Homeschooling6 Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 I am currently using R&S 3 with my 8yr. old dd who will be 9 in Sept. and in 3rd grade (late B-day) According to a recent assessment she has a word recognition of a high 8th grade. Phonics Word Analysis of mid 4th. Maximum they could get on this is high 4th. Mastered all phonics Oral Vocabulary (Word meaning) is mid 3rd Reading Comprehension is mid 7th My question is do you think I should continue to have her do a formal reading program like R&S? The workbooks are great and that is why I have continued with it, but now I'm wondering if it's a lot of busy work. Should I have her continue to use the readers and skip the workbooks, maybe move onto something with more Vocabulary since that is what she scored the lowest on? Should I let her just do free reading and assign things from her Science & History books? My 10 yr. old soon to be 5th son Word Recognition was mid 5th Phonics Word Analysis mid 4th. Maximum they can get on this is high 4th. He to has mastered all his phonics except mulit-syllable Oral Vocab is mid 3rd Reading Comprehension (Silent Reading) is low 8th Would Drawn into the Heart of Reading be a better fit for both of them? I guess what I'm trying to ask is if I should continue with formal Reading program or do something different? Thanks in advance:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magistramom Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 You have a lot of information in your test results! How fortunate! Speaking as a homeschool mom, and not an educational guru, it looks like the third grader might have reading "down". You could possibly stop the readers, and begin to supervise her reading of school and other materials on her own (with you checking now and then for comprehension on higher level reading materials). You might want to continue with the readers for your older child - especially having him read every other story/section aloud to you so you can help along the way. You don't need to purchase a program either - there are plenty of readers online (Baldwin Project, McGuffey Readers, and more). You can also introduce other forms of reading - the sports highlights, nature readers, Boy Scout Life magazine - really anything that might be of interest to him. Mmmm... Are you using a Latin program? It will open up a whole new world of words for your children. I am a firm believer in learning Latin to understand our own language. If you are interested in pursing this, many here (myself included) would suggest starting Prima Latina with both of your children if you haven't already. It's a gentle, slow introduction to the language. Your fifth grader might want to complete this level sooner than your third grader and move on to Latina Christiana I then II. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschooling6 Posted July 14, 2008 Author Share Posted July 14, 2008 You have a lot of information in your test results! How fortunate! Speaking as a homeschool mom, and not an educational guru, it looks like the third grader might have reading "down". You could possibly stop the readers, and begin to supervise her reading of school and other materials on her own (with you checking now and then for comprehension on higher level reading materials). You might want to continue with the readers for your older child - especially having him read every other story/section aloud to you so you can help along the way. You don't need to purchase a program either - there are plenty of readers online (Baldwin Project, McGuffey Readers, and more). You can also introduce other forms of reading - the sports highlights, nature readers, Boy Scout Life magazine - really anything that might be of interest to him. Mmmm... Are you using a Latin program? It will open up a whole new world of words for your children. I am a firm believer in learning Latin to understand our own language. If you are interested in pursing this, many here (myself included) would suggest starting Prima Latina with both of your children if you haven't already. It's a gentle, slow introduction to the language. Your fifth grader might want to complete this level sooner than your third grader and move on to Latina Christiana I then II. Yes I have thought about adding in Latin from the begining. I have Prima Latina & Latina Christiana 1. I think I will pull them from the shelf and take a look at them. Thanks for you in-put:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love2read Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 Scrap the formal program with your 8 year old and use a program that gets her thinking deeply about what she's reading. That could be anything from Progeny Press to some of the things suggested on the accelerated board. With your older ds you can just make a conscious effort to use more advanced vocabulary and be sure to tell him what words mean when you are reading aloud. Oral vocab. is often low for young boys. You got some sharp kids there mom :) you must be doing a good job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homeschooling6 Posted July 14, 2008 Author Share Posted July 14, 2008 Scrap the formal program with your 8 year old and use a program that gets her thinking deeply about what she's reading. That could be anything from Progeny Press to some of the things suggested on the accelerated board. With your older ds you can just make a conscious effort to use more advanced vocabulary and be sure to tell him what words mean when you are reading aloud. Oral vocab. is often low for young boys. You got some sharp kids there mom :) you must be doing a good job! Funny thing is with my oldest