Help! My almost 7 year old can not read!

[PeacefulChaos]

....at least not well. :(

Maybe it's just the past few days getting to me, but I'm totally at a loss.

We do OPG. He is on lesson 197 tomorrow. He's gotten through all of it ok up to this point. Sometimes he did awesome. Now I feel like I'm having to remind him of everything! He doesn't consistently remember things like the sound ea usually makes, or ou, and I remind him all the time that the silent e at the end of the word makes the vowel long. Then sometimes he throws a long vowel in a word like jam. :001_huh:

I have him read to me daily. I only let him read a book to me once, especially if he seems to be having an easy time of it. He has a few super easy phonics readers (they a Thomas the train) that he can read without me having to tell him what a word is. But most other books have words in them I have to tell him. Sometimes a lot of words I have to tell him!

When I was letting him read the easy books to me, he must have been at an easier section of OPG (for him, anyway) because he was doing great in it.

Now that we have moved on to more challenging books, it's awful. The book reading is an epic fail, the OPG is drudgery, and we both finish completely frustrated. I feel like he isn't trying hard enough, because he was JUST doing so well a week or two ago!! Now suddenly he is having to sound out words over and over....

I'm completely at a loss. I was most afraid of trying to teach him how to read - link learned all that at school. And now I feel like a bit of a failure because my almost 7 year old 1st grader can barely read. :glare:

 

HELP ME!!

[NASDAQ]

My oldest did that occasionally. I think she enjoys spiking my blood pressure.

 

I don't know how OPGTR is structured, but when it happens I go backwards for a few days. Do short vowels again for a few days, then ea, then ou. It clears up pretty fast.

[Riverland]

I don't have much help to offer, but maybe some support. My kiddos were natural, early readers. However, reading doesn't click for plenty of kids until they are older. Seven, even. My nephew was one of them. It did eventually click (at 7), and now he just started his freshman year at college.

 

I would continue to let your ds read easy books, whatever he's comfortable with for awhile. Go to the library and find easy readers that interest him, not necessarily ones that are tied to a specific reading curriculum. Then after a month or two, see if you can push forward. Help him as much as needed with the difficult words, but have him read the easy ones.

 

Also, it sounds like maybe he just needs a break of formal studying? Maybe he's burned out right now?

[Myeightkiddies]

Teaching my daughter to read was a nightmare. Nothing worked. I tried everything - money was no object. Nothing worked. Out of desperation, I tried sight-reading; it didn't work. After years of agonizing over it, I stopped trying. We just read everything to her.

 

She was almost nine, and it clicked. She was reading.

 

Today, she is twelve, and she devours books. She is my best reader. Typically she is at the library twice a week, and she is even going to volunteer there. Novels (and chapter books) are read usually in one day. We have to use the computer to keep track of which series she has read and completed. She'll read several series at once. Her spelling is amazing as well. I don't even use a spelling curriculum with her.

 

You are not a failure. Sometimes it just takes awhile to click with some children. Keep trying. Read to him. Just don't beat yourself up about it.

[wapiti]

Now that we have moved on to more challenging books, it's awful.

 

Do the more challenging books have smaller print? Letters closer together? Has he had an eye checkup? Sometimes it's something "simple."

 

I don't have any advice on the phonics, but personally I would allow the same books to be read again and again.

[Twilight Woods]

my almost 7 y/o first grader is still on CVC words. :)

[Ellie]

Yes, he can read. He just doesn't read as well as you think he should. This is an important distinction. :)

 

OPGTR doesn't thrill me. I'm a Spalding fan, through and through :) so of course that would be my recommendation.

[Tanikit]

....at least not well. :(

But most other books have words in them I have to tell him. Sometimes a lot of words I have to tell him!

 

Now that we have moved on to more challenging books, it's awful. Now suddenly he is having to sound out words over and over....

 

I get the feeling that your expectations of him are too high - reading is a skill that takes a while to develop especially to the type of fluency you seem to be expecting.

 

1. There are a number of reasons "more challenging books" can cause problems - they can make a child feel overwhelmed especially if the print suddenly drops in size and the number of words per page increases drastically - perhaps get a graded set of readers for this as it teaches this fairly slowly - I like the Usborne series of reading books as even at a high phonics challenge level the number of words per page is still relatively few and the print is much bigger than in many early readers.

