what to teach my first grade son, gifted in reading

[Guest lizzybanana]

I am new to home schooling, we did half a year last year with my son, who was five, and now are moving onto first grade this year. He has always been very good at self-teaching, he knew his alphabet and the sound the letter make by the time he was 2 with no instruction from me. At this point he is capable of reading more advanced books, I am not sure exactly what level he is on. My mother-in-law is a first grade teacher and tested him in reading twice last year; he was reading 90 wpm and she said she felt he was at about a late 2nd grade level at the end of Kindergarten.

 

I am trying to decide what I need to do with him for reading. I know that he can read well but I find that he is lazy (as I was) and doesn't want to do the work. He CAN read but often times he "needs a drink of water" or is "too tired" to do his reading. I am not sure if I should do a first grade program with him to make sure he has a solid foundation to build upon or if his reluctance to do work is caused by boredom. Any suggestions?

 

He is reluctant to do any of his work. Often his arm is "broken" during writing and his eyes "feel sleepy" during math. I know he can do the work and I haven't let him get away with not completing his work but I also struggle with knowing how hard to push him or how to make him excited about doing it. I don't want school to become an argument and something we both dread.

 

thanks,

Erica

[AK_Mom4]

Your "arm-broken" story kind of reminds me of my DS14. When he was in PS in 1st grade, he came home with a referral to the reading specialist - the teacher wanted him to start reading support. Turns out my DS (who started reading when he was 3yo) had managed to convince his teacher that he couldn't read at all!

 

Turns out it was the reading material....DS at that time despised any sort of fiction, especially with cute children or fuzzy animals. Non fiction, science books, history biographies, those were what he liked to read. You might try ditching the reading curriculum (if you are using one) if your son is reading well and just let him read the sort of books he enjoys reading.

 

As far as making it fun, my DS never did enjoy school until about 7th grade. Schoolwork was just something he did to get it over with so he could go do things he enjoyed (legos and music).

[marie33]

My ds is 4 and we have a similar "problem" with workload. I have changed things around a bit though so that he can be more successful with things more often. I have found that the key to motivation is being successful and feeling confident. My ds went through the same progression as yours with reading, learned letters and sounds early and started reading at a 3rd grade level, is almost 4th grade now (still 4 years old). We started with paperback easy readers and my first readers, because they are relatively cheap at a book store, and I would let my ds choose the ones that looked interesting to him. You can also check them out at the library. As a homeschooler, you do not necessarily have to "keep up" with the lesson plan pace. Ask your program advisors about what the requirements are for submitting work. A lot of homeschool programs are flexible on this.

 

Try using an egg timer. Kids also feel successful if they know how much time they have left or what exactly is expected of them. My ds can sit for about 15 minutes at a time, so we do one page of work at a time and then he gets up to run around our living room before coming back to start another subject. We literally get through school days and his work by throwing PE in between each task. It doesn't seem reasonable to me to expect such young children (4, 5 and 6 yrs old) to sit for longer than that. And they do get bored easily, especially boys. But expecting them to trudge through long lessons and read for 30 or 40 minutes at a time will probably make them dislike their studies. Again, make them successful. If they can feel their progression without exceeding their patience level, they will get much further. Maybe try to feel out your child's limits and stay within those zones for now. Could make him love school later!

 

Also, you can find early readers that have "chapters" that are only a few pages long with fewer words. Maybe if your ds reads a chapter at a time, he will feel more successful.

 

This just seems to be the age that more breaks are more necessary, though the work will still get done, just needs more time. If your child is already advanced, there's no hurry to finish this many pages of work today. Ah, the beauty of homeschooling! Have a good time with each other. Enjoy!

[Guest]

I agree with the need to throw in lots of movement and fun. But you don't need to separate lessons from movement and games: take a look at Peggy Kaye's books Games For Math, Games For Writing, Games For Reading. They are wonderful: easy, use simple things like chalk, dice, cups, egg cartons -- and they get the child moving, talking, playing, engaged in an activity that practices exactly the same skills you want to be "working" on, but without having them feel like work at all. Some of the activities are sit-down in nature, but they are short and informal.

