a kid
enters kindergarten, knowing howto read or at least having some
basic skills, it lowers so muchof the cognitive load and stress
and all this other part of beingin school. It is the single most
important academic skill a childis gonna learn.
So in the process of teachingreally little kids in

(01:53):
kindergarten and first grade, Ibegan to realize and understand
how important it was to be agreat reader. Ultimately, I left
my school when my wife gotpregnant to be able to spend
more time with my son at homeand kinda be a more hands on
daddy. During that time, I spentsome time coaching teachers in
literacy curriculum and helpingthem better understand what
they're teaching and why. Butonce my son was old enough to

(02:13):
start school himself, I startedtoddlers can read because I
think I I I really missed havingthat like direct impact on on
kids and families, and I knewthe impact it made when parents
were able to get involved withtheir own kids early. And I
wanted millions and millions ofpeople to be able to have access
to that information.

Fantastic. Now when you say toddlers can read,
what do you mean? Like, howyoung? This has always
fascinated me. Toddler?

Yeah. I love this name. Like, I came up with
this name sitting outside underthis tree in, like, a stroke of
genius. I was, like, meditatingand all at once it was like
toddlers can read and the canwas capital. Because I feel like
the message up to that point waslike either toddlers can't read
or toddlers shouldn't read and Iwanted to make a really clear

(03:01):
statement that toddlers canread.
It is actually possible. Like asearly as 18 depending on the
kid, you can start teaching yourkid basic letter sounds. At two,
you can have kids readingreading. We had in the studio
yesterday kind of making contentfor social media, a kid, he's
two and a half, he can read upto four sound words that are

(03:21):
completely random. I can put anyfour sounds together, he can
blend it, he can stretch it andit's from his mom following the
Instagram page the last threeyears, starting early and
teaching him.
So my message isn't isn'ttoddlers need to read, it's not
toddlers should read. I lovewhen parents get to choose this
stuff on their own. It's simply,if you have a little kid whether

(03:43):
two or three or four or five orsix and you wanna teach them how
to read, you can do it and it'sprobably gonna be a lot simpler
and a lot more fun than youthink.

Oh, I love that messaging. Yeah. And and I love,
you know, especially withhomeschooling because moms,
we're taking on the burden ofour kids' education. We're we
also take on a lot of shoulds.You should do this.
You have to do it this way. Youhave to use this program. So I
love that message that they can.Like, if you want to do this,
they can. Now have you foundthat across the board all

(04:14):
toddlers can read or is it justlike, you more of an advocate if
they express interest?
This is something that you cando. What's your take on that?

My take is all toddlers can read. I don't see
any utility in saying some canand some can't. Even if it's
true. To me, it's pointless.Like, as a teacher in school,
you would always hear aboutthese kids who can do this,
can't do this, can't do this,can't do this.
My class was full of kids whocan't. I always got the toughest
kids, the toughest behavior, thetoughest academics, these kids

(04:43):
at six years old who their wholelife have been told you can't do
this. And to me, it's ludicrous.Like, why would we as adults
place on children who are two orthree Yeah. Or four?
So if you start with theassumption that a kid can do it
and then they struggle, the onusis on you to say how can I
change? How can I adjust? Can Imake this more fun? Can I make

(05:05):
it more hands on? Maybe I teachless letter sounds at a time so
it's easier for them.
But if you say the kid can't andthat's your mindset, first off,
you're not even gonna give yourbest effort to start. And then
when they struggle, you're notgonna make adjustments because
you're like, oh, yeah. I knewthey couldn't do it. Let's give
up on this. So, yes, toddlerscan do it.

(05:25):
Your kid at home, they can doit, it's just a matter of how do
we make it interesting andengaging and fun for them. And
maybe it takes some kids alittle bit longer and that's
totally okay because when youstart early, you've got lots and
lots of time to take this slowto work at your kid's pace and
help them learn to rate.

That's such a great message. No. I wanted to
ask you next, we hear all aboutthe science of reading and does
this program follow the scienceof reading? It's such a buzzword
right now. And I would love as aliteracy expert for you to
unpack for us what is thescience of reading?

(06:03):
What does this mean when we hearpeople talking about it?

