More phonics questions

We both dread reading time because she barely ekes out 2 pages worth of reading, and there aren’t many words on 2 pages….

Oh boy, that is no fun. So, since you aksed for opinions, I’ll offer mine….crazy though it may sound!

I would totally shelve the reading lessons for a while.

Focus on reading to her, fill her sweet head with big ideas…lots of nature and history. Work on oral recitation, art appreciation and practice, exposure to good music….and shelve the reading lessons.

In my experiece, reading readiness is extremely individual and just can’t be forced. Much like potty training and other developmental milestones, some children are just ready and “get it” earlier than others. You CAN force a child to potty train at age 2…but if they are not ready, it will be a lot of stuggle. Why torture everyone?

Same with reading. It sounds like you have given your daughter a wonderful foundationsin gentle, passive awareness of phonics. Going from knowing the letters and their sounds to actually putting them together to form words that are then meaningful is a huge step. It just can’t be forced.

My son taught himself to read at age 4. He is weird. He falls on the freakishly early side of the normal spectrum.

My daughter, born of the same parents, did exactly what your daughter does. She knew all her letters all their sounds. She had learned them basically through passive methods of play. She possessed this body of knowlege for 2 1/2 years, and would sound out the same 3-letter word 100 times. Not really, cause I didn’t require that of her.  We “shelved” reading, because I didn’t want her to believe that reading was hard and that she wasn’t good at it. These perceptions are hard to shake!

Then, all of a sudden, at the age of almost 8, she started reading….everything. She literally went from barely being able to make out a 3-letter word, to reading Little House on the Prairie in two months. I have no explanation except that her brain as just ready. Today, she is voracious.

And, as many moms here will likely tell you, age 8 is pretty typical…and “normal” can be a lot later too! I have a dear friend who’s son as 12 before it clicked! (Don’t freak….he’s a straight A student, history major, at a prestigious private school, and more well read than I am for sure!)

So that’s my advice. Give it a total rest for about a year….or until she starts picking up “Frog and Toad” and discovers that she can read some of those words, is hungry for more and asking “Mommy, what does f-r-i-e-n-d spell?”

I suggest playing the Phonics Concentration Game: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/concentrationgam.html

There is a link to a 5 minute movie that shows how the game is played.  My girls really enjoy playing it and it’s great phonics practice.  I was also told just a few days ago by the Mom who created the game, and who is also a teacher of remedial reading students, (her name is Elizabeth) that even normal children need to hear and see the sounds repeated 100’s of times to “get it”.  I asked her about it because my dd is 8 and was not reading and has had so much trouble remembering her letter sounds.  We started using the Video Phonics Lessons available free (for now) at the site above and she picked up First Steps and started reading after about 9 video lessons!  But, she would read the word “cat” about 5 times with no trouble and then all of the sudden she just could not figure it out. But Elizabeth said, this is okay, and she will get it eventually.

Hey Sara,

Just two ideas that may or may not help, but thought I’d throw them out there.  One is the Leap Frog videos – they have been a super fun way for my girls to learn/review their letter sounds with little cues like the “P” makes the same sound as Popcorn, in a fun animated way.  I didn’t have this for my oldest daughter, but my second learned all her letter sounds before age three and my now two year old is also learning a lot from this video – we don’t allow tv except on Saturday, so they are very excited when they get to watch an educational movie mid-week, which may help in keeping their attention, but for $7.50 at Target, you really can’t beat the price or value.  I’m not sure CM would approve, but the results have been too good for me to.

My second observation is that the First Steps reader is kind of difficult – imho it moves quickly.  Your dear daughter may have more success with a book that is focusing on just one sound – like the bob books, or the readers from Sing Spell Read Write.  My second daughter does VERY well with those singularly focused reading books, and struggles with the First Steps.  My oldest loves the more advanced books in the First Steps series and finds the SSRW series less interesting, she likes the First steps storyline better, but I’m not sure that storyline matter much if they are having success figuring out real words.

And I also agree that a break may not be a bad idea, I’d still try to include fun ideas to keep the things she already knows fresh in her mind, like playing a game… “What starts with ‘w’?” and then taking turns with her thinking of words, or if she can’t think of any, giving her clues… I can think of a word that starts with ‘w’ – it’s something you use when you take a bath, you can drink it, you can fill a swimming pool with it…  Anything to help her feel successful and not frustrated.

Rebekah

Two things…

One) My son has autism and used Funnix to get off and running with reading. I decided to use it with his younger brother, neuro-typical, and it was a wonderful foundation for his reading as well! This was all done before I was immersed in CM methods, however.

Two) My brilliant friend (who is a HSing CMer) wrote this amazing post on first reading lessons. She is seriously one of the most intelligent, articulate people I know! It is a wonderful and practical post. Her method is not pushy or pain-staking…it is “easy and inviting”.

Melissa