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Is a Reading program necessary?


Mom28kds
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I am currently doing CLE Math, LA & Reading. I'm getting a little burned out by all the grading and bookwork. I'm considering selling my Reading and just having them read books that I choose. In all honesty I probably would just have them read and not do any paperwork regarding their book. Should I stick with the Reading for the remainder of the year or will my kids be just fine if I jump ship and just have them read? 

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No.  I think there is a period between learning to read, and on the other end more serious literature studies, where you don't need a formal program.  I would still tend to use narration at least some of the time, to make sure the child is taking in the reading and understanding the narrative.  I would also do some copywork and dictation, maybe weekly, from the books, and make sure you provide some variety in format and style.

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I am currently doing CLE Math, LA & Reading. I'm getting a little burned out by all the grading and bookwork. I'm considering selling my Reading and just having them read books that I choose. In all honesty I probably would just have them read and not do any paperwork regarding their book. Should I stick with the Reading for the remainder of the year or will my kids be just fine if I jump ship and just have them read? 

 

One of the things that a formal reading "program" does is introduce your children to different genres. You can do that on your own. It can also help your children learn to recall facts when reading, follow directions, draw conclusions, summarize, and more. You can also do that on your own in different subjects.

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We've actually never done a reading program. I stressed out about it every now and then, but then had my oldest tested for the first time last year. Well, I guess a score of 97 on reading basically means we're doing something right! He is an avid reader and I just make sure I'm constantly feeding him books of all genres that slowly increase lexile level. I look at booklists online (HOD, Ambleside, blogs, etc) and then look them up and put a label on them with their grade level interest and grade level equivalent. Then, throughout the year I just hand him a new one (sometimes letting him choose) and that's all we've ever done. We're doing CLE math and L.A. right now, and so I can't imagine adding more workbooks to his schedule. He would hate it and the last thing I want to do is kill his love for reading that I've spent 10 years creating!

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We've actually never done a reading program. I stressed out about it every now and then, but then had my oldest tested for the first time last year. Well, I guess a score of 97 on reading basically means we're doing something right! He is an avid reader and I just make sure I'm constantly feeding him books of all genres that slowly increase lexile level. I look at booklists online (HOD, Ambleside, blogs, etc) and then look them up and put a label on them with their grade level interest and grade level equivalent. Then, throughout the year I just hand him a new one (sometimes letting him choose) and that's all we've ever done. We're doing CLE math and L.A. right now, and so I can't imagine adding more workbooks to his schedule. He would hate it and the last thing I want to do is kill his love for reading that I've spent 10 years creating

 

Thank you. I'm wanting to get them reading more and enjoying it. So I think I'm going to add books from Sonlight list on American HIstory and let them throw in some of their own. I think a reading time will do much better for this than a structured program. I'm already feeling relieved at just the thought of it :)

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When we left CLE Reading, we moved to Mosdos. I appreciate having the reading all in one book/anthology. I also like the thinking done for me; the book introduces setting/conflict/etc and I just discuss it with DD.

 

I'll look into this further. Thank you :)

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Since mine learnt to read we do the following:

Read some poetry and song lyrics

Read novels

Read non fiction in different forms including the Bible, journals, news, articles, biographies and auto biographies

Read other types of reading materials: signs, advertisements, menus, instruction manuals, bilingual readings, number plates etc.

Read short stories

Read and do some comprehensions.

Read and write on technological devices in each different format and discuss since the language usage is different for each

Read letters - casual and friendly, business, other purposes

 

Basically we just make sure we read everything and that some discussion takes place about presentation, vocabulary, sentence length and purpose etc.

 

None of this requires a curriculum.

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Reading and narrating is enough reading practice for most good readers. If you are worried you are missing the comprehension piece (questioning, inference, making connections etc.) You can always use the free worksheets from readworks.org once or twice a week.  I really like that you can choose the skills and the levels. It also helps get non-fiction in there. I noticed that my 11 year old needs practice slowing down when reading really difficult texts.  I love that I can grab a quick worksheet at the high school level for him to practice skills with.  That way we don't need to read content and literature way above his emotional level, but can still get comprehension practice.  

Edited by SRoss5
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We've actually never done a reading program. I stressed out about it every now and then, but then had my oldest tested for the first time last year. Well, I guess a score of 97 on reading basically means we're doing something right! He is an avid reader and I just make sure I'm constantly feeding him books of all genres that slowly increase lexile level. I look at booklists online (HOD, Ambleside, blogs, etc) and then look them up and put a label on them with their grade level interest and grade level equivalent. Then, throughout the year I just hand him a new one (sometimes letting him choose) and that's all we've ever done. We're doing CLE math and L.A. right now, and so I can't imagine adding more workbooks to his schedule. He would hate it and the last thing I want to do is kill his love for reading that I've spent 10 years creating!

This.
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