So he knows how to read, now what?

[GSOchristie]

I have been looking at a lot of my friends' curriculum and all are doing some sort of reading program, A beka, Bob Jones, Sonlight, etc.  We used The Writing Road to Reading to learn to read, now he can read practically anything.  He has read the first two Harry Potters this year, all of the Hatchet/Brian Saga, the Mysterious Benedict Society, Inkheart, so that gives you an idea of his reading ability.  So where do we go from here?  When I taught, we had readers, with generally stupid stories and reading comprehension questions at the end, and a vocabulary section.  Do I need to find something like this, or is just reading enough?  Do I need to make up comprehension questions for him based on the books he's already reading?  I mean, he clearly understands what's going on, he finishes the books and asks me questions about words he doesn't understand, but do I need to be searching for a reading program for second grade?  Do I search for a reading program for a higher level since the books he's reading are higher than second grade?  

 

ETA:  He also reads lots of nonfiction, he reads the Usborne World History and science encyclopedias daily, plus nonfiction about whatever CC topics we're covering.

[GSOchristie]

And to add, we do spelling and Shurley English for the other parts of language arts.

[73349]

Please do not go and buy him a reading program. Talk with him about what he's reading and ask a few questions that will stretch his thinking. The canned stuff will only make him dislike it.

[Walking-Iris]

Just focus on writing. copywork and dictation, and some oral or written narration.

Continue to read aloud to him, regardless of how well he can read.

 

And occasionally have him read aloud to you still, to check his fluency. Continue with your grammar and spelling, I'd say that makes a decent second grade.

[Jennifer132]

I think providing him with ample material to read is key. I do think there are benefits to reading a book and dissecting it, so to speak, but not with every book, or even the majority of books that he reads. The only reading program I'm familiar with personally is Drawn Into the Heart of Reading, and I think there are some good ideas there, but we ended up stopping it halfway through the year and just reading books. It was just too much for me to get to each day. I think being able to tell back or narrate what was read is really important too.

[Tanikit]

For my 6 year old I have her doing independent reading where she reads what she wants to and I ask nothing. Then she reads aloud to me daily from a book which stretches her a bit with vocabulary so I can check that she is pronouncing things correctly and understands what she is reading and I might ask a few questions about it. She does the occassional short comprehension on short non fiction passages. Finally I read aloud to her books that will also stretch her vocabulary and then ask questions about that too - in fact this is probably where I check more than with things she reads herself as if she doesn't understand something she reads herself then she will ask. If I am reading I think my tone of voice when reading tells her a lot when the words are difficult. Narrations I use SOTW and her Science, but do not expect that for free reading or what I read aloud to her just for literature.

 

Basically then reading is enough.

[k8c]

I allow my DD6 to read anything and everything she wants (and she does) informally, but for next year I am going to use the Bravewriter "Arrow" as a guide for some books that I will "require" her to read.  It is more focused on grammar and writing than comprehension, though.  For that, we use Jacob's Ladder (prufrock sells it) from College of William & Mary.  It utilizes picture books instead of chapter books at the early ages, but the comprehension questions are very deep.  We have used that this year and found that the questions are just what we need to push her to think about the reading, and with it using the picture books, we can change and ask new questions each week, so she does not get bored.  We will not be doing a "reading" program at all, though will be reviewing phonics with the later ETC workbooks (she does these mostly on her own) and the spelling program SpellWell from the same people.  We also read-aloud books that are more mature in both theme and level, which provides for great discussion, though this is also done informally rather than "for school," as I want to create a culture of question asking and discussion.

[Ellie]

I have been looking at a lot of my friends' curriculum and all are doing some sort of reading program, A beka, Bob Jones, Sonlight, etc.  We used The Writing Road to Reading to learn to read, now he can read practically anything.  He has read the first two Harry Potters this year, all of the Hatchet/Brian Saga, the Mysterious Benedict Society, Inkheart, so that gives you an idea of his reading ability.  So where do we go from here?  When I taught, we had readers, with generally stupid stories and reading comprehension questions at the end, and a vocabulary section.  Do I need to find something like this, or is just reading enough?  Do I need to make up comprehension questions for him based on the books he's already reading?  I mean, he clearly understands what's going on, he finishes the books and asks me questions about words he doesn't understand, but do I need to be searching for a reading program for second grade?  Do I search for a reading program for a higher level since the books he's reading are higher than second grade?  

