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Don't know what to do at this point
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I have a 9 and 6 year old and they both read rather well. The lessons and reading practice they seem to be beyond. The only time I notice a challenge for them is when reading a few words in the Bible and even there they struggle very little. What do I do now? Do I continue to do reading lessons with them even though they know the words? I read somewhere, where Sonya explained to another mother that their child just probably needed to see the certain words more often and continue in reading practice. How would I go about this? My understanding at this point, is that reading lessons are no longer needed, with the exception of maybe word building? If word building should continue, what words do I build on? Would it be words they have struggled with during reading practice? Currently for reading practice they are reading the Pathways series and these books also seem to be rather easy.
Shannon
Have you considered something like Spelling Wisdom or doing copywork with passages that contain more challenging words? My boys are that age too and we do copywork almost exclusively out of the Bible.
I’d like to buy Spelling Wisdom for my oldest son to use in the fall. We tried a traditional spelling curriculum this semester because I thought, “Sure, it isn’t CMish but that methods has been used for decades. Surely it has some use!” But no, it really didn’t do anyting for us. My son was scoring 90-100% on his tests but not learning to spell more than a couple of new words per week out of twenty.
I stopped doing ‘reading lessons’ once my readers were reading fluently and picking up books independently. Since then, we’ve done ‘read aloud’ practice once a week, working on things like inflection, speed, breathing. (My DS6 insists on trying to breathe and talk at the same time.) This also gives me the chance to catch any problems in reading skills.
You could have them read anything, of course, but we like the “Christian Liberty Nature Readers” for our read aloud, since they have short and interesting chapters.
Joanne
Thank you ladies. I hope this isn’t a stupid question, but when exactly do I know when they are fluent?
My son took the DIBELS test last week. It tests fluency and is available online for free. A lot of teachers love the test. Another standardized test said he reads a year ahead of grade level for reading comprehension. The DIBELS test said he is reading just below level for fluency. I think it is because I don’t have him read outloud as often as I should so he is used to getting concepts but glossing over pronouncing tough words.
To me fluent is when they can read without having to stop to figure out very many words. They can pick up a book they are interested in and read it independently. They might not know every word, but they can usually get the meaning from context, or quickly decode the odd unfamiliar word, without interrupting the flow of the sentence much.
From your description of your children, I’d say they are probably there, but you are the best judge of that.
Joanne
Thank you all again! CM says not to start spelling lessons under 8….right? My 6 year old is a fluent reader and can easily read the Pathway reader for grade 3. Should I begin Spelling Wisdom with him along side my 9 year old? Or is it still too soon to introduce spelling to him at his age?
I would give each child a few years to get plenty of experience with copywork, copying excellent examples of good literature, as well as quite a bit of reading before worrying about spelling. They really learn so much from just seeing the correct spellings of words in all their other work. My 6 year old is also a great reader (as in, he has read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, twice each), but we will do at least a couple more years of copywork/transcription before beginning dictation with Spelling Wisdom. My 8 yo DD started Spelling Wisdom this year, just doing one passage per week, but she was already doing a lot of writing on her own (journals, stories, letters, etc.) I think the normal recommendation is 9 or 10.
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