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4th Grader Help


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I have home schooled my 4th grader since K, and I feel she is behind, especially in reading. Is there something I can do to help her catch up. It is making our curriculum extremely hard, b/c I feel her comprehension skills are not quite there. We were using MFW ECC but it seems like too much and she is dragging in it. Any recommendations are welcomed. I also have a 10th, 1st, and a 10 month old, with another on the way.

 

Thanks, Nicole

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I think comprehension skills are the easiest to work on because you can do it outside of reading.

 

You can do it with real-life situations, watching movies, etc., in a conversational and non-schoolish way. Ask her questions: what did she see, if you pause the movie what does she think will happen next, ... why? That sort of thing.

 

Just make a point to do this maybe once a day in the course of life outside of school and give her the tools to know HOW to comprehend. I'm not familar with MFW ECC so I'm not sure how it's handled in your coursework but I know it can be supplemented just by talking and living life. She can do this during readalouds with your 1st grader, even, taking it to a level where it's pure comprehension and not struggling with the actual skill of reading.

 

Good luck, and welcome :)

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My dd has the same issues if she is reading something she doesn't enjoy. She also will still occasionally just make up a word instead of sounding it out. She also had NO desire to read "for fun" until about a year ago. Now she reads at least an hour a day without being asked. Kids mature at different times. Have you noticied any vision issues? Trouble tracking words?

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She really dislikes reading in all areas, and she is fine making up a word and not caring if it makes sense or not.

My Father's World, Exploring Cultures and Countries (MFW ECC)

I am willing to change curriculum, I just don't know where to start.

Do you mean that she misreads and guesses at words while she reads? Does she have difficulty with de-coding also, or just comprehension?

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We corrected her vision which was our biggest pitfall. Right now I have her join in with the first grader, phonics and reading which is the beginning of the program, Rod and Staff, and she seems to be enjoying it for the most part, but it is super easy for her. I wished I originally used it for her. She was almost like my guinea pig, and I am not proud of the results. I was thinking about starting off at 2nd grade all over for her, but that seems so far behind.

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She really dislikes reading in all areas, and she is fine making up a word and not caring if it makes sense or not.

My Father's World, Exploring Cultures and Countries (MFW ECC)

I am willing to change curriculum, I just don't know where to start.

It would help to have more information.

 

How does she do on comprehension questions when you read something to her?

Why specifically do you think she is behind?

All areas of L.A.? Reading, writing, spelling, etc.?

How is she in math?

 

 

I would suggest you check out "The Knowledge Deficit" by E.D. Hirsch. (I got it from my library). Much of the book is about reading comprehension and his premise is that sometimes (often) comprehension problems come back to a lack of background knowledge.

See if that rings any bells with you or if it's an inability to pick up information when reading.

 

 

 

I would also suggest that you cross-post this on the K-8 curriculum board, there are a lot of helpful people over there. Here too of course.:tongue_smilie:

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We corrected her vision which was our biggest pitfall. Right now I have her join in with the first grader, phonics and reading which is the beginning of the program, Rod and Staff, and she seems to be enjoying it for the most part, but it is super easy for her. I wished I originally used it for her. She was almost like my guinea pig, and I am not proud of the results. I was thinking about starting off at 2nd grade all over for her, but that seems so far behind.

Just curious, how old is she? (a young 4th grader or an old 4th grader?)

 

There are lots of free/inexpensive options for phonics remediation.

 

ElizabethB's website has tons of great links. She even has a phonics lesson program that your DD could watch and follow along with on the computer.

http://www.thephonicspage.org

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Thank you for the info. She is a 9 yo, she will be 10 in Dec. Majority of the time she doesn't answer my questions or the questions from the book correctly. That goes with all subjects that has reading involved. She is doing great in math, but she uses Teaching Textbooks, and it reads to her the question (I notice she will rewind if she didn't hear it at first, instead of just reading it on the screen). I will check out the link. Our library is really small, but I will see if they have that book.

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