 

2. The child now has so many phonics rules to remember that they start getting confused and mixing up sounds - this can take a while to sort itself out but it does. If he sticks on an easy word then write that word alone big on a piece of paper and get him to do the sounding out - if he says a long vowel when it should be short ask him what rule he is using to make it long and tell him if there is no rule involved it must be short. For the more difficult phonics words sound it out for him and just remind him of the rule yourself. After enough repetition it will stick (and reading in context is more helpful than just lists of words that mean little)

 

3. A book that is challenging a child's reading level should have words in it that you have to help with though they advise that about 95% of the book is readable to the child. In general if the child is stuck on five words on the first page the book is not suitable, however you need to use discretion here - should he have known these words and did he just need a reminder or are these words genuinely all difficult (vocabulary or phonics-wise) Try not to just tell him all the words - tell him enough to keep the story flowing, but stop and get him to sound out other words.

 

4. Keep reading lessons fun and stress free - a child who is learning to read should be able to cope with being asked and reminded of a few things, but if it is terribly stressful drop the amount he has to read and only show him a few words per day that he struggles with - continue the OPGTR, revise some lessons, but it sounds like your child is ready to learn from real books if you take it calmly with him and just enjoy it.

 

Good luck.

[ClassicalTwins]

I thought my boys would never "read". I kept comparing them to my friends' children (mostly girls) who were reading Harry Potter at 7 and Magic School bus at 5.

 

You know what, they are 9 3/4 now and and devouring books, and at 9 1/2 they still couldn't "read".

 

It comes, patience, persistance and for us, reading longer novels to them (Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Mr Popper's Penguins type books), and giving them Frog & Toad over and over again. And over night, it seems it has just clicked.

 

They have always looked and tried to read, but got frustrated easily, and now they will ask for help with a word.

 

Also find books for boys' interest, this has been huge in opening them up to reading:

http://us.penguingroup.com/static/packages/us/yreaders/books4boys/agegrade_picture.php

 

 

Best of luck...it will come promise

[alisoncooks]

my almost 7 y/o first grader is still on CVC words. :)

 

Same here.

And not even those so well...

[AnnaM]

I wonder if you are giving him too much and he is starting to lose his confidence? Back off and have him read easier things for now and let him build that back up. Neither of my daughters read until about 7 and my youngest is still what would be considered a low 1st grade level even though she just started 2nd grade. As others have said, it just clicked one day with the older and now she is several grade levels ahead.

[PeacefulChaos]

Do the more challenging books have smaller print? Letters closer together? Has he had an eye checkup? Sometimes it's something "simple."

 

I don't have any advice on the phonics, but personally I would allow the same books to be read again and again.

I have no idea on the letters/print. It isn't something I notice, I'll have to check. He did just have an eye checkup and that was fine. :)

When I went and tried to find him more books (because SO few can be read by early readers - they are all Bob books :ack2: or little phonetic reader sets - I was hoping to find a few stand alone ones that he could read) I went through them all and looked at the words before buying them. I figured a word every couple pages was all right (mountains, for example) especially since it wasn't something that was way out of his range.

 

About 2-3 weeks ago he read one of those Thomas ones perfectly. I hadn't ever had him read it to me before. I was SO proud of him! I had him read it to DH and we both told him how great he was doing, etc.

And now he sits and sounds out words like 'frog' and 'bud'. :confused: I just don't get it.

I get the feeling that your expectations of him are too high - reading is a skill that takes a while to develop especially to the type of fluency you seem to be expecting.

 

1. There are a number of reasons "more challenging books" can cause problems - they can make a child feel overwhelmed especially if the print suddenly drops in size and the number of words per page increases drastically - perhaps get a graded set of readers for this as it teaches this fairly slowly - I like the Usborne series of reading books as even at a high phonics challenge level the number of words per page is still relatively few and the print is much bigger than in many early readers.

I need to find a graded set of readers. I have no idea where to even look. Our library is not very good and for me to find books for him to read I would literally have to sit and look through every.last.book. Which is impossible with Pink. ;) I've tried and tried to find 'easy' books but I could only find the set of 12 readers. And maybe 5 real books that are close enough.

The whole thing just makes me want to cry. Seriously. Sigh...

2. The child now has so many phonics rules to remember that they start getting confused and mixing up sounds - this can take a while to sort itself out but it does. If he sticks on an easy word then write that word alone big on a piece of paper and get him to do the sounding out - if he says a long vowel when it should be short ask him what rule he is using to make it long and tell him if there is no rule involved it must be short. For the more difficult phonics words sound it out for him and just remind him of the rule yourself. After enough repetition it will stick (and reading in context is more helpful than just lists of words that mean little)

So how long should I expect to have to remind him of the silent e rule? That one frustrates me the most because he's known it the longest. R-changed vowels I remind him of, too, and vowel blends, etc, etc...

