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I need ideas for reading material for my second grade son!


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Well, I'm really new here, but I really could use some help, so I'm being brave and posting. :001_smile:

My ds, who just turned 5, will be starting second grade on Tuesday. Obviously, this makes him two years 'ahead' of his ps peers.

My 'problem' (if you can call it that) is that I can't buy books fast enough for him. I really need some suggestions for reading material.

Let me tell you where we're at; he has read TONS of Rod and Staff Little Jewel books, and these are a bit below his level now (though he still enjoys them). He is finishing the third book (Climbing Higher) in the 2nd grade level of the Pathway readers (read Busy Times and More Busy times in less than a week, just reading by himself in his spare time). We are doing Christian Light level 200 for reading curriculum this year, so I can't give him that reader yet!

I have some other Rod and Staff books on their way (ones rated as age 8-11 in the R&S catalog), but until I get them, I don't know if they're too advanced vocabulary-wise or content-wise for him. I'm not really interested in ordering the Rod and Staff Bible Nurture and Reader Series, as he has loads of bible story books that he's read already.

I don't know what to do! I'm considering ordering the third grade Pathway Readers, but I have no idea if that would be too advanced for him.

So, all that said, can anyone suggest any thing else? I'm fairly new to homeschooling, and have NO local friends who homeschool, so I don't know much about any other curriculums/companies besides CLE, Rod and Staff, and just recently, Pathway. We are very conservative Christians, however I don't insist that the reading material be scripture. Just very wholesome in nature, nothing with foolishness. Any ideas,would be so welcomed!

 

Thanks, bethanyniez

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Nothing with foolishness... well I guess that depends upon the definition being used.

 

My son's favorites at that age included the Nate the Great books, Flat Stanley, Boxcar Children, Encycopedia Brown, books by Peggy Parrish, Ugly Duckling, Stone Soup, Billy & Blaze series, Courduroy, Frog & Toad, Floss, Henry & Mudge books, The Little House, The Little Engine that Could, Curious George -- those are a few.

 

I ususally refer to Veritas Press literature selections for some ideas. Sometimes you can go up or down a level as well.

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My dd has enjoyed the next level up in Rod & Staff's books, like: The Family God Gave, Tattletale Sparky, Olive, Betty's Secrets. I have also thought about getting her the Miller's Family Series (Prudence and the Millers, Wisdom and the Millers, etc.)

 

Also, have you looked at Ambleside Online? Their booklists have links to a number of books available online for free. Some of the readings are a little more difficult, but my daughter will often read the stories to herself over and over after I have read them out loud to her once.

 

Take care,

Suzanne

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they're called "Classic Starts" and are abridged versions of a number of the classics. They're hardback with slightly larger type and spacing than a normal book of this style, so they seem really approachable. Less than $5 each -- we got King Arthur and Treasure Island. It's a whole series, maybe 20 titles. Ds was quite interested in them.

 

We'll do the unabridged as read-alouds along the way, I'm sure, for many of these but it's a neat option.

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Are you looking for "curriculum" or for books?

 

I can't recommend much in terms of curriculum -- I've avoided "readers" for the most part -- but I can certainly recommend *books*. :)

 

Carolyn Haywood is a wonderful starting point. Her book "B is for Betsy" is where I would begin, assuming your son doesn't mind a girl as the central figure. (My son certainly enjoyed all the Betsy books when he was five.) She also has a wonderful series about a little boy named "Eddie", but I'd start with Betsy first. These are sweet, old-fashioned books with lots of love and humor.

 

I'll also second "My Father's Dragon" and the "Flat Stanley" books that others have mentioned.

 

Alice Dalgliesh's books "The Courage of Sarah Noble" and "The Bears on Hemlock Mountain" are good.

 

Veritas Press and Sonlight both have great booklists for beginning readers -- lots of wonderful things.

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Scholastic has a book finder for teachers that I find useful at http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/tbw/homePage.do. You can find what "level" he is currently reading at and find other books of whichever genre you choose that are around the same level. You can also choose the interest age range, which is likely to be lower than his ability (he may be able to read at a 5th-grade level but may not be interested in the same things 5th graders are).

 

I also go through a pick books off the Classical Christian Education Support Loop 1000 Good Books list http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html. We are quite conservative, and most of these books have lived up to our standards.

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I've given in with my son. I got him a Sonlight Core. Whether we do the work in the Instructor's Guide, or whether he reads the books on his own remains to be seen. But the look on his face when the UPS delivered a big box of NOVELS to read was priceless...

 

And the total price is very good when you compare the price of buying those books individually...

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My son went through these right after he finished all the Frog and Toad's (his first reader). He read a few Henry and Mudge and others like that (something about a fox?) but didn't like them very well. The Thornton Burgess books were just right. After that, we did lots of the Dover fairy tales and folk (which you might not like). Those had largish print. And then he could read just about anything. Can you get to a library? The librarian might be able to help you. The library is the only economical way of dealing with a fast reader.