In simple terms, I think this means that
there is research and sharedunderstanding in terms of how
our brains learn to read. Fordecades, many of us have been
taught to guess words or to tryand memorize words or to read
the story and like think about aword that would make sense or
look at the picture for support.These things I like to think of

(06:27):
as band aids. They're like theselike little tricks that help us
to read some words butultimately if that's all we can
do, we're gonna struggle tobecome really really amazing
readers. The science of readingsays, we learn to read by
learning letter sounds orphonics and by learning phonemic
awareness skills, the ability tokind of combine or separate

(06:49):
those different letter soundsout, stretch them together into
words and instead of memorizingor guessing at whole words,
we're building the skill to beable to put together lots and
lots of different words.
It does get more technical as itrelates to specific skills and
and we can get more technical ifit's helpful. But I think
generally, the science ofreading means there's a better

(07:12):
way for kids to learn to readand generally, we should be
teaching them that way. I thinkit's worth noting and I think
this is what some people miss,is that just like any science,
the field is evolving. Mhmm. Soas we learn more, as new papers
come out, as new studies comeout, we need to kind of change
and shift our thinking about howthe brain learns to read,

(07:34):
There's a lot more to learn.
But for the time being, I thinkwe've got a really good sense of
how kids learn to read and theimportance of phonics and
phonemic awareness in thatprocess.

Yes. Absolutely. In fact, when I there's a lot of
mamas who join Thrive HomeschoolCommunity. It's my online
coaching community forhomeschool moms. And when they
DM me about their child andliteracy, the first thing I
wanna know is what program arethey in?
And if because I know the onesthat are following the science
of reading. And that's the firstconversation that we have
because if her kid has been, youknow, shown only sight words,

(08:06):
that's that's a kid that'smemorizing pictures. That's not
a kid that is understanding thecode and applying the code. So I
think that's really encouragingand clarifying. So thank you so
much.
So, dude, you have a massiveonline presence. Guys, go follow
Spencer Russell right now if youare listening to this episode

(08:27):
because his content isphenomenal. Tell us the story
about how you came to have thismassive I mean, it's o just say
the number because last Ichecked, it was, like, millions.
Right?

Yeah. Across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and
Facebook, it's over 5,000,000.

That's incredible. Tell us the story.
How did this come about? Becauseyou're just a guy with a big
heart who wants to teach kidshow to read.

Oh, that's kind. I appreciate that. It is
something I never expected, Ihoped for, but it's not
something I expected. And Ithink it's deeply ironic because
in 02/2019, I left social mediaentirely. At that point, there
wasn't, like, TikTok and stuff.
I was like, I left Instagram. Ileft Facebook, LinkedIn even. I

(09:12):
I didn't want any footprintonline. I didn't want anyone to
know who I was. And I justwanted time with my family.
Like, I was just with my wife, Iwas with my son, I was working
on myself, I was exercising, andit was such a beautiful part of
life just like not thinkingthrough the lens of like, how do
I look and how do I appear andlike let me take this photo of
my food. So I am I have I havevery mixed feelings about social

(09:34):
media. I knew in 2021 when Istarted toddlers can read that
if I wanted to help parentsteach their kids to read, I
needed to go where parents were.And at that time, where parents
were was Instagram. So it was05/29/2021, I created the
Instagram page at toddlers canread.
It had been so long since I'vebeen on Instagram and it had

(09:55):
changed so much. When I left, itwas like a photo sharing
platform. It was like, here's apicture of my son. When I came
back, was videos and reels.Didn't know what a reel was.
It was it was all this differentstuff and people pointing on
camera and so it took a longtime for me to even understand
how to use social media for mybusiness but I knew I had to
make it work. And I think thatthe the secret to my social

(10:16):
media success is I needed toreach people in order to feed my
family. There there was no twoways about it. I'd quit my job,
and toddlers can read was theincome, and it wasn't making any
money. The first month I quit myjob, I lost money.
And it was just like, this iseither gonna work or we're gonna
lose the house, we're gonna losethe car, we're gonna lose my
son's school. So I really reallyneeded it to work and it led to

(10:40):
a lot of nights staying up,making additional content, you
know, recording stories ahundred times, trying to get it
out in front of people, studyingwhat other people were doing,
looking at data, what's working,what's not, and it's it's taken
a long time. Even now, it's it'shard to make content that's
good. It's hard to make contentthat hits people. You can have
the best idea and know this isgonna really help change

(11:03):
someone's life.
It's gonna help their kids somuch, but okay, what's the hook?
How long is it? How fast is it?What's the setting? How do I say
this better?
It may never hit the person whoneeds it. So I feel like I'm
constantly kind of battling withhow to deliver content that's
really valuable and reallyhelpful, but how to also make it
like entertaining and fun towatch. And those two things

(11:25):
don't always go together. It'sthis kind of unique challenge to
try and make it work. And so Ifeel very, very fortunate, very
blessed, very excited to be ableto be in a place now where we're
reaching millions of people withreading content.
But I I don't I don't take itfor granted and I know that just
because someone follows youdoesn't mean they're seeing your
content. Right. So we're workingreally really hard to try to

(11:47):
produce better content andbetter content and better
content so people can get thebest advice for their kids.