3. A book that is challenging a child's reading level should have words in it that you have to help with though they advise that about 95% of the book is readable to the child. In general if the child is stuck on five words on the first page the book is not suitable, however you need to use discretion here - should he have known these words and did he just need a reminder or are these words genuinely all difficult (vocabulary or phonics-wise) Try not to just tell him all the words - tell him enough to keep the story flowing, but stop and get him to sound out other words.

So far nothing he reads is consecutive enough for him to get the story involved. :( In OPG, maybe, but not in the books. It's all so much sounding out everything that as far as there being a story there, he doesn't seem to notice or care.

4. Keep reading lessons fun and stress free - a child who is learning to read should be able to cope with being asked and reminded of a few things, but if it is terribly stressful drop the amount he has to read and only show him a few words per day that he struggles with - continue the OPGTR, revise some lessons, but it sounds like your child is ready to learn from real books if you take it calmly with him and just enjoy it.

 

Good luck.

 

Thanks.

We read all the time. We've read to all the kids since they were born. I guess that affects why I don't understand why he doesn't like to read. He doesn't even care to listen to me read, usually -- he just stares off into space, lost in thought, or plays. :glare: Then I try to ask questions and he never knows the answers (any subject here - history, science, geography, read alouds, Bible, whatever)...

I don't know what to do to get him to listen when I read to him.

We also alternate lines in OPG. I never have him read the whole thing. I try to make sure he's following along with me as I read, but he probably isn't. Sigh.

Both Link and I were VERY quick learners to read. Nothing genius - just around pre-k/K. So I do feel like he is so behind. I feel like he would be reading better if he were at PS now - because Link was.

I had hoped to have a semester off of 'teaching someone how to read' in this sense - seeing how this whole thing has gone with Astro lately, I had decided to start Pink in OPG at 4. (There are many things which should be 'at his level' but aren't because he can't read the instructions, etc. Like, I have to do his spelling with him - which he's also terrible at. Sigh.)

I don't think he would be burned out already, we've only been in school 6 weeks. He was doing great up until now.

I guess I'll go back to letting him read the easy books. I really didn't think the ones we were getting were that hard. Maybe it'll build his confidence back up or something - idk. Though I don't see why it would matter - we just praised him like crazy a couple weeks ago for reading so well. When he's failing at OPG I remind him of how he CAN read, he CAN read this, and he CAN read well, but he just seems to forget.

[PeacefulChaos]

my almost 7 y/o first grader is still on CVC words. :)

 

What are CVC words? I'm blanking on it at the moment... :tongue_smilie:

 

His attitude overall is off right now for some reason. He's currently in his room because he got in trouble. This is my kid that NEVER gets in trouble. :confused: Now he's gotten in trouble twice in one week!

[Ellie]

I guess I'll go back to letting him read the easy books. I really didn't think the ones we were getting were that hard. Maybe it'll build his confidence back up or something - idk. Though I don't see why it would matter - we just praised him like crazy a couple weeks ago for reading so well. When he's failing at OPG I remind him of how he CAN read, he CAN read this, and he CAN read well, but he just seems to forget.

 

I'm thinking it might be helpful just to leave him alone as far as his own reading. IOW, let him read whatever he wants on his own time, or not read at all if that's what he wants to do. Reading aloud to you would be just part of Official School.

[Angie in VA]

What are CVC words? I'm blanking on it at the moment... :tongue_smilie:

 

consonant-vowel-consonant words

 

For ex: bat, cat, fat

[Twilight Woods]

What are CVC words? I'm blanking on it at the moment... :tongue_smilie:

 

His attitude overall is off right now for some reason. He's currently in his room because he got in trouble. This is my kid that NEVER gets in trouble. :confused: Now he's gotten in trouble twice in one week!

 

Mat, Hat, Rat etc.... I have to use a combo of things with my DD. We started out using OPGTR and after taking a 6mo break I had to change programs b/c it just was not a good fit for her. OPGTR=tears.

 

We now use AAR-1 [expensive has a good return policy but thankfully its a good fit for her she loves the readers], Reading eggs [this is her favorite] and ETC. With this combo we have been progressing albeit slow but she LOVES to read now so I am happy.

[PeacefulChaos]

I'm thinking it might be helpful just to leave him alone as far as his own reading. IOW, let him read whatever he wants on his own time, or not read at all if that's what he wants to do. Reading aloud to you would be just part of Official School.

