Need advice

[Guest jennhart]

Last year, my husband and I decided to pull our oldest two children from public school. We have three children...the youngest is only 2. My boys are in 3rd and 5th this year and they are not good readers at all. They have always struggled with reading...slow, choppy, inaccurate pronunciation, etc!

 

I recently purchased The Well Trained Mind and I am completely loving what I read. I plan on implementing these concepts with my 2 year old as she ages and is ready for the different stages. But my question is what I should do about my boys....they should be so much farther along in reading, but they aren't and I don't know where to start...should I go back to the basics with them??? Neither one has any learning problems..in fact they do well in every other subject (not gifted in them, but make good grades). My 3rd grader was at a disadvantage early in life because he didn't hear well and we didn't catch it until he was 3. At that point he had tubes put in and began speech therapy. He is no longer in speech, but he has been behind in reading, because he didn't hear the words the way they were said and therefor, learned to pronounce them incorrectly. We still have to work on that problem from time to time, but for the most part he is past that...just behind because he got a later start on correctly reading/speaking.

 

I would love to hear ideas of where to start with them. I want learning to be fun and enjoyable...and when you struggle to read...it ISN"T.

[Lara in Colo]

Your best place to take this is the k-8 board (more people in your stage there)

 

That being said: I would start over with a phonics reading /spelling program like

All About Spelling or Logic of English and go at a pace that is comfortable for the children. They can do it together and both programs must start at the lowest level for all ages.

[Lara in Colo]

Oh and WELCOME!!!! :D

[Twilight Woods]

Your best place to take this is the k-8 board (more people in your stage there)

 

That being said: I would start over with a phonics reading /spelling program like

All About Spelling or Logic of English and go at a pace that is comfortable for the children. They can do it together and both programs must start at the lowest level for all ages.

 

:iagree:

[mom2samlibby]

Your best place to take this is the k-8 board (more people in your stage there)

 

That being said: I would start over with a phonics reading /spelling program like

All About Spelling or Logic of English and go at a pace that is comfortable for the children. They can do it together and both programs must start at the lowest level for all ages.

 

:iagree: with this.

 

But, I disagree with your statement about there being no learning problems. A 3rd and 5th grader struggling with reading means that there is a learning problem.

 

Good luck with your homeschooling journey.

[Mrs Mungo]

They may need remediation in phonics. You might go on the Peace Hill Press site (linked at the top of this forum) and download Susan Wise Bauer's audio lectures. Also, I think there are some sections in TWTM on "starting in the middle," you'll probably want to take a closer look at those sections.

[hillfarm]

First of all, don't panic.

 

Although my dd did fairly well with her reading, she really struggled with spelling. So at the beginning of 4th grade, I started spelling again at the 1st grade level with a different curriculum.

 

We were able to cover 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades all during dd's 4th grade year. Then we did 4th grade spelling the first half of 5th grade and did most of 5th grade spelling the second half of her 5th grade year. By 6th grade, she was working at grade level. She will probably never be an excellent speller, but she is certainly adequate and MUCH better than I think she would have been if we had kept fighting our way upstream with the other curriculum that didn't work for us. HTH:)

[Unicorn.]

I will add to what pp's have already said, and say to have them read aloud to you everyday. Start w/ lower level, easy to read books. When they can read a book w/out making more than 3 mistakes, they can move up a level. Use a mix of fiction and non-fiction books. Read aloud, read aloud, read aloud!

[Mynyel]

They may need remediation in phonics. You might go on the Peace Hill Press site (linked at the top of this forum) and download Susan Wise Bauer's audio lectures. Also, I think there are some sections in TWTM on "starting in the middle," you'll probably want to take a closer look at those sections.

 

:iagree:

 

You can use whatever you need at any level. Start them out in a lower level and let them blow through it if needed. It will build confidence and build the beginning blocks needed! :)

[MomatHWTK]

I used the book Reading Rescue 1-2-3 to help me pinpoint my oldest child's areas of difficulty. Then worked with specific ideas to help him overcome. I had him do word searched to help build his eye tracking skills then used high interest reading comprehension passages to build his understanding.