Recently, my daughter and her family paid a visit to Virginia. My 8-year-old homeschooling granddaughter, a firecracker of a girl, bounded up to me and cried with delight, “Grandpa, I’m learning to read!” For two years, my granddaughter had struggled to learn to read with the books used by her four older siblings: Alpha-Phonics, some materials from the Seton Home Study School, and several other instruction manuals. These daily bouts with letters, sounds, and words often left her in tears and her mother frustrated. She was on target in mathematics and loved for her sisters, father, and mother to read books to her, but she remained at least a grade level behind in reading. Meanwhile, her 5-year-old cousin was becoming an advanced reader, getting through some basic stories and picking out words on everything from road signs to birthday cards. He attends a local Montessori school, which has certainly helped, …