Need Help Picking Summer Curriculum

[Guest annalyta]

We have been afterschooling for about 2 years in math. This year I noticed some concerning habits when my daughter was reading. Instead of sounding out words, she tends to look around the page and guess. I have a feeling that she is taught this in school. I would like her to return to school in the fall with this habit broken.

 

She is currently in 1st grade and reading at nearly a 3rd grade level. She would probably be reading better if she was instructed better (she is several years ahead in math). One of the problems we have had in other areas is that she tends to move at a faster pace and gets bored if the curriculum is repetitive.

 

We have really enjoyed Singapore Math and would like something similar for reading.

 

We are also interested in working on grammar. We were using First Language Lessons, but it was a bit slow and we misplaced our copy. Has anyone had a better experience with The Complete Writer? Does anyone have any idea where to place her?

 

Finally, we don't have a lot of money to spend on books and curriculum.

[LisaKinVA]

Any reading program you choose, plan on probably not doing it as the developers intended.

 

With that in mind, look at the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Reading (available here on Peace Hill Press), if you want something that has some scripting.

 

I use Abeka's program, but with my oldest we "finished" the introduction of all of the sounds, blends, digraphs, etc. within a few weeks. This was my 4th phonics program, though... it is what has worked well for us, although I have yet to do it as intended. ;)

[2smartones]

I really like Explode the Code. She would probably be ready for book 5 or 6 (of 8). Doing a lesson a day, you could finish them over the summer. If you see that she already knows a lesson well, you can skip it. Each lesson is independent of the others.

[Tracy]

This year I noticed some concerning habits when my daughter was reading. Instead of sounding out words, she tends to look around the page and guess. I have a feeling that she is taught this in school. I would like her to return to school in the fall with this habit broken.

 

She is currently in 1st grade and reading at nearly a 3rd grade level. She would probably be reading better if she was instructed better (she is several years ahead in math).

 

 

I don't have any specific advice, but I just wanted to say that I wouldn't assume that she learned these reading habits in school. It is very common for advanced readers to do these things. It is part of the reason they are advanced readers. They have the ability to take all of the clues on a page (phonics, sentence context, pictures, etc.) to formulate what the words say. My dd5 does the same thing. I let her do it, because I consider it a gift to be able to do that--to get the right answer using all available information, even if the intention was not to give her extra clues. I have her read to me at least one book per day, and over the past year that we have been doing that, the searching for clues on the page is gradually decreasing as her confidence and reading ability continues to climb.

 

Tracy

[pryde55]

It is possible that your child is having vision difficulties. I wouldn't rule it out. My 5th grader was recently diagnosed with being near-sighted in one eye & far- in the other. Although his brain compensated, I think it has impacted his reading comprehension in some way -- a non-medical, parent-observation/opinion, mind you, never mentioning anything until the yearly check up. My 1st grader has been more vocal of the difficulty in focusing on words and has, on occasion, looked around the page to figure things out.

[Heather in WI]

This year I noticed some concerning habits when my daughter was reading. Instead of sounding out words, she tends to look around the page and guess.

 

She is currently in 1st grade and reading at nearly a 3rd grade level. She would probably be reading better if she was instructed better (she is several years ahead in math). One of the problems we have had in other areas is that she tends to move at a faster pace and gets bored if the curriculum is repetitive.

 

I would recommend Phonics Pathways. It is simple, cheap, non-nonsense and gets the job done. It is not overly repetitive, so she should be able to move through it quickly as she masters each section.

 

Has anyone had a better experience with The Complete Writer? Does anyone have any idea where to place her?

 

 

We love The Complete Writer here. I would check out the online samples for the workbooks to see where you think she would best fit.

 

Workbook level one:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/14293076/The-Complete-Writer-Writing-With-Ease-Workbook-Level-1

 

Workbook level two:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/14293693/The-Complete-Writer-Writing-With-Ease-Workbook-Level-2

[Elisa]

I just wanted to say that I wouldn't assume that she learned these reading habits in school. It is very common for advanced readers to do these things.

 

Tracy

 

:iagree:

 

I'm afterschooling my first-grader (reading at third grade level) with Galore Park Junior English. I really, really like it.

[Heather in WI]

It is very common for advanced readers to do these things. It is part of the reason they are advanced readers.

 

Is this true? Could you provide a source for this? I've never heard this before. I purposefully choose books for my phonics level readers that do not contain extra stimuli. I want them sounding out the words phonetically, and not guessing what the words are based on other information on the page.

[Guest]

Is this true? Could you provide a source for this? I've never heard this before. I purposefully choose books for my phonics level readers that do not contain extra stimuli. I want them sounding out the words phonetically, and not guessing what the words are based on other information on the page.

 

I don't know of a source, but I can confirm that my daughter learned to read like this, too -- she did NOT learn to read phonetically. Not all kids do. A lot of very bright kids piece together clues from context, the general shape of words, the story so far, the pictures, etc. and manage to teach themselves to read. In fact, my daughter was reading well before I started phonics with her, and we just touched on consonants as much for the practice in identifying them in capital as well as lower case print as anything else. We never did go any further, as she was reading whole books by then.

 

By the way, my daughter did not learn to spell, and still does not spell, phonetically either. This threw me for a loop, as phonetically is the only way words make sense to me; but her mind works differently than mine does.

[JudoMom]

Is this true? Could you provide a source for this? I've never heard this before. I purposefully choose books for my phonics level readers that do not contain extra stimuli. I want them sounding out the words phonetically, and not guessing what the words are based on other information on the page.

 

:iagree:

 

I've got advanced readers (I guess--my 9 year old is reading Lord of the Rings and my 7 year old is reading the Hobbit), and I attribute it to the strong phonetic background.