I was so worried about him because he just didn't seem to get phonics. He would struggle with reading. I was thinking that maybe I wasn't doing a good job with hs him, but then I thought that my dd was doing great so maybe it wasn't me. Which got me thinking that if he was in ps he would really feel like a failure because he wouldn't be able to keep up. Then this summer he just took off. He is still not up to 'grade' level but pretty close to it. I look back and see that I worried for nothing:001_huh: they all are just so different. Josh started really reading in 4th grade, Annette was 5yrs, Caleb is almost 8 and reads at a mid K, Brent is in 1st and reads at mid K. You know what, I'm not worried about Caleb & Brent. I know it will come. About Progeny Press, I hadn't thought about that. I think that would be a great idea to get her digging deeper with what she is reading. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted July 14, 2008 Share Posted July 14, 2008 It's a reader with 5 workbooks for about $40 that takes 16 weeks if done 5 days/wk. I highly recommend it! Join the CLE yahoo group to see samples. Here's what included in CLE reading 5: SUNRISE READING 500 – Open Windows LightUnit 501 Vocabulary words Cause and effect Identifying strong, active verbs Describing story characters Identifying similes Defining words from context Choosing facts to support a statement Writing progressive degrees of a concept Working with personification Proving or disproving statements about a story Identifying and interpreting figures of speech Completing analogies Inferring facts not directly stated Understanding circumstantial evidence and proof Defining and using homographs Understanding the term idiom Interpreting common idioms Answering five W questions Numbering story events in order Telling what story characters learned from the way God worked Listing traits of story characters Working with rhythm and rhyme scheme in poetry LightUnit 502 Working with vocabulary words Defining words from context Understanding a proverb Creating an alternate story title Identifying character’s feelings Identifying the most important event in a story Completing analogies that have more than one correct answer Understanding a nonverbal message Predicting what happened after the story Inferring facts not directly stated Marking poetic rhythm Using principle and principal Scanning for answers or topics Evaluating story characters’ actions Identifying a story’s main lesson Understanding the meaning of prejudice and its foolishness Identifying a biography Defining foot as used in poetry Identifying metrical feet in a poem Thinking about race prejudice Working with synonyms Marking rhythm in a poem LightUnit 503 Working with vocabulary words Inferring facts not directly stated Telling what could have happened Identifying main ideas and summaries Describing story characters Identifying a characters fears and hardships Learning about other inventions of Benjamin Franklin Marking poetic rhythm and meter Working with perfect and imperfect rhyme Numbering unstated events in order Identifying figures of speech Defining and identifying metaphors Finding evidence to support statements Outlining a simple story plot Explaining a figure of speech Identifying metaphors, similes, and personification Defining words from their context Suggesting others whom the sinking of the Titanic would have affected Comparing a poem and a story Identifying main ideas of paragraphs Explaining the meanings of sentences Understanding conflict, internal conflict, and external conflict Identifying areas of conflict in the story LightUnit 504: Out in Nature Working with vocabulary words Identifying cause and effect Identifying the story purpose and details that further the story purpose Working with guide words Using the dictionary Finding metaphors in the Bible Inferring facts not directly stated Defining biography Identifying a metaphor in a poem Scanning to locate facts Writing an essay imagining he is Peter walking on the water Identifying a metaphor from the story Defining words from their context Marking the rhyme scheme of a poem Writing another title for the story Making a prediction Categorizing natural resources Naming reference books needed to find answers to given questions Identifying hints of how a character will act Defining free verse Identifying main ideas, story lessons, and summaries of stories Completing a poetic couplet Reading about KJV Bible Rewriting KJV phrases in modern English Identifying characters, setting, external and internal conflict in the story Understanding a character’s actions Imagining what might have happened LightUnit 505 Working with vocabulary words. Understanding story characters’ actions and feelings Describing story characters Working with main idea, story lesson, and summary Thinking about idle words Working with personification Making a simple outline of a story Categorizing words Explaining an idiom Identifying emotions as shown by words Interpreting figures of speech Defining circumstantial evidence Scanning for answers Imagining details not given Imagining story characters’ feelings and explaining possible reasons for their actions Telling what might have happened Defining words from their context Inferring facts not directly stated Identifying similes Choosing exact, specific verbs to replace weak ones Learning the term epigram Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacey05 Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 I like Bob Jones Reading for formal reading instruction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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