Yeah. Oh, that's phenomenal. And I think that
what keeps us going, at leastwhat keeps me going, you know,
I'm in a much smaller niche thanyou with homeschooling is that
heart. I think that if we were Imean, just from the minutes
before that we filmed this tonow, I think that if we were in
this for, like, vanity, we wouldbe giving up because it's too

(12:14):
hard because you can makesomething that follows all the
rules and has the hook and thethis and the that, and it flops.
Right?
Because of whatever reason, butyou have to have the heart, and
you have to have the why, thepurpose. Otherwise, you quit
because it is it is hard, man,and to constantly be pushing out
content. And, anyway, can I askyou the next question here? And

(12:35):
it has to do with homeschooling.Yep.
Homeschooling mamas, we areconstantly asking ourselves, am
I doing enough? We often feellike we're not doing enough, and
it's not because we're not.We're we're we have world class
curriculum at our fingertips,but we're just always
questioning. And part of it isbecause what we're doing is
we're kinda saying no to thesystem. We wanna do this a

(12:57):
different way, but this new wayis kinda like a custom built
house, and we don't haveanything to compare it to.
And it's not that it's bad, butit does foster a lot of self
doubt. It's one of the reasonswhy I coach homeschool moms. But
especially when it comes toreading, what would you say to a
mom with a little kiddo kind ofemergent reader in that, you

(13:17):
know, toddler to seven years oldage range who's trying to teach
her little one to read rightnow. Do you have any words of
encouragement for that, mama?

For sure. First thing I'd say is it's totally
normal.

As a homeschool mom who values a family together
approach and leans towards theclassical and Charlotte Mason
styles, I often struggle tobring my educational vision to
life with my kids' diverse agesand learning needs. With all our
interests and super packedschedule, bridging that gap
between the dreamy homeschool Iwant and reality, I gotta be
honest. It's a challenge. Now,yes, I know perfection isn't the

(13:49):
goal. But if you're listeningand you could use a little
easing of your mental load inyour day to day, I found a
resource that has become thequiet hero of our routine, and
it could be a really greatoption for you too.
BJU Press homeschool curriculum.Now many think that BJU Press
homeschool is solely an all inone option, and though it does
excel in that role, did you knowyou can also opt for specific

(14:10):
courses and tailor them to fityour family's needs just as I
have? BJU Press homeschoolprovides the perfect balance of
structure and flexibility andeasily complements my family's
mixed age family together on thecouch learning style. They are
second to none in integrating abiblical worldview, stimulating
critical thinking, and offeringtons of hands on activities in

(14:31):
the lessons. To find out how BJUPress Homeschool can come
alongside you in yourhomeschooling goals too, visit
bjupresshomeschool.com or clickthe link in the show notes.

At Lovevery, we partnered with YouGov to do a
survey. We surveyed a thousandparents of kids aged four to
eight, and we found that one infour feels negatively and
overwhelmed at the prospect ofsupporting their kids with their
reading. What we we found talkwith people is reading was the
number one academic skillparents wanted to work on with

(15:03):
their kids. It was what theywere most likely to try and get
extra support outside of schoolfrom, but many of them still
feel negatively, they feeloverwhelmed, they feel anxious
about teaching their kid, and Iget these messages every day as
I'm sure you do as well. I mean,so many people are struggling
with this.
I think it is it's helpful toknow you're not alone. It's it's
not like some people are justlike knocking it out of the park

(15:23):
and you're way behind it, it'slike we're all just trying to do
our best to support our kids.That's the first piece. The
second piece I think is the goodnews which is teaching a child
to read isn't super supercomplicated. It's not like you
need to know every rule, everysound, like every single little
thing in the English languagebecause that's where I think it
gets overwhelming for a lot offolks.

(15:44):
Their their kid is kind oflearning the basic letter
sounds, but then they're like,but what about when c makes two
sounds? What about how e a cansay e like in read or e like in
read? And you start getting ininto these technical pieces. And
if you think about math, I thinkmost of us have a better sense
when we think about math thatit's slow small steps. When
we're teaching a child addition,we're not worried about the fact

(16:06):
that they need to know algebrasomeday.
We look at them and say, oh, youneed to learn how to add. Let's
put these two numbers together.For me reading is very very
similar. If you're overwhelmed,you've got in in your example,
let's say you've got a four yearold at home, they have no
reading skills, no readingknowledge at all, but you just
know it's your job to help themread, you can teach your child
three letter sounds like s, a,and then you can practice

(16:28):
stretching them together. Theword at, the word as, the word
sat, and slowly startstretching.
Once they master those three,you can teach them three more
and then you can keep stretchingand teach three more and then
stretch. And in a very veryshort period of time, especially
compared to traditional schoolwhere a kid is one out of 24,

(16:48):
one out of 26, that one on onetime doing a couple letter
sounds a day, a little bit ofstretching, your kid is gonna
have the basics of learning toread. And then it's just a
matter of teaching some of thoseadvanced skills one at a time.
So we do it bite by bite, wedon't take off too much, we work
right where our kid is at in themoment. There's amazing programs

(17:10):
to support whether it's LoveEvery, the reading skill set,
whether it's, you know, thehomeschool curriculum that you
have that follows the science ofreading, there's free accounts
that toddlers can read online,there's lots of free reading
accounts to give you support andadvice, you've got your
community, you know, there's somany resources that people can
tap into here for support.
If you get your mind out of thisarea of worrying about every

(17:31):
single little thing, you justtry to teach one step in front
of where your kid is at now.