 

He doesn't choose to read on his own time. So far I haven't forced him to. I know in TWTM it says 'free reading' time every day but I haven't told him to specifically do that. (Granted, I don't make Link do it either, because of the reading done in school.)

I haven't been reading to the kids before bed lately. Part of me feels bad because Pink is missing out on something the boys always had, but I got tired of reading the same stupid Aladdin book every time it was Pink's turn. And it just seemed that they were doing all these other things, and then getting ready for bed, and by the time they got to their rooms, ready, it was almost 9 - which is bedtime. So I figured no reading.

I'm afraid I'll kill any love for books he could ever have. :crying: I'm worried he'll never want to read. So I try not to make him too much, especially since he can't do it so well. I had the bright idea that if he read a book to me every day it would help build fluency or something. I don't know what I was thinking sometimes. :tongue_smilie:

He reads to me for school, does OPG, and I read aloud to them every day (chapter books, part of school). That's pretty much all the reading we do.

[Jpoy85]

my 6yr old cant read well, but she can read simple books. Her issue is that she wanted you to read and do it all for her rather than her trying. I stopped reading it to her and made her do it and it has helped. She still fights me but she can do it when she wants to.

 

I would get some simple books and have your child read what they can and sound out what they cant. They will get more confident and it should take off from there (i hope for both of us it does)

[Alyeska]

My ds is 8.5 and still is not a fluent reader. He struggled and struggled. He still is not where I would like him to be as far as reading level. I just have to be patient and wait for it to click. And it IS clicking little by little but some days the progress stops and he goes backwards.

 

My advice...go back a few lessons, practice patience, and keep plodding along. I got some super easy readers for ds to break up the phonics lessons that were so boring to him. That gave him a desire to want to learn to read. And I would switch off paragraphs for him, and even re-read to him what he had just read to me. But it wasn't until he was newly 8 that he sought out books to read on his own.

 

And still, ds will go without reading if he can. He would rather ask someone what something says than to sound it out. :001_huh: We do.not.indulge at this point. I used to, but he can read well enough now that I make him sound stuff out.

 

You know, my dh is in his 40's. I have not seen him pick up a book for pleasure reading since I have known him...more than 18 years. That makes me sad because I know there is a world of adventure that he is missing by not reading. But it just does not interest him. I suspect my ds will be a lot like dh.

[Angie in VA]

Here's a grain of salt to go w/ what I want to say.

 

I taught a boy in Sunday school class who was a weak reader, but we had all the students read a little aloud each week, and we didn't want to skip him and therefore call attention to it. And he was older than your ds, btw. After a couple of years, he was suddenly a fluent reader (reading silently and aloud)! Give it time.

 

I've heard of this problem too: Parent buys Reading Program A and works w/ it. Child doesn't learn to read. Parent then buys Reading Program B. It works for a while, but then Child hits a wall. So Parent buys Reading Program C. Child starts to read w/ Program C! Parent has found The Answer and tells all parents teaching children to read to use Program C. Well, maybe it was Program C, but it was more likely that the child had developed in those months of trying Programs A & B and was then ready when Program C arrived. Did that make sense?

 

Regardless of what you do about changing programs or just putting this aside for a bit, please continue to read to your child and get books on audio. I love what Milavony did for one ds. He loved cowboys (or was it Indians?) and he had a favorite book on the subject. She typed up monosyllabic words summarizing that book and printed it off and made it into a "book". That book sparked his interest to read. :) (But ask her about it.)

 

Would starfall.com or Reading Eggs (I think it's called) help or confuse him?

 

Now, you kept that grain of salt, right? ;)

[PeacefulChaos]

You know, my dh is in his 40's. I have not seen him pick up a book for pleasure reading since I have known him...more than 18 years. That makes me sad because I know there is a world of adventure that he is missing by not reading. But it just does not interest him. I suspect my ds will be a lot like dh.

 

My DH doesn't like to read, either. He reads well, but he doesn't pick up many books to read them 'for fun'. Since we've been married he has read the Harry Potter books, the LOTR books, and The Hobbit. :)

I love to read but I don't do it as much as I used to - the internet wastes too much of my time. :lol: :D

Astro and DH are both phlegmatics and are alike in so many ways. Maybe this is one of them, idk.

[TranquilMind]

....at least not well. :(

Maybe it's just the past few days getting to me, but I'm totally at a loss.

