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Help with Reading for my 8yo. Where to go next?
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I need some help deciding what to do with my almost 8yo this year. He learned to read using The Reading Lesson and has also used Explode the Code up through level 2 1/2. He reads fairly well. I would not call him an “avid” reader but not a “struggling” reader, either. I guess he would perhaps still fall into the beginning reader category. He does enjoy reading to himself. I am not worried about his progress, but as the style of our homeschool changes, I find myself not sure what to do with him next. I have consulted the curriculum guide and am trying to decide whether to do some Delightful Reading with him, along with the suggested readers, or go straight to the copybook readers or do JUST readers this year. I am also wondering whether to continue the Explode the Code series with him. It is starting to seem as though it will be busy work for him, unless I skip a level or two.
We schooled late into the summer and took a break in order to move, so I am late with some of my planning and wanting to get going within the next week or two. I am finding myself thinking in circles and really just need some help talking/thinking through what to do. I would greatly appreciate any input!
Every child is different. My belief if that if they are reading then encourage them to keep reading! Pulling them backward to do a program would seem very frustrating to me if they’re ready to read things that interest them. Instead I watch for trouble spots and we work on those as needed.
My older kids (two boys and two girls) have learned to read at different ages (6, 7, 6, 3) and I have 3 yet to learn. It really is very individual once they grasp the basics and can read.
We also gave up on Explode the Code at about that level because it no longer seemed beneficial. I agree with just reading — on his own, with you, on his own and having him narrate.
Nebby
Thanks ladies! I think I needed permision (again!) to not do some sort of a “program” with him! Seriously, this planning thing goes so much more smoothly when I don’t think about it so much! 🙂 So, no more ETC and no DR (unless he sees the 4yo playing with it and wants to join in). Just lots of good books. This is going to be such a great year! Thanks again!
I still have my ds8 do the ETC. He just started on ETC 7 and I am glad he has done it. It does not take him long to do and I think it helps with his spelling. He learns similar words in word families and sees them and writes them over and over in context with a picture or sentence daily for that week(not just a spelling list). When he gets through the last book, ETC 8, I will have him do Spelling Wisdom. Our routine is days 1 – 4 to do 2 pages and on day 5 to study the words on the last page of that week’s lesson and I give him a spelling test. I’ll say the word, use the word in a sentence in context and then repeat the word. It is routine for us now.
We use a lot of levels 3 and 4 readers like Ready-to-Read, Step Into Reading, and I Can Read It! with history or science content. He also reads the Christian Liberty Press Nature Readers that are numbered by grade level. He has enjoyed a set of history books I bought from libraryanded.com called Great Moments in American History. They read like a narrative and are at his reading level, but the content is historical and things like spies, shootings, hangings, etc. are included in a few of them. http://www.libraryanded.com/store/GREAT127A.html
Ready-to-Read history biographies: http://www.libraryanded.com/store/STORI202.html
Just read.
My 8 year old reads aloud to me for 10 minutes each day from a Harriet Treadwell reader and then she reads on her own for 30 minutes (well, that’s what I have on paper … sometimes it’s more, sometimes not) each day. I look at Sonlight 2nd grade (or you could look at 1st grade) to get ideas for quality readers. Also, if you look at Tanglewoodeducation.com, they have some more book suggestions for the younger ones. At the early stage, building fluency and building a LOVE for reading matter more to me than being obsessed with “classics” ~ although I am still picky. I don’t get Barbie or really BAD readers, but I want more variety than JUST the “Days Go By” and things like that. My daughter loves the confidence it builds to read AN ENTIRE BOOK as opposed to just a chapter or story in a reader. I try to get Arnold Lobel, Little Bear, Frog and Toad, Amanda Pig, the Fire Cat, Harriet Ziefert fairy tales, some quality non-fiction, stuff like that. Look for easy readers that INTEREST him to get him going! For “reading time” on your “schedule”, just have him read aloud to you for a few minutes. You can catch mistakes that way. Then, have him read some on his own. I think that is enough. 🙂 And, copywork, of course.
Blessings to you. We, too are just starting for this year(into our 2nd week). We had a big trip in September. The beauty of homeschooling ~ flexibility!
Melissa
I agree! My ds7 started out over the summer a little behind than I thought he should be. He read pretty good but still struggled w/ big words. He reads everyday and over the past few months his reading has greatly improved! I think it was due to reading books he loved and not hesitating to ask what a word was.
Just keep going! HTH
Oh he turns 8 next month! 🙂
I’m so glad you mentioned building fluency and a love for reading over insisting on “classics.” It has been fine for my daughters to move into classic literature and being particular about what they read, but 13yo ds has been (and continues to be) a struggling reader. He has learning differences related to his being autistic, and I have had to make sure he is willing to read in order to keep him reading, thus advancing fluency.