[Jen in PA]

I really like Explode the Code. She would probably be ready for book 5 or 6 (of 8). Doing a lesson a day, you could finish them over the summer. If you see that she already knows a lesson well, you can skip it. Each lesson is independent of the others.

 

:iagree:This is systematic, so she would fill in any gaps in the phonics rules. But like Singapore math, it isn't overly concerned with reviewing (unless you choose to use the 1/2 books), so if she does best when she can move on quickly once she has mastered a concept, it's a great program.

[Tracy]

Is this true? Could you provide a source for this? I've never heard this before. I purposefully choose books for my phonics level readers that do not contain extra stimuli. I want them sounding out the words phonetically, and not guessing what the words are based on other information on the page.

 

I don't have a source, except for my own experience and that of dd4 (almost 5yo). For myself, it is how I learn just about everything. I piece together all the clues and come up a hypothesis, then I try it to see if I am right. Dd4 works the same way. After she had been reading to me for a few months, I noticed that every time we turned the page, she would pause at length. I watched her eyes and noticed that sometimes she was reading to herself and other times she was scanning the pictures. Sometimes her eyes would move back and forth between the two. I realized that this was how she could read as high as 4th grade level. She could do it, but it was exhausting to her, and she could only keep it up for a few pages. It required so much mental gymnastics.

 

But at the same time, her reading level and her reading stamina were consistently increasing. So I did away with phonics since her reading level was climbing without it. And I opted to stick with a phonics-based spelling program, instead. I was surprised at how hard spelling was for her at first, given her reading level. But after a few months, she has developed more of a mind for spelling, taking note of certain spellings, especially in homonyms.

 

Because I recognized her reading behavior as the way I do everything, I was not worried. I consider it a gift to be able to look around me, gather all the clues and know how things work. If her reading level were not increasing, then I might be concerned. But since it is increasing, I think it is important for her to use all of the gifts that she has been given. Anyway, I am not sure I could stop her, even if I wanted to. It is quite instinctual.

 

Tracy

[delaney]

When I taught 1st grade I encouraged them to use picture clues to help them figure out what a word might be if they got stuck. She has to be using phonics to connect the picture with printed word so what is wrong with that? I don't have documentation but it is a strategy I learned in my graduate courses.

[Storm Bay]

My ds used to do that, and I was using Phonics Pathways, which is a great book for learning phonics and to read from left to right. What I did was to cover up the pictures in the other things he read and not let him see them until he'd done the reading. Also, it turned out he had a lazy eye. Although the doctor said it wasn't that bad, we saw a huge improvement in his reading starting within 2 weeks of patching.

 

My middle dd had to study all the pictures before we tried reading the book, but she was good at sounding out words and was simply distracted by the pictures if we tried to read before she studied them.

[Aurelia]

ABeCeDarian might work, especially if you use the "short" levels, since they do a lot of work with nonsense words, which forces the child to decode phonetically instead of "predict by context". :001_rolleyes:

 

Dancing Bears might also work, as it is specifically designed to remediate readers that do not have a good phonics base.

[SunshineMom]

I am not sure if this is helpful to you but despite my efforts to teach my 6dd to read using phonics she chose instead to became a sight reader:( The problem was and is she doesn't want to slow down in her reading (use phonics) so she memorizes words. As you can guess this mode of reading will be problematic as she encounters new words so we still go over those phonic rules. She reads about 5/6th grade level and her comprehension is great. FYI-Some kids may turn their nose up to phonics.

[skaterbabs]

I would recommend exposing her to lots of "Between the Lions."

 

 

My daughter taught herself how to read (phonetically) at age three by watching this show.

[Renai]

I don't have documentation but it is a strategy I learned in my graduate courses.

 

It is part of the balanced literacy approach.

[Guest annalyta]

Thanks everyone. We are trying Explode the Code Online. So far it is working well.

 

We have been amazed at how many gaps she has with phonics. I think she is currently reading almost entirely by remembering the whole word. While it is pretty remarkable how many words she has memorized, I'm glad we're working on phonics.

[ElizabethB]

Nonsense words are really good at breaking the guessing habit.

 

My game makes both real and nonsense words and is a fun way to reinforce phonics:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Phonics/concentrationgam.html

 

The materials on my how to tutor page work into syllables and Webster's Speller, which teaches reading and spelling phonetically through syllables to a 12th grade level:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/howtotutor.html

 

You could also have her try my online phonics lessons, they use nonsense words and do some syllables and teach spelling and phonics rules, but they are a bit boring for a 1st grader, I would try the things on my how to tutor page first and the fun game.

[choirfarm]

Thanks everyone. We are trying Explode the Code Online. So far it is working well.

 

We have been amazed at how many gaps she has with phonics. I think she is currently reading almost entirely by remembering the whole word. While it is pretty remarkable how many words she has memorized, I'm glad we're working on phonics.

 

That is how my oldest learned to read. He memorized words. (They also did phonics in school. I wasn't homeschooling yet.) If he didn't know a word, I would tell him and he would memorize it instantly. He is in 9th grade now and tests above 95 percent in everything on his standardized tests. I was the same way. I don't know if I ever learned phonics. I went to school knowing how to read, though my parents didn't teach me.

 

On the other hand, my daughter does not. She has visual issues and I would suggest getting your child's eyes checked just to make sure. I have been doing INTENSIVE phonics with her. I do Saxon phonics, Explode the Code and Phonic Pathways. She is no longer guessing. She is finally loving to read and checked out 10 Cam Jansen books at the library and has already finished them. This is so amazing considering she couldn't read a sentence without stumbling, starting in the middle of a word, etc a year ago. The intensive vision therapy over the last year really helped.

 

 

All that to say, it really does vary from child to child how they learn to read.

Christine