We do OPG. He is on lesson 197 tomorrow. He's gotten through all of it ok up to this point. Sometimes he did awesome. Now I feel like I'm having to remind him of everything! He doesn't consistently remember things like the sound ea usually makes, or ou, and I remind him all the time that the silent e at the end of the word makes the vowel long. Then sometimes he throws a long vowel in a word like jam. :001_huh:

I have him read to me daily. I only let him read a book to me once, especially if he seems to be having an easy time of it. He has a few super easy phonics readers (they a Thomas the train) that he can read without me having to tell him what a word is. But most other books have words in them I have to tell him. Sometimes a lot of words I have to tell him!

When I was letting him read the easy books to me, he must have been at an easier section of OPG (for him, anyway) because he was doing great in it.

Now that we have moved on to more challenging books, it's awful. The book reading is an epic fail, the OPG is drudgery, and we both finish completely frustrated. I feel like he isn't trying hard enough, because he was JUST doing so well a week or two ago!! Now suddenly he is having to sound out words over and over....

I'm completely at a loss. I was most afraid of trying to teach him how to read - link learned all that at school. And now I feel like a bit of a failure because my almost 7 year old 1st grader can barely read. :glare:

 

HELP ME!!

 

He's not ready. Relax! Boys take longer than girls, generally. Though my daughter read at 4, my son couldn't read well until 7.5. Like you, I got all worried. I pressured him a lot when he was 6, and made him cry, which I feel bad about, because I was getting worried that he wasn't keeping up with sister's pace.

 

At 7 and a half, it finally kicked in. He is now an excellent student with a wonderful grasp of the language and a great vocabulary.

 

Just read to him what he can't yet read. Don't pressure him. He can't do it yet, or he would do it!

[PeacefulChaos]

Regardless of what you do about changing programs or just putting this aside for a bit, please continue to read to your child and get books on audio. I love what Milavony did for one ds. He loved cowboys (or was it Indians?) and he had a favorite book on the subject. She typed up monosyllabic words summarizing that book and printed it off and made it into a "book". That book sparked his interest to read. :) (But ask her about it.)

 

Would starfall.com or Reading Eggs (I think it's called) help or confuse him?

 

Now, you kept that grain of salt, right? ;)

 

:)

I need to get books on audio. I have a whole list of them - actually I do have some on my iPod - but I have no idea when they would listen to them. When does everyone else listen to audiobooks?

You know, I actually considered doing that same thing, summarizing a book into something he could read. I just never did because I never got around to it - seemed like too much work. :D

I don't know what Reading Eggs are but I've heard of them on here. I have heard of starfall but I thought it was for little kids (like, 3 year olds). :leaving:

[petepie2]

Don't push it. Let him read easy books to build fluency. Just do the harder words in OPGTR. Maybe even half a lesson. Sometimes I repeat a lesson over a few days if it's a tough one. We use sonlight readers, which I've found progress slowly enough to help build fluency.

[Tanikit]

If you want a set of graded readers that you like and you think would be of interest to your son, then look under Graded Readers on Amazon - the sets my DD has liked include: Oxford University Press, Usborne Readers, Penguin Youngs Readers, I can Read and Step into Reading - type all of these in Amazon and you will find hundreds of books - usually I do not go past a few pages (type Level 1/Step 1 or 2 depending on his reading level and you will have fewer to go through - most of them go to about step 4 or 5) before I find one or other that would interest my child. Buy a few and then let him read and reread them as many times as he likes.

 

As for the silent E rule - it will depend on your child, probably many many times. One thing that may help is when he gets stuck read the sentence he is reading back to him at a normal speed so that he understands it (if he reads too slowly then he often loses meaning) and then ask him if the word can make sense if it is a short vowel word (Can "hat" be the word you are looking for in this sentence? Does it make sense? "Hate" is a verb and would therefore be more grammatically correct no matter which sentence he is reading. Once he has it then reinforce the silent E rule again - this teaches him that context also helps when reading and not just phonics)

 

If he is hating reading then you can also make a treasure hunt for him where the clues to where a treasure is are sentences he must read aloud - it does take a bit of work from you to make the treasure hunt and hide the clues and still also reinforce the phonics rule you are working on, but in general it gets their confidence way up and makes reading fun because of course if they get the treasure you hid at the end it means they must have been successful at the reading. Since you are making up the sentences you can make them as difficult as you want depending on your child's mood, what you think he is capable of and also how much he wants the treasure :)

 

Another thing that is good for building fluency is to get your child to follow a relatively easy book while it is being read to them on audio - that way they can listen and "read" it hundreds of times with someone else doing the hard work for them so that the sounding out becomes less and the speed of reading increases. It also lets them learn more challenging vocabulary by hearing it while seeing the words.