Okay. Spencer, I gotta tell you, that's kind of
like when you I feel likesometimes it's helpful to take
analogies out of what we'retalking about to help us
understand. That made so muchsense to me where, yeah, when
you're teaching a kid how toadd, you just start with the
very, very basics and yourealize we're gonna build on
this later. Yep. I I do feellike and I think even curriculum

(17:57):
is written in such a way whereit's almost like drinking from a
fire hose.
And developmentally andcognitively, these kids can't
they can't memorize, yeah, like,all those different sounds of
the e a right away. And I thinkthat's a really powerful message
where, you know, start simple,you just build. I wanna talk
about struggling readers for aminute here. In your experience,

(18:17):
what are some signs that a childmight need some more support,
and what can parents actually doat home to help?

I think this is a tricky question because I
don't really believe in levelingfor kids. I don't really believe
in any standards. It's like yourkid needs to be able to do this
by this age. I think a lot of itis parent preference of when you
want your child doing a certainskill. Some people want their
kids reading fluently by four.
Some people want them readingfluently by 10. And if you're

(18:44):
homeschooling your kid, you'vekind of got where you want them
to be. So it's tough for me tosay, you know, if your kid's not
hitting this metric by this age,it's time for a stronger
intervention. But I think I cananswer it, which is to say often
when kids are struggling withreading, and this is my
experience as someone whostruggle with reading, you've
got some kind of impact to thekid's confidence and to their

(19:06):
self esteem whether they'rehomeschooled or whether they go
to traditional school. You see akid who is starting to recognize
and see that they're behindwhere most of their peers are
and there is, like, an inherentfrustration with this.
Sometimes the frustration is Ijust wanna be able to do what my
friends can do. And sometimesthe frustration is the
curriculum is moving ahead ofwhere I currently am. There's

(19:27):
this delta between where I amand where I should be, and I
feel it. And I get more DMs fromparents on Instagram that are
about the kids' self expressionof frustration than I do that
are about, like, a parentteacher conference. Every fall,
get parents up.
I I I just have my parentteacher conference, my kids
behind, I wanna help them. Thathappens. More often, I get my

(19:49):
kid came home from school andshut down. Mhmm. They were
frustrated.
My kid asked me, can I learn howto read? I hear that all the
time. So if you're looking at akid and they're expressing
frustration or disappointment oranxiety or they're asking you to
learn to read and to readbetter, that to me would be the
number one sign that this kid isstruggling and let's get them a
little bit more support. Then Iwould go to the kind of

(20:12):
traditional grade levelstandards. I'm personally not
gonna take them as bible becauseI think kids learn to read when
they're taught.
I don't believe it's based on acertain age Mhmm. But if you're
taught how to read really well,they're gonna learn how to read.
And I would look at thosestandards and say, okay, by the
end of kindergarten, when you'resix years old, generally you
should be able to read threesound words, CVC words, cat can

(20:35):
sit. If you're nowhere nearapproaching that, it might be
time to level the reading up alittle bit so your kid can learn
to read. By the end of thirdgrade, hopefully we're at the
point where we switched fromlearning to read to reading to
learn.
We can read pretty well and it'sreally about comprehension and
fluency and being smooth. Ifyou're in third grade and the
reading is still so choppy andso slow that you can't

(20:58):
understand what you're reading,it might be time for some
additional support. But again, Ithink it's gonna vary parent to
parent and use some kind ofbalance of the grade level
standards along with how thechild themself feels about their
reading ability.

You know, and that is so important. I do a
talk when I go to conferences onI call it the special needs
blueprint. I'm I'm gonna throwyou a curveball, and I'm so
excited because in that talk, Idiscuss how this concept of
special needs is a socialconstruct. You would know what
this talk is on because this isour language that we have. What

(21:30):
is your take?
What's your hot take on readingdisabilities or dyslexia? Do you
have an opinion? I'm putting youon the spot.

They're gonna try and get me in trouble.

I'll put myself in trouble.

I think that kids learn to read when they're
taught how to read. Like, wediagnose so many kids with so
many issues who have never beenproperly taught how to

read.

