McGuffey Readers

[JusDelenH]

Does anyone still use them? I am not pleased with my daughter's fluency level and I wonder if they were worth the purchase. Or should I stick to having her read aloud to me from a  book we are currently reading from?

[stlily]

The Well Trained Mind recommends the McGuffey Readers primarily for oral reading.  In the 3rd edition of the TWTM, p. 62-63, it reads, "Even after your child has completed a phonics program and is reading independently, continue to have him read aloud to you periodically through sixth grade. In this way, you will catch errors before they become a habit, discourage guessing, and help the child practice word attack skill for new words.  You can choose a paragraph from your child's history, science, or literature reading, or from a vintage McGuffey Eclectic reader; the McGuffey reading selections are [the] perfect length for oral reading. Begin the oral reading with the Third Eclectic Reader after finishing your phonics program... In addition to preventing errors from becoming habits, oral reading develops fluency, which takes time and practice. Fluency is best developed by repeated reading aloud of the same passage. Once a week is plenty to practice reading fluency."  As you can see you can certainly use the McGuffey readers to develop fluency.  I think part of the reason it is recommended that oral reading be done on a weekly basis is because once the student reads independently, we are no longer sitting next to them observing their reading habits and behaviors.  Oral reading serves as a tool to catch those behaviors before they become habits.  That's probably more information that you care to know.  Back to your question, it sounds like you can use any book from any subject to develop fluency. The important thing is to have the student read the same passage several times to develop that fluency.  I do own the set and actually start using them with my children when they're learning to read. They love the stories but you can certainly use any book you have on hand. 

 

One last thing, on p. 63 of TWTM (3rd ed.), she lists a suggestion for a pattern you can follow when doing oral reading with your child.  Let me know if you would like me to post that here.  Hope this helps. :001_smile:

[Slache]

I use them but on our tablet with Google books. Things you already own would be fine.

[HomeAgain]

We tried McGuffey and my son hated them.  I switched to the Elson readers which he reads happily.  We use them for oral reading, below comprehension level.  I want him to develop better pronunciation and fluency and so far they're doing their job.

[Farrar]

I know they go up in difficulty and all, but with a middle schooler, I'd just read books.

[Mrs Twain]

I used McGuffey Readers with all my children. They are difficult but excellent. I think they are excellent because they are difficult. You probably won’t find the same level of difficulty if you pick just any book.

[madteaparty]

I use them but on our tablet with Google books. Things you already own would be fine.

Oh, tell me more! I'm going on the road with my kids and looking for stuff on the tablet for my first grader!

[Zoo Keeper]

I prefer the Treadwell readers (also free on archive.org or google.books)  Books 3-6 have a nice mix of poetry, myths, and classic tales.  Not as "preachy" as McGuffey.

 

 

Here's a few threads...

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/369612-treadwell-and-elsons-readers/

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/534516-treadwell-readers-as-literature-instead-of-a-reader/

[Slache]

Oh, tell me more! I'm going on the road with my kids and looking for stuff on the tablet for my first grader!

 

Our curriculum consists mostly of a notebook, a tablet and a library card. I use one notebook and write the date