Edited September 5, 2012 by Tanikit

[Luvmy3kids]

We love the readers from All About Learning and the Primary Phonics set of readers (80 of them).

 

http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/details.cfm?series=2381M

 

Maybe get these and just let him pick from them. They are really great stories. My kids love them :)

[Ellie]

He doesn't choose to read on his own time. So far I haven't forced him to. I know in TWTM it says 'free reading' time every day but I haven't told him to specifically do that.

If it's *free* reading, you can't require that. Then it isn't "free." :)

 

 

I haven't been reading to the kids before bed lately. Part of me feels bad because Pink is missing out on something the boys always had, but I got tired of reading the same stupid Aladdin book every time it was Pink's turn. And it just seemed that they were doing all these other things, and then getting ready for bed, and by the time they got to their rooms, ready, it was almost 9 - which is bedtime. So I figured no reading.

I'm afraid I'll kill any love for books he could ever have. :crying: I'm worried he'll never want to read. So I try not to make him too much, especially since he can't do it so well. I had the bright idea that if he read a book to me every day it would help build fluency or something. I don't know what I was thinking sometimes. :tongue_smilie:

 

He reads to me for school, does OPG, and I read aloud to them every day (chapter books, part of school). That's pretty much all the reading we do.

Instead of reading at bedtime, couldn't you read aloud from good children's books, just for fun, right after lunch? One chapter a day, each day that you're home. No questioning the dc to be sure they've understood it, no narrating back to you, just reading for enjoyment. Mrs. Pigglewiggle, or Amelia Bedelia, or any of the other wonderful books we've talked about.

 

Requiring a child to read aloud *can* build fluency, but IMHO it should be part of the Official School Day, and for a very short amount of time.

 

We've all had those ::facepalm:: moments. It's ok. :)

[Mama Anna]

I'll chip in w/ my 2 cents.

 

My suggestions would be:

 

1) Take the pressure off - of him and of yourself. Reminding either of you of what he could do two weeks ago won't help tomorrow's stuff happen. See if you can approach each OPG lesson as a fresh challenge, with no expectations hanging over your heads. After all, chances are no one will notice in 5 years whether he read well at this age or not.

 

2) Speaking specifically of OPG, you might want to back up like a pp suggested. You know how most lessons remind you, "2 Review and 1 New?" Well, pick those two (or three or four) review lessons based on the specific difficulties he's having in his lesson and focus on just them. Will he mind reviewing a full lesson? (My dd hates it - I have to be cute about it or else she gets really bored fast - even when she needs it.) Also, the Review Lessons that have a collection of words from several lessons are good for it, I think. But don't move on to new stuff while he's shaky on the foundational stuff.

 

3) Do you have any way of doing the optional magnetic board activities suggested in OPGTR? Scrabble tiles? Refrigerator letters? If he can touch them and manipulate them into the proper order, maybe he'll remember the rules better.

 

4) There really are developmental stages to reading. If you keep working on it a bit at a time, refusing to get too frustrated to continue and willing to go over the same stuff many times, he will progress at some point. Some people prefer to stop and wait for that time to come. I tend to be afraid I'll miss it if I do that, so I just put the program in "Grandma Gear" like the farm trucks used to have and keep moving forward - even if it's in tiny increments.

 

5) As for audio books, we use them for car trips, errands in the car, afternoon rest time, and most other times my dd6 is hanging out in the living room. (Meal prep time when I want her out of the kitchen, afternoons when I need her to stop pestering dd3, etc.) They're rather addicted. I would suggest trying to get really well-read audio books, though. The boringly read ones are more difficult to listen to.

 

6) Oh, and it might help to not worry so much about having him read the other books. If you take him down to a minimum until he gets his confidence back, you may find him sounding things out when you didn't ask him to - I occasionally caught dd6 looking through dd8's books and trying to read a sentence or two even back when she was a pretty non-eager reader.

 

HTH! Really, I know it sounds useless, but try not to stress. If he thinks he "can't" please you, lots of things can go south . . .

 

Mama Anna

Edited September 5, 2012 by Mama Anna

[besroma]

I agree that you should not stress over this. It is perfectly fine.

 

I wouldn't push him to read because I would be concerned that he would hate, rather than love, reading. I am not concerned with how early my children read, but am ner concerned that I foster a love of reading in them that lasts a lifetime.

 

I don't know your program to know at what level he is, but I highly recommend the Nora Gaydos readers. They are *fun* to read for the parent and the child. The illustrations are entertaining, but not so easy for the kids to guess the words. You will probably have to find them used, but they are worth the cost.