 

ETA:  He also reads lots of nonfiction, he reads the Usborne World History and science encyclopedias daily, plus nonfiction about whatever CC topics we're covering.

 

When you do Spalding, all you need is the library and good book lists. Yes, of course, "just" reading is enough.

 

Vocabulary-controlled basal readers became popular during the 50s when sight-reading kicked in, because children were mostly memorizing words (although sometimes given vague clues about beginning or ending sounds and relying on context to figure out what the heck they were reading), and the comprehension lessons and whatnot were pretty much necessary.

 

None of this is necessary when children have learned to read with methods like Spalding and others.

 

Your little 7yo person is reading *Harry Potter.* Congratulations!! Now go to the library and get more books for him to read!

[HelenNotOfTroy]

I let my son choose whatever he wants at the library and I choose some other things. He then reads what he wants to at home. I don't ask him much about it because I don't want it to be a chore, so for now we only discuss/narrate from things I read aloud.

[HS Mom in NC]

This is from a previous thread that was about how to improve vocabulary but it's just as relevant to what do to after phonics.

 

We read aloud outstanding children's literature a total of 2 hours a day, 5-6 days a week. These are not all in 2 sittings at first.  We started them out at a about age 3 and worked our way up from there until they were in 2nd or 3rd grade and hit the hour long sittings. There are lots of threads at these boards for what to let your kids do while you read aloud to them, where to find lists of great children's literature and where to get book recordings. 

 

We introduced Latin and Greek Word Roots by 1st grade.  If you do 10 a week until the kids know almost all of them you're off to an excellent start. There are some materials designed to just match the root to its translation and others to look up multiple words with a shared root.  We do a mix.

 

The neighbor kid once had our 6 inch thick English dictionary out with my older two (who were Jr. High age) randomly opening it and pointing to words and saying them out loud and my girls could tell him what every one of them meant. In college both have said new vocabulary is no trouble at all because they can almost always figure out what a new word means by breaking down the word roots and reading the context. In a few situations, they just looked it up.

 

I would also add focus on doing narrations-not from the books the child loves but from other quality readings during school time. 

 

Let your child read independently for pleasure as much as possible.  Talk with him about what he's reading-don't dissect it with school assignments.

[ErinE]

Read, read, read, then read some more.

 

DS11: He started reading early and didn't stop. I didn't have assigned reading when he was younger, because he read so much. As he matured, I gave him a list of books and expected him to read from those 30 minutes a day. Now that he's in fifth grade, the required reading from assigned books is 45-60 minutes. Otherwise, he has a tendency to read from his own book stash. Once he gets into the book I don't have issues with him finishing. We talk about what he's read. If it's a good example of literary elements, we discuss it, but I don't over-analyze. For young kids, I think it's easy to ruin enjoyment of a book by requiring too much thought as to why it's good.

 

DD8: She was a reluctant learner when it came to reading; she still isn't wild about it. When she first started, I didn't have any assigned reading for her. I just opened a book and had her read aloud, increasing my expectations as she progressed. I did expect her to have a 5-10 minute session of looking through picture books while I gave DS his math lesson. Now, in second grade, I require 20-30 minutes of independent reading from a book I assign (she has a list of options). She also reads aloud to me every day from a rotation of science, history, and literature. This helps me check her fluency and vocabulary. She has a tendency to skip words and forget her phonics. Afterwards, we talk about what she reads, but again, it's very informal.

[ElizabethB]

I reviewed phonics and syllable division for the next two years after my daughter was reading well, including the spelling rules. It took an hour or two at the beginning of each year:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/WellTaughtPhonicsStudent.html

 

Also, if reading below 12th grade level, work a bit on multi syllable words each day until reading is at a 12th grade level.

[kiwik]

You could always do WWE and tie it in with writing.