Yeah. You know, like, my son, for example, I'm
teaching him how to playbaseball. There is no point in
his life where if I didn't teachhim, he would know how to play.
Like hitting a ball out of theair is is not natural. You can't
just like jump in at 20 yearsold on a pitching machine and
say, I can hit because I'm 20.
If you've never done it, youcan't hit. But if you've got a
three year old who's beenhitting since they're two, the

(22:13):
three year old can hit themachine. Does the 20 year old
have a hitting disability? No.They've never been taught how to
hit.
And so some people, Dyslexia isa real thing, some people have
real reading disabilities. Butwe have so many kids who've
never been taught how to readand it is more convenient to
slap a label on them and saythis is the kid's issue than it
is to say this is a system issueor this is a parent issue or

(22:34):
this is a teacher issue. It'sdifferent in every single
situation. But if you don't givea kid a fair shake at learning
how to read, how can you thenturn around and say this kid has
a problem? My kid's 10, theycan't read, they must have
dyslexia.
It's like maybe, or maybe youtaught them how to guess words.
They've been guessing for thelast five years and they never
learned the building blocks ofphonics to be able to decode
those words. Is that hot enough?

That's hot. And I I I couldn't agree more. I mean,
I think that the the problemwith diagnoses, and I go over
this when I do my talks on this,is that it really labels the kid
as the problem where we're andit doesn't force us to evaluate
the system in which we'reteaching kids and why are these
kids not learning. Would you atleast say this that there are

(23:16):
kids where they do need morerepetitions, more explicit
instructions than others? Itseems to be if you're using the
baseball analogy that, yeah, itmight take some kids a little
bit longer, a little bit morecoaching to learn it, but they
eventually do learn it.

%. And I've I've worked with enough kids to
know this is true. It's just wedon't wanna say this kid can do
it, this kid can't do it, orthis kid is is troubled or this
kid isn't. Mhmm. It's much moreaccurate to say exactly what you
said.
Everyone can do it. For somekids, it takes more time. It
takes more repetition. For somekids, it might take more one on

(23:52):
one time. I think this is wherehomeschooling families have a
bit of an advantage because youcan look at your kid and say, my
kid needs more time learning howto read.
They need more repetitions. Theyneed to see the sound twice or
three times as often to rememberit from day to day. So that's
what I'm gonna give them. When Iwas a teacher, it was really
hard to give my kids that levelof support because I had a

(24:13):
classroom. Some kids who teachit once they've got it, some
kids they need it again andagain and again.
All of them can do it, butthere's very different needs.
And so as the teacher, you tryyour best to manage that. But to
the baseball analogy, my son'sthe perfect example, it takes
him a lot more practice to learnbaseball skills than it takes
other kids. So as a result, Ispend more time teaching him

(24:36):
those skills. Mhmm.
So he can be just as successful.And I think the same goes for
reading.

I think that's a powerful message especially for
the homeschool moms to hearbecause sometimes we get shiny
object syndrome where we gottaget our kid reading and there's
stress and we go through aprogram that's a solid program
and if it doesn't work right offthe bat, they wanna throw out
the program. And sometimes Irecommend, no. Do another pass.
You have the time. You'rehomeschooling.
Your kid may just need anotherpass. I think that one thing I

(25:03):
that probably both of us arepassionate on is that they're
just there are best practices.There are best practices in
teaching anyone to read. When weran our center, I don't know if
you know my history, but we rana center. We taught the kids of
a listers and billionaires inLos Angeles, and we did reading
intervention, lots of differentinterventions and test prep and
tutoring and and all of that.
And, you know, it's just apowerful message to say, it may

(25:27):
not be that your the programitself, you need to throw that
and buy something new and thenhope that works. Sometimes that
causes disruption andfrustration and then you're
having to learn something newagain. And that can really take
a toll on the kids too. Ifyou're in a really solid
program, which I do wanna talkabout Love Every because I have
been so impressed. Because LoveEvery is game based, the kids

(25:49):
it's like those repetitions arereally built in.
So what is Love Every? It's thecompany that you represent.
Before we continue, I wannashare with you a program that's
been a game changer for ourhomeschool. At our center, we
instructed and helped kidsthrough pretty much every math
program on the market and knowfirsthand just how important a
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So we make different playthings for kids
and families focused ondevelopmentally appropriate
play. We have some incrediblebooks. We have amazing play kits
that parents can get on asubscription where it comes
every couple of months. My son,who's three and a half months,
just got his next one and had amirror in it. So it has, like,

(27:47):
all these things that are kindof, like, right at the cusp of
their developmental ability.
And it's just stuff kids love.Like, so good. And it's like a
fine line between, like, theplaythings and, like, toys, but,
like, I've done toys with kids.I've done this with kids, and
like kids like this more. It isreally really cool program and
we've started with reading.
So we have the reading soul set.There's three parts, part one,

