Reading - feeling like banging my head into the wall. :P

[PeacefulChaos]

So DS6 is learning to read using OPG.

I really like OPG - I think it teaches them to read logically, and I just really really like it.

We have only made it to like, Lesson 70. :glare: Which wouldn't be a big deal, I don't think - but the last week or so it's been AWFUL. He says he hates doing it (he says he hates school altogether, but that's just because in *his* perfect world, he would get to play and watch movies all day. Hopefully, he'll realize...at some point...that we HAVE to do school) and he DRAGS through it. We literally spent 30+ minutes reading 2 little paragraphs today (I think it was like 9-10 sentences). It is really driving me nuts, because I feel like he CAN do better, he just ISN'T. He's being really slow about reading the words, and he is sometimes still sounding out REALLY easy words that I know that he knows already - man, etc.

Any suggestions?

[dcjlkplus3]

maybe it is time to take a short break and read books together for a bit, instead of OPG. Let his brain have a short break.

[mommymonster]

My son is also 6, learning to read using OPGTR. I met the same resistance, but at about lesson 90. *So annoying!* I'm not technologically savvy enough to link to the post, but the subject heading was something like "OPGTR Resistance", if you want to search for it.

 

So I decided to stop reading lessons for a few weeks as a break, but I also did something a little crazy: we started watching Electric Company movies on YouTube on some of the reading rules we were studying. For example, I searched "Silent E and Electric Company" on YouTube. WOW. Everyone in the house has been singing the rules and having fun with the concept of reading. I still read to him throughout the day and before bed. On Sunday, my DS actually *asked* to do reading. Huh!?! I pulled out a whiteboard (which was a suggestion I received from the forum post), and wrote his words for the lesson. He gets to erase the words after mastering them. A big hit. The last suggestion I would make was to do reading first thing in the morning so he's fresh.

 

Take all this advice with a grain of salt -- we've only been back in happy-to-be-reading-land for about four days now. ;) Hopefully, it keeps up! Good luck!

[PeacefulChaos]

maybe it is time to take a short break and read books together for a bit, instead of OPG. Let his brain have a short break.

 

That might be a good idea - the biggest problem is, our local library is a little low on phonics-friendly readers. Where he is, we've gotten into long vowel sounds (with the silent E at the end) but all we have is the first set of Bob books for him to read. We don't own anything else, nor do I even know what to look for that would be at the right level.

Do you know of any books that would be good for that?

[reign]

Totally use a whiteboard! Dd likes erasing the words when she is done. Id take a break (or take one for Christmas) then come back to it and start to work on attitude. I started really stressing attitude in late October. We our work with a happy heart. I also stress that we have to get our work done before we can have our fun. I also mention that everybody needs to learn to read that one day it will be easy and that when she is done with the book she can give it to her sister! She LOVED telling her sister that it was now her turn to learn to read. We finished OPGTR but we do a review on the white board and her sister isn't even ready for OPGTR but she still loved getting "ride" of that book.

 

Wanted to add that if the complaining is due to the work being too hard not just wanting to play then my advice is different. Dd had to back track with lessons twice.

[KristenR]

Someone on here said that they print out the stories and sentences the night before with larger font. Then they let their child illustrate the pieces of paper.

 

It takes the OPGTR lessons out of the book- which some children find frankly boring.

 

My oldest loves OPGTR as is but I have kept this trick in mind because I think my second dd will need a more hands on approach.

[go_go_gadget]

Neither of mine liked reading the paragraphs in OPGTR, so instead we did a lesson and then read one the Phonics Practice Readers from Modern Curriculum Press. Also, it's fairly normal for kids who learn to read via phonics instead of the whole language method to continue to sound out words that they do already know for a while, which is a sign that they're really learning the phonics and not just memorizing the shapes of the words. So there's a bright side, and they do eventually start remembering words.

[boscopup]

Check out the I See Sam readers. The first 52 are free online (google "i see sam free").

 

My son didn't like Bob books (neither did I), but he loves I See Sam! You have to teach the "ee" phonogram for the first book.

 

You might also see if he's ready for the Treadwell readers? I can't remember how advanced they are (my DS2 isn't there yet), but they're also free online.

[MeganW]

We love to have Silly-Brations after every major story. The roller coaster is our fav. Yep, I'm a geek! :)

 

 

Edited December 9, 2011 by MeganW

[ElizabethB]

I would take a break and play my game for a few days, then do the lessons from a white board for a while.

 

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

[alpidarkomama]

I took the whole book and personalized it for our family. Didn't really take that long, but now the stories have our family names in them and some of the stories are tweaked more to be about us. They think it's hilarious to read stories about us!!! So now the real book languishes in the corner while I use our personal version. :)

[lea1]

My two sons really did not like the book when we start either. I printed the words and sentences on index cards and I also put reminders or teaching info on index cards for myself. So, for a long time, we didn't use the book at all during our lessons.

 

They loved the index cards. They could hold them and, after they sounded out the word, they kept it in their pile and then they counted them at the end.

 

Once they really started getting the hang of reading, I no longer needed to do this. We are at lesson 160ish right now and we zip right through the lessons with no problem now.

 

Also, if you allow TV time, LeapFrog makes an awesome DVD for leaning most of the letter sounds. Because of this DVD, we were able to skip a good number of the lessons in the beginning of the book.

[Peony]

You may try limit the movies in his perfect world. I think screen time really get in the way of good play and learning in general.

[Hope in God]

If you are comfortable with computer games you could do a trial of Reading Eggs. When the child has mastered basic reading they go on to the next website Reading Eggspress. I don't worry too much about trying different approaches becuase I figure it is just a means to finding the way your child learns best. You could also let her play the reading games after she has completed her usual reading curriculum for the day (sort of like dangling a carrot in front of the horse).

 

It is funny because I vowed that my children would never learn by using computer games because I homeschool them to spend more time with them so why would I just hook them up to the computer all day (same thing with learning DVD's) Then comes my third child learning to read and, well, she needs a. lot. of. reinforcement. My patience just can't take it so I have found that she thrives Reading Eggs (after trying many other approaches) and I feel that a happy child learns better than a crying child.:tongue_smilie:

[PeacefulChaos]

You may try limit the movies in his perfect world. I think screen time really get in the way of good play and learning in general.

 

:lol: Well, good play and learning isn't quiet enough for DD to nap in the afternoons...