HTH

-Nan

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We're another family that tends to avoid readers--I've done them sporadically. For a child that reads so easily, I don't generally find them necessary. You've had a lot of good suggestions already. We used the library a great deal as it's far too expensive to buy books for kids who can read through a novel per day (we've also had to limit fiction because it can go to excess around here! Hard to imagine, I know.)

 

One find for boys or girls Miss Pickerel Goes to Mars is the first book in a series of fun but silly adventures. It would come after the suggestions you've already had, I think. The series about the Mouse by Beverley Cleary (sp on first name) is fun, too.

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Well, I'm really new here, but I really could use some help, so I'm being brave and posting. :001_smile:

My ds, who just turned 5, will be starting second grade on Tuesday. Obviously, this makes him two years 'ahead' of his ps peers.

My 'problem' (if you can call it that) is that I can't buy books fast enough for him. I really need some suggestions for reading material.

Let me tell you where we're at; he has read TONS of Rod and Staff Little Jewel books, and these are a bit below his level now (though he still enjoys them). He is finishing the third book (Climbing Higher) in the 2nd grade level of the Pathway readers (read Busy Times and More Busy times in less than a week, just reading by himself in his spare time). We are doing Christian Light level 200 for reading curriculum this year, so I can't give him that reader yet!

I have some other Rod and Staff books on their way (ones rated as age 8-11 in the R&S catalog), but until I get them, I don't know if they're too advanced vocabulary-wise or content-wise for him. I'm not really interested in ordering the Rod and Staff Bible Nurture and Reader Series, as he has loads of bible story books that he's read already.

I don't know what to do! I'm considering ordering the third grade Pathway Readers, but I have no idea if that would be too advanced for him.

So, all that said, can anyone suggest any thing else? I'm fairly new to homeschooling, and have NO local friends who homeschool, so I don't know much about any other curriculums/companies besides CLE, Rod and Staff, and just recently, Pathway. We are very conservative Christians, however I don't insist that the reading material be scripture. Just very wholesome in nature, nothing with foolishness. Any ideas,would be so welcomed!

 

Thanks, bethanyniez

 

with my early reading kids. And there are many books on http://www.mainlesson.com that would fit the bill. The 50 Famous Stories Retold are beloved here, anything by James Baldwin actually. The "twin" series were social studies standards years ago and are graded readers. Lucy Fitch Perkins is the author. They were my favorites. Also the Childhood of Famous Americans series.

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Well this might not fit your no foolishness requirement, but my dd's first books at that age were Calvin & Hobbes comic books. She still adores comics, reads them over and over. We have a rather large collection from when my dh was a kid and also addicted. I don't read them and don't think they're funny, but he and she are just the total opposite of me. So I let her read through them on a binge, then I put them all away for a few months. It's how we find balance in our house. ;)

 

After I started taking away the comics, I got her into historical fiction. It's clean, educational, and there's lots of older stuff. The TruthQuest guides are phenomenal for cluing you into the older, don't miss, authors. You can use those lists and then go to used bookstores knowing what you should be looking for.

 

Some of the standard series are really good at this level (Little House on the Prairie, Chronicles of Narnia, etc.), and of course there are the VP and SL listings and abridged books, as the others suggested. Historical fiction or nonfiction are really safe avenues for upping the reading level while still keeping it clean at this age. Sometimes books with a higher reading level get into sarcasm, death, and other issues a young one might not be ready for. I got many of the books from the SL K core, which my dd later read to herself over and over even though I had already read them to her, so I definitely recommend them. Have you seen the Childhood of Famous Americans series? He's almost at a level where he's ready for those.

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Some of the standard series are really good at this level (Little House on the Prairie, Chronicles of Narnia, etc)

 

I've been seeing the Little House books a lot on different homeschool forums. I LOVED the tv series as a young girl, are these books based on that series (please pardon the ignorance if they're not:blush:)? And is there more than one series named this? It seems that I've seen one called 'new' Little House or something? Also, anyone have an opinion on if boys would like these, not just girls?

 

It's so wonderful to get so many different opinions! You ladies are so helpful!

 

Also, I regret putting 'no foolishness' in the original post, it seems to have confused some people. I should have realized that everyone has a different definion of what 'foolishness' is. My main criteria for his reading material right now is both that it is wholesome, and that it be long enough that it takes him more than five minutes to read the whole book. :001_smile:

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I've been seeing the Little House books a lot on different homeschool forums. I LOVED the tv series as a young girl, are these books based on that series (please pardon the ignorance if they're not:blush:)? And is there more than one series named this? It seems that I've seen one called 'new' Little House or something? Also, anyone have an opinion on if boys would like these, not just girls?

 

It's so wonderful to get so many different opinions! You ladies are so helpful!

 

Also, I regret putting 'no foolishness' in the original post, it seems to have confused some people. I should have realized that everyone has a different definion of what 'foolishness' is. My main criteria for his reading material right now is both that it is wholesome, and that it be long enough that it takes him more than five minutes to read the whole book. :001_smile:

 

The series was very loosely based on the books. They are a fictionalized autobiography (mostly true, but not told to be history.) They start off at quite an easy reading level and get progressively harder as they go though the life of Laura Ingals Wilder. The first book is called Little House in the Big Woods, the second is Little House on the Prairie, etc.

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