(28:09):
part two, part three, and itgoes from learning letter sounds
and kind of basic oral languageskills to blending sounds into
words to then being able to readthose words in books, getting
all the way up to like fluentreading in chapter books. And
just like the play things, justlike the other activities, it's
a way to learn the skill ofreading which often feels kind

(28:30):
of complicated or overwhelmingin a way that's just play based
where you're playing an activitywith the child or depending on
the skill, the child might beplaying the activity by
themselves. It might becompletely independent, but
they're learning the skill inthe process. And as someone who
taught kids to read in school,then taught my son to read at
home, then taught other people'skids to read at home, I've never

(28:52):
seen a program or an approachkeep kids interested in reading
for as long as it does.
So when we talk about likewhether something's effective or
not, part of it is how it'sactually built and structured.
Is is it based on the science ofreading? Does it follow best
practices?

Mhmm.

Right? This checks all those boxes. There's
another part of it that peopledon't often think about, which
is how engaged is the kid inthat activity. It's a big
difference if you practice fortwo minutes versus ten minutes.
It's a big difference if you'repulling teeth to try and get
them to focus or if the kid isasking you to keep playing.
And what I see time and timeagain why I'm so excited to be
part of this product, I don'tsay this because I work at
Lovevery. I I work at Loveverybecause this is true. Kids love

(29:29):
doing the activities and theywanna do it for longer and
longer and longer. So as aresult, they're learning faster
and faster and faster without itever really feeling like work.
Right?
Because they're they're doing itthrough these games. So I could
talk for a long time about it. Icould talk about specific games,
but as the high level overview,an awesome way for kids to learn
to read the play.

So for the home homeschool mom, this is gonna be
a really important question forher to know that I think needs
to be clarifying because theseare games. When a homeschool mom
is looking at the reading skillset by Love Every, she might not
think this looks like a fullcurriculum. Is it a full
curriculum?

I think this is a really interesting question
because many of us think of acurriculum as you do this day
one, this day two, this daythree, or you you have to say
this exact thing in this order.And people are looking for
almost like a script. If you'rea teacher, you're very familiar
with, like, being given ascript. Say this. This is like

(30:26):
the approach of teach your childto read in a hundred easy
lessons.
Like, you, like, buy this book,you say the exact same script,
the exact same way, the exactsame day, and hopefully your kid
kind of follows at that pace.When I think of a complete
program, my number one criteriais, is this gonna teach a child
how to read? And with thereading skill set, I think it's
a fantastic way to teach a childto read from start to finish.
And then what I really like andwhat I think is helpful for

(30:48):
homeschool families is can thissort of flex to my day to day
situation or to my child? And Ithink that's where this flexes
really well.
And this might be uncomfortablefor people who are used to that
kind of like regimentedapproach. You can definitely
like make it regimented but thisis much more flexible to say,
okay, we're gonna do thesecouple activities first and

(31:09):
they're gonna work on ourability to hear and kind of
manipulate the different soundsand words. Then we're gonna
start to see some letter sounds.Then we're gonna start to
stretch those sounds togetherinto words. Then we're gonna
read longer and longer words.
So for me, it is complete in thesense of it is gonna be super
super helpful and comprehensivefor teaching a child how to

(31:30):
read. But I think it isdifferent than what people are
used to because it gives alittle bit more freedom and
flexibility about when and howyou're gonna cover each of those
skills.

Absolutely. And I feel the same way. And when I
looked at it so the story is,ladies listening, I get sent
stuff every ding dong day and tomy PO box. It's like insane. And
sure enough, Scott comes homeone day and there's these three
huge boxes and it says loveevery on the side.
I'm like, what's love every? Idon't even know because my kids
are older. So I didn't have thewhole I didn't know about the

(32:03):
whole love every, like, earlyage stuff and and all those
boxes. And Scott's like, this isa reading curriculum. And I was
like, a reading curriculum?
And I was like, okay. Well, I'llI'll just look at it on Saturday
when I have time. Well, anyway,I sat down that very next
Saturday and I opened it up, andI opened up that flipbook first.

Yeah.