This year, I tried to encourage him to read some Beverly Cleary books, Boxcar Children books, and other chapter books that he could handle. After the first couple of weeks of school and his not wanting to read anything I brought home from the library, he finally told me that he just wanted to read non-fiction books. He will read those on his own when he goes to bed, so I decided to allow him to just read non-fiction books for awhile. After all, we read classic literature as read-alouds for the entire family, so he’s not completely devoid of contact with good fiction. I’ve begun choosing books about the military and military equipment, the Wild West, auto racing, team sports, inventions….anything that he’ll pick up and actually read. Then, he narrates to me so I know he has read it.
My problem is getting him to read aloud, and when he does, he is easily upset if I point out words he is not reading correctly. I wonder if something like Explode the Code deals with this. I would say that he reads well at about a 2nd grade level. Anything above that he might be able to read through but misses several words in a passage. Since he is 13 (even though he not completely aware of a typical 13-year old’s reading level), I have to be careful not to give him reading materials that are too “babyish.” I think this is part of the reason he is not so interested in fiction at his reading level. Too often, the main characters are quite a bit younger than him.
Sue, ETC covers word families like what is covered in phonics. I am guessing that many of the words your ds mispronounces are sight words, as my ds still has to ask about those. I would think something like Spelling Wisdom would help with the odd word here and there. What are you using? My ds likes non-fiction and when it comes to fiction it is not the classics, but mysteries.
I totally agree that the interest in the reading material needs to be there and cover other literature through read-alouds.
Wow! Thanks so much everyone! So much good info here! Thank you for all of the great book suggestions and for sharing your experiences. Most of all, thank you, THANK YOU for the encouraging words. I absolutely love this forum and all of the amazing mamas here! I am back to being undecided about ETC. I do think we would at least skip a level or two…or three! Maybe I could do a quick check to see where he is at with the words in those levels. As Sarah mentioned, I have seen it help and build his confidence, so maybe I shouldn’t write it off completely. The focus will most definitely be on continuing to foster his love of reading.
My dd10 is starting Spelling Wisdom this year, which I am excited about. I am having her take the year off from formal grammar after having done FLL through level 3 (We are coming to CM from a more neo-classical approach. Loving the switch!), so I think Spelling Wisdom will be a great fit!
You are welcome. I love this forum too!
You might be able to skip to book 5 or 6 in ETC. If I can help you, I am very familar with the words and have all 8 of these books. Sonlight uses the first three, which is how we got started on them. Then they go to Wordly Wise, which I have never used and am not familiar with since we liked ETC and decided to stay with it.
Book 3 is on long vowels and consonant blends like sh,ch, ng, ck, so if he’s been reading much he might already know those well.
Book 4 is dividing words into syllables to decide if they are pronounced with a short vowel (closed; ends in consonant) or long vowel (open; ends in vowel) and endings like ed, ing, ness.
Book 5 is back to word families with all, alk, old, olt, ild, ind, etc. like call, walk, cold, bolt, wild, wind. Also 3 letter blends like shr, scr, spr, etc.
Book 6 has some more difficult vowel usage like ar, or, er, ir, ur, ea, ie, ight, oo, ou, ow, au, aw. Examples are cart, shark, word, world, bright, foot, moon, dream, head, chief, tie, noisy, annoy, cloud, clown, hawk, haul, suit, soup, new.
I knew he could read most of these words, but had problems writing them and knowing the correct spelling until ETC. That is what I chose to use mostly for spelling, although it is phonics based, until he is old enough for Spelling Wisdom. I think it also helps with his reading fluancy and confidence since he sees the words all week in the lesson in context and not just in list form. There are many spelling programs out there that many on this forum use. This is what has worked for our family.
We still do copywork 3 days a week, too. This also does not take long. But when he decides to write something on his own, I could see improvement each time and I think the ETC has helped with that.
Thank you, Sarah. Your information on what each book covers is very helpful. I think I need something for reading/vocabulary for my son aside from Spelling Wisdom. He balked at it last year, and the passages beyond the first few seemed to overwhelm him. He’s one of those kids who needs a bit more white space on the page in order to feel capable of reading the material, and for spelling (dictation), he gets scared of tackling passages longer than a simple sentence or two.
Ours is a different situation than most, of course. It took him until he was 9 or 10 to be able to read very, very short sentences using words like ‘man’ or ‘sit’ or ‘pat.’ He actually does fairly well with reading sight words.
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