 

I also recommend the All About Learning readers, Rod and Staff readers, and CLE readers. I would buy his level in each of these (which would not be very expensive compared to a new curriculum, and work with him on them. Snuggling up on the couch with him to read these would be fun.

[NASDAQ]

My favourite 'graded' readers are the Lippincott Basic Reading set by McCracken and someone else. There's a 1960-something edition and a revised set from the eighties. Either is good, but if you use the eighties set you will need A-E to get all the phonics. For the older set you need pre-primer through 1-2.

[Ellie]

:)

I need to get books on audio. I have a whole list of them - actually I do have some on my iPod - but I have no idea when they would listen to them. When does everyone else listen to audiobooks?

In the car. :-)

 

You know, I actually considered doing that same thing, summarizing a book into something he could read. I just never did because I never got around to it - seemed like too much work. :D

I don't know what Reading Eggs are but I've heard of them on here. I have heard of starfall but I thought it was for little kids (like, 3 year olds). :leaving:

But you know, you don't really need to be working that hard. Do his reading lessons with him, which may incude his reading aloud to you from a graded reader, and then...let it go. Read aloud to *all* the dc from good children's books, make sure there are many books available for him to read *if he wants to,* and just relax about it.

[besroma]

In the car. :-)

 

 

But you know, you don't really need to be working that hard. Do his reading lessons with him, which may incude his reading aloud to you from a graded reader, and then...let it go. Read aloud to *all* the dc from good children's books, make sure there are many books available for him to read *if he wants to,* and just relax about it.

 

:iagree: The readers I was recommending were to be a fun way to enjoy it with him.

 

I introduce reading a bit like I do new foods.... a bit at a time. If the child is enthusiastic about it, I continue. If the child balks, I set down the readers, read aloud to the child, then pick the readers up again later. Each child is so different in regards to reading readiness.

[TengoFive]

I haven't seen this addressed about your reading aloud to him, but I may have missed it. Many boys (and girls) have a hard time "just" listening to a story. They need to be doing something else at the same time. I would always let my boys play with legos or playdough quietly while I read or we listened to a cd. Sometimes they would color instead, but any of those things allowed them to enjoy the story.

 

We listen to a lot of audiobooks in the car. Its really enjoyable family time then, instead of a hassle to go somewhere. We are in the car at least an hour a day, so we get a lot of listening done.

[SJ.]

My oldest HATED reading when I was trying to teach him. I was convinced that I had ruined him for life. We backed off and he learned all the phonograms via the Spalding Method. After becoming very fluent in the sounds of the phonograms reading just clicked for him and now he loves to read. Knowing the phonograms allowed him to tackle books that were more interesting than the BOB books and other very simple early readers.

 

For learning silent E we like Explode the Code 3.

 

Good luck.

SJ

[alisoncooks]

:)I have heard of starfall but I thought it was for little kids (like, 3 year olds). :leaving:

 

My 4 and 6 year olds LOVE Starfall. The free content is great, but we subscribed to MoreStarfall ($35/year) just for more stuff (a small talking-library similar to Tumblebooks but more user-friendly), plus math content.

 

My older DD reads the books and plays the phonics games. She loves their talking library, though. Definitely still appropriate for a 1st grader!

[PeacefulChaos]

I haven't seen this addressed about your reading aloud to him, but I may have missed it. Many boys (and girls) have a hard time "just" listening to a story. They need to be doing something else at the same time. I would always let my boys play with legos or playdough quietly while I read or we listened to a cd. Sometimes they would color instead, but any of those things allowed them to enjoy the story.

 

We listen to a lot of audiobooks in the car. Its really enjoyable family time then, instead of a hassle to go somewhere. We are in the car at least an hour a day, so we get a lot of listening done.

 

Well, I always let him bring something with him for our read aloud time (all the subjects that we only do once a week, plus bible and the read aloud, are done after lunch - they are the last thing of the day). I have kind of felt like it distracts him.

You think he is still listening? I mean, I know in high school I doodled all over my notebook and still could learn everything. But he isn't me, so I wasn't sure....

[PeacefulChaos]

Just wanted to say thanks again for the replies. :) Today was good, he read one of the Thomas books to me (no sounding out words, breezed right through it) and had an easy time of OPG.

Ah, kids... :lol:

[kitten18]

my almost 7 y/o first grader is still on CVC words. :)

Mine too and I think that is perfectly fine. I don't when this idea came about that 6 year olds *need* to be able to read.