 

(Note: when I did these with my daughter I didn't say, "Now it's time to play a math game," or something similar -- that would have backfired. I just laid out the materials and offered to play with her. Don't know what your son is like, but I had to get down to business indirectly. Soon she would ask to play some of these games at any time during the day.)

 

Marilyn Burns is also really good at making math engaging for young kids. She moves entirely away from the worksheet type of curriculum, but again, kids are going to be learning exactly the same skills as that type of curriculum focuses on. http://www.mathsolutions.com

[Crimson Wife]

Have you had his vision tested? When my DD started complaining about her eyes getting tired during reading, I took her to the ophthalmologist & it turns out she had developed astigmatism.

 

Also, bright kids often are cognitively ahead of their fine motor skills. So I would recommend allowing your DS to do math orally, with rubber stamps, with fridge magnets, etc. That may very well solve the "arm tired" complaints.

[Brenda in FL]

As far as what to do for reading - Since he can already read at a second grade level, but doesn't like to read. I'd have a time each day where you read something at his level that is interesting to him. That way you can assess whether there are any gaps to fill and you are also ensuring that he is reading on a daily basis.

 

When my dd was in first grade we read through Charlotte's Web together. She'd start off the chapter and I'd finish it. This was above her reading level at the time - but the challenge really helped her improve.

 

My first child was more like yours in reading lability, except that he loved to read and would spend lots of time reading on his own. In his case - I just had him read aloud once or twice a week from McGuffy.

 

It sounds like any kind of reading/phonics program that required more "work" than just reading would be frustrating for the both of you. I'd prefer to keep that struggle to handwriting and math!

[Tracy]

Reading is so much more than the ability to sound out the words. It requires an understanding of the vocabulary, grammar and syntax. It requires some understanding of punctuation. At perhaps most importantly at this age, an ability to focus for an allotted period of time. My dd5 can read very well (she reads aloud and independently out of the King James Version of the Bible when we read as a family), but she is not ready for books that are more than a year or two above her age level for many reasons. The big one is the attention span. Also, she still needs the pictures to understand what is happening in the story.

 

Additionally, I seem to remember reading in WTM that you don't always want to have your kids reading at their highest level. It is okay and even desirable to have them reading at lower levels to increase their fluency and confidence. I would suggest that you let your ds take the lead with regard to what he reads. This is the age where you want him to learn to love reading. There is no need to push him to read at a higher level than he is comfortable, even if he can do it.

[Tracy]

Oh, and with regard to the math, we had this problem with dd5 also this year. She asked if she could do multiplication, so I bought a book to supplement our math program. But once she got a taste of my "supplement," she refused to do any more of her regular math work. I concluded that she had been bored, and I sought out a curriculum that was better suited to her personality and her abilities.

[SunshineMom]

I would suggest having your child read to you for 20min per day. Let him chose his own books, at whatever level, until you have more of a feel of his reading grade level. I do think having kids read out loud, and above reading level, can be helpful in assessing their reading skills, vocab knowledge and comprehension. I found that last year my 1st grader really benefitted from this reading arrangement.

[Tracy]

I would suggest having your child read to you for 20min per day. Let him chose his own books, at whatever level, until you have more of a feel of his reading grade level. I do think having kids read out loud, and above reading level, can be helpful in assessing their reading skills, vocab knowledge and comprehension. I found that last year my 1st grader really benefitted from this reading arrangement.

:iagree:We did this, too. Just one book per day of her choosing. Her reading level has soared.

[MissKNG]

To encourage the reading...

 

Do you have an Applebees in your area?

 

We started this because we got an Applebees Bookworm Club card from the school library:

 

http://www.tlcneighborhood.com/page.php?id=1

 

I emailed the gal to ask for more cards but she is on vacation so I'm hoping they will send some to a home schooler!!