And, you know, here I am, you know, judgy judy,
like, is this gonna follow thescience of reading? Right? I get
sent stuff all the time. So andI'm looking at it and right
away, was like, woah woah woahwoah. What?
And I was flipping through andit was Spencer, it was checking
every box. You've done so wellas head of literacy strategy for
them. Just absolutelyincredible. And my kids swarmed

(32:45):
in the room, started unpackingall those my kids know how to
read. We were like opening boxone.
Right? My youngest is nine. Andthey were like, mom, mom. And I
started reading through thatflip book, and I'm like, okay.
Is this checking the boxes?
Is it following science ofreading? Is it doing all the
things? And by the time I gothalfway through the second box,
I was like, Scott, get them onthe phone. This is what I have

(33:08):
been looking for in thehomeschool space. And Spencer,
I'm not kidding you because wealways need okay.
So here's the deal withhomeschooling is that a lot of
us are homeschooling because ourkids struggled in school, so
we're pulling them out becausethe reading intervention didn't
work at school. Right? So I amalways looking for resources
that can help a mom almost doher own therapy at home. Now I'm

(33:28):
not advocating for momsreplacing reading specialists.
Do not mistake my words here.
But what I will say is that I'vebeen looking for a program that
follows best practices so I canget her as close as possible so
that if her kid actually reallydoes need an interventionist,
because they're not cheap.Right? Yep. That I can
confidently say, okay. Yeah.

(33:49):
You've tried everything. We needextra help here. I'm always
looking for that. And so I wasjust beyond thrilled when I
opened the box and saw what thiswas. Now you mentioned something
earlier off air that I want youto share because there are a lot
of online reading programs wherekids are, like, looking at
phonics and letters and goingclick click click.
Something you shared with me ishow much you love that this is

(34:12):
without screens. Can youelaborate a little bit on that?

For sure. I think just like you, I get
approached by brands, companiesall the time and meeting. Like,
I I can't tell you how muchmoney I've left on the table
from not doing, like, sponsoredposts on, like, TikTok or
whatever else from these randomcompanies who wanna get kids on
an app. But for me, it's amatter of being able to be,
like, honest and trustworthy andgive parents the same advice I'd

(34:38):
wanna be given as a parent if Ididn't know anything about this.
And, like, I don't want my kidon a screen.
I don't want my kid doing somerandom app or program that's not
gonna make them a better reader.I don't want my kid doing
something that's boring orsomething that's drill and kill.
And so many of the readingprograms out there suck. And not
only suck, I would say, are aredetrimental to our kids. The
potentially small benefit itmight have for, like, the

(35:01):
reading ability is offset by thevery real negative impact that
we know that screens andtechnology are having to do the
dosage needed to get thatimpact.
So when Lever reached out to meto potentially help to kind of
promote and, like, like work onthe reading toolset, I I was
skeptical because I getapproached a lot. But I took the
meeting because I knew thecompany was hands on, scree

(35:26):
free, intentional parenting. Andwe had had some of the
playthings for my oldest son whowas younger. He loved them. I
was like, I I respect thiscompany at the core.
Took the meeting, saw some ofthe product, got on board,
joined the team, have beennothing but impressed at the
amount of time, attention,research, dedication that's gone
into the reading skill set andthat's gone into all the other

(35:48):
play things. So again, I don'tsay this because I work for Live
Every. I work for Live Everybecause all these things are
true. And at the end of the day,whether a kid learns to read or
not, like, that's not mybusiness. It's, you know, like
kids can learn whatever theywanna learn, but whether or not
parents are intentional inhelping to support their kid to
be the best possible version ofthemselves, whether or kids are

(36:11):
happy and successful and beingpoured into and loved and
carried on, like I really reallyreally care about that.
It breaks my heart to seetablets and strollers. Like I I
I feel so much more passionatelyabout that than like, is this
kid reading at grade level? Iknow that reading is such a big
part of all this. I know thatyou can't separate the two. So

(36:32):
my goal, my mission, mycollaboration with Lovevery is
about parenting, it's aboutintentionality, and it's about
the role that literacy is gonnaplay in helping make sure that
your kid has chances andopportunities in life to become
whoever they wanna be.

Yeah. I mean, a a kid who can't read or an adult
who can't read is an adult withvery limited options in life.
Correct. And it's you saidearlier that it is the
fundamental piece thatacademically that kiddos need a
%. I couldn't agree more.
I love to talk about gamechanging ideas on this show,

(37:08):
things that kind of challenge usor make us ponder. If you had
one message to give to the worldright now, and you may have
already said it, what's onething that you would just shout
from the rooftops tohomeschooling moms in particular
because that's my main audiencetoday? What would you want her
to hear?

You can teach your kid to read really, really
well. Really, really well.

Oh, why am I getting emotional? I wanna cry.
Because I'm all aboutempowering. Right? And here's a
reading specialist.
Like, we are told I don't knowif you know this, Spencer, but
we are told every day at thepediatrician's office, every day
here, every day here, that weare not qualified. And it's such
a lie. It is such a lie. Soanyway, I don't mean to

(37:50):
interrupt you, but go ahead.I'll just sit here crying.

