Yes--when he listens to an audiobook (I have him follow along), and when I read to him, his comprehension improves. He reads aloud well--he does miss some of the smaller words but not very often, and he rarely stumbles over a word unless it's completely unfamiliar to him.

Hi all, DS just turned 10 last month and is testing (using a couple different assessments) at a late 3rd grade level (about a year behind). His fluency is very good, his vocabulary very good--it's the comprehension that is bringing down the overall score. Also, he hates reading. Loves being read to, but moans and groans every time I tell him to read to me or to himself (which is daily)--I even let him choose his books! Anyway, I'm becoming increasingly more nervous because he is transitioning back to public school in the fall and I don't want him to be behind. I'm hoping for 2 things: 1) Am I right to be concerned or am I overreacting? Is 1 year behind a big deal? 2) tips to improve his comprehension over the summer Things we've been doing (constantly, but not formally): discussing unfamiliar words, looking for context clues, discussing author's purpose, character traits, setting/plot, etc. Thanks everyone :)

Lol--thanks to all! I really like the suggestions and am encouraged that I can do so at our own pace and without the pressure of essays. Perhaps my question sounded more desperate than I intended :-)

Do I need to formally teach literary elements in 4th grade? If so, how? For now we just read together (a lot) and go over plot, conflict, setting, character traits...and then we do oral and some written narrations after each reading. Is that enough?

thanks so much--can I ask what grade/age you started that?

Hi all, 4th grade--we're still doing 80% oral narrations for lit, history, and science with 20% written summaries (in addition to the writing requirements for WWE3). I would like to teach outlining but am looking for a step-by-step, gentle approach--lots of hand-holding Any suggestions for workbooks or resources?

Prefer computer based rather than workbook. 4th grade--he had one year of Spanish in public school but forgot most of it. Is Rosetta Stone worth the $$?

How do I measure to know whether he is behind or on "grade" level?

Hi all, Now that DS9 (almost 10) is gaining a little traction in written narrations, I would like to add a little bit of complexity to what he's doing to begin to prepare him for 5th grade. We're still very much in camp "there once was a king named..." in SOTW 1. Is there any kind of resource that would vary the narrations--ie asking to compare/contrast two kings, 2 cultures, etc. For example, this week when I was reading the chapter with him, he independently began talking about similarities/differences between Hammurabi and Cyrus the Great--I would love to keep going with that type of thinking. The activity guide for SOTW1 seems very focused on 3-4 sentences of main idea. Is there such a resource? I would love to not have to come up with them on my own :-/. Or (since we're still very new at this), should I just stick with the "there once was a..." narrations and save the more critical thinking for next year? Thanks everyone!

Thanks so much--can I ask what you use to supplement the map work?

Thank you everyone!

Hi all, DS is 9 and we are working through SOTW1 because I wanted to start history at the beginning for our first year. We usually read a chapter together and he does a brief narration and we take out library books on the various subjects each week. Today I happened to glance at the activity guide for SOTW 4 (which would presumably be his level if we had started this rotation in 1st grade) and the activities, narrations etc. in that book seem more substantial than what we are doing. Now I'm feeling like I have had the bar too low for this first semester in terms of output. What do you think? Anyone else started later with SOTW 1?

We are finishing up Getting Started with Latin which I found super gentle and a bit too basic. What next? (4th grade)

Thank you so much everyone! One follow-up question: When did you do WWS? It looks like 5th grade is standard, but we are brand new to the classical method this year (4th) and really still working on oral narrations.

I know this is prob a thread somewhere else...DS is 9 and in 4th grade and so far we've been using WWE 3/4 and FLL 4 as our primary writing program while moving at 1/2 pace (at least) through IEW SWI-A. I made the mistake of googling writing programs and the opinions are so so varied. This, combined with seeing the reams of writing coming from the public school (journals, news articles, personal narratives) causes me to ask the dreaded "is it enough?" Is simple narration enough? As it stands, he turns out about 2 written narration passages a week (one from history and whatever comes from WWE that week). They are simple paragraphs with minimal "style" and virtually identical to the suggestions in the activity guide/workbook. Just looking for some encouragement to continue this path and trust the process or add in something else? Thanks so much