I know I sometimes get a little panicky when I spend too much time on WTM and read about the children who were reading chapter books at 4. :D

[Twilight Woods]

Mine too and I think that is perfectly fine. I don't when this idea came about that 6 year olds *need* to be able to read.

I know I sometimes get a little panicky when I spend too much time on WTM and read about the children who were reading chapter books at 4. :D

 

:iagree: we have been on CVC words for awhile and it is slowly clicking for her. She will even sound out harder words and 75% of the time get them right unless it's a phonetic rule we haven't gotten to yet... like Silent e. The only reason we switched progams was b/c the other was not working even after a lengthy break. I switched and she is cruising along at her speed. It's wonderful to watch her progress and enjoy it now. I definitly agree to just let him read what he wants and read aloud while doing legos or drawing. :)

[ELITEANDLOVINGIT]

My favorite reading for my two girls

 

Teach your child to read in a hundred easy lessons.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Your-Child-Read-Lessons/dp/B0038EBYMS/ref=la_B001IZ1GRM_1_1_title_1_unk?ie=UTF8&qid=1346985255&sr=1-1

 

I loved it.

 

I have no idea why it works, but it did indeed work for us. The lessons are short and well balanced. He employs direct instruction (You say this...they say that...etc). The progression is simple. We had a good number of sticker books and placed one sticker at the end of each section.

 

I know it is frustrating, but really each child reads at there own speed.

[PeacefulChaos]

My favorite reading for my two girls

 

Teach your child to read in a hundred easy lessons.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Your-Child-Read-Lessons/dp/B0038EBYMS/ref=la_B001IZ1GRM_1_1_title_1_unk?ie=UTF8&qid=1346985255&sr=1-1

 

I loved it.

 

I have no idea why it works, but it did indeed work for us. The lessons are short and well balanced. He employs direct instruction (You say this...they say that...etc). The progression is simple. We had a good number of sticker books and placed one sticker at the end of each section.

 

I know it is frustrating, but really each child reads at there own speed.

 

We tried 100EZL back before we even started homeschooling and I hated it. :lol: I actually just gave it away, and she said she and her son LOVE it! Everyone is different, I guess. :)

[jackson'smama]

Do the more challenging books have smaller print? Letters closer together? Has he had an eye checkup? Sometimes it's something "simple."

 

I don't have any advice on the phonics, but personally I would allow the same books to be read again and again.

 

:iagree: to the bolded part. i've always heard it's beneficial for building skill as well as just plain confidence in reading to allow the child to read something as much as he or she wants. not to say you shouldn't throw new books in or more challenging ones as well, but giving him the opportunity to excel at the ones he's re-reading may give him a great boost and desire to plow on and tackle the new stuff. just my two cents though...my oldest is a 7 yo boy too!

[momsuz123]

I got some fabulous advice from a bunch of you gals on here with my now 7 y/o.

 

1) I don't want to sound like a preacher for vision therapy, but that has made a huge difference.

2) I backed off of making her read. Just totally backed off. She hated it, and having her even try to read books that were "easier" for her, was not helping. So, I backed off.

3) I read to her, a lot. More than I ever did before. I read to her books she wanted me to read. My goal was to get her interested in reading again, and therefore wanting to learn to read. Guess what...it worked.

4) Before I knew it, she was asking to read to me. She can't even get to bed now without me reading to her several books and her reading to me.

 

That was a combination of a lot of advice that I got from some wonderful "vets" on here. Guess what...it all worked. We still have progress to be made, but my child WANTS to read now, and for me that was hald the battle. Good luck, don't give up, don't show your child your frustration, but know it will get better.

[MAIMOM]

He's not ready. Relax! Boys take longer than girls, generally. Though my daughter read at 4, my son couldn't read well until 7.5. Like you, I got all worried. I pressured him a lot when he was 6, and made him cry, which I feel bad about, because I was getting worried that he wasn't keeping up with sister's pace.

 

At 7 and a half, it finally kicked in. He is now an excellent student with a wonderful grasp of the language and a great vocabulary.

 

Just read to him what he can't yet read. Don't pressure him. He can't do it yet, or he would do it!

 

:iagree:The last part of the brain that gets it stuff (totally drawing a blank on what its called....it coats all nerve endings?) is the part we use to read. There is not way to see if that has happened. Some kids it just takes longer.

Both my girls did not learn to read fluently until 5th grade. In 6th grade is when they discovered a joy in reading. TIME was what they needed. :grouphug: to you, I know how frustrating it can be.