Yeah. No. Incredibly frustrating. And to
be clear, I don't thinkeverybody should be
homeschooling. I think if youdecide to homeschool your child,
that's such a big importantdecision, and it's gonna require
learning.
It's gonna require likedeveloping yourself and studying
and like thinking and providingwhat's best for your kid. But if
you make that decision, you needto know that you can be an

(38:15):
incredible teacher for your kid.Like, we'll shout that from the
rooftops. I think parents arebetter teachers than teachers.
Like there are so manystructural limitations to being
a classroom teacher that youdon't have as the parent.
It's not to say it's easy, it'snot to say it's a walk in the
park, but it's often easier thanyou think you get yourself out
of the way and you just take itstep by step. So parents are

(38:36):
incredible. I've worked with somany parents with no teaching
experience. All they've done iswatch a couple of my videos
online and they've taught theirkids to read faster, more
effectively, easier, and morefun than school. Even parents
who are not good readersthemselves, you can do this.
It is easier than you think. Youjust need the right support, the
right guidance to walk your kidthrough step by step and it is

(38:57):
such an incredible experience. II cried when my son read his
first word. It it was I I I haveit on camera too. It's it's so
special.
And it's just like, I saw himride his bike for the first
time, it beat that. I saw himwalk for the first time,
probably equal. Crawl for thefirst time, better than that.
Like, it was it was soincredible. I get these texts
all the time.

(39:17):
And so there there's also justthis aspect of, like, you can do
it, it can be fun, and once youdo it, seeing your kid be
successful is just the mostamazing experience for both of
you.

Yeah. And and thank you for that because
homeschooling, it is a sac weare making sacrifices in in many
fronts. I mean, a lot of us aregiving up careers because we're
choosing to homeschool ourkiddos. This is what I saw that
you recognized is no one knowsour kids more than us. No one
can love our kids more than us.
And if you are a resourceful,caring parent, you will excel at
this because you'll find theresources that you need. You

(39:50):
will. That's what we do when wecare about our kids. So thank
you for that encouragement andfor seeing us a little bit. I
feel a little bit more seen.
It's so fun because I likehaving non homeschooling people
on the podcast that kind ofrecognize that this is you know,
most things worth doing requirea sacrifice, and that's what
we're doing. And and but what Iwill say is I feel like Love

(40:13):
Every does make it a lot easierfor us because it's a program
that you can trust, that you canwalk through, you can use it as
a full curriculum or as asupplement. And I think Love
Every has a special deal for ourlisteners today. Right?

Yes. So you can use the code Christy 10 to get
10% off the reading solicit,which to me, having seen a lot
of reading products, is alreadypriced really, really well, but
you can get it even cheaperusing your code. And I think it
is worth giving a shot,especially if you've got a kid,

(40:47):
you you've tried some stuffbefore, they're not super
engaged.

Mhmm.

Like, let's get your kid reading through play.
Let's let's make this a littlemore hands on. Let's make it
fun. Let's make it engaging.Let's get them active, and then
let's see these reading skillsgrow.

Yeah. It's and also it's time spent with the
parent, which, you know, I'm abig believer in, like, the love
languages of children and reallymeeting them how they need to
receive their love. And I haveone kiddo. It's my son. I don't
mind saying this, but, you know,he just wants me to go out and
shoot hoops with him.
I just go, you know, just shoothoops. It's and so what's also
great is that often ashomeschooling moms, we're so

(41:23):
busy because it's laundry. It'sthis. We have a baby, a toddler.
We're teaching a kid, you know,kindergarten.
And believe it or not, it iseasy to not stop and spend time
with your kids. It sounds crazy,but we have a lot of
responsibilities. And so this isgreat because you can just sit
down and and play and you'replaying games. So I encourage
you mamas to consider this asyour perusing curriculum for the

(41:45):
next school year or making achange right now whenever you're
listening to this podcastepisode. Any last words,
Spencer?

I really appreciate being here. I am not
a homeschool daddy, but I feellike I'm also not not a
homeschool daddy. You know,like, I've I've been working
with my son so much at home. I Ibelieve regardless of where your
kid is in school, like, you asthe parent are the first
teacher. So I I deeply empathizewith homeschool families.

(42:11):
It makes up a huge percentage ofthe folks who follow me. And and
just hope that people feelencouraged by this episode to
kind of keep on going, keep ontrying to support your kid with
their reading. And I'm and I'mso glad that they've got you as
a resource.

Oh, well, thank you so much. We'll put all the
links in the show notes of yoursocials of Love Every and
everything, and I appreciatevery much you taking time out of
your day to encourage thehomeschool community. Thanks for
coming on. Awesome.

Thank you so much.

You have my heart.

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Ep. 63 - How to Raise Strong Readers with Spencer Russell

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 63 - How to Raise Strong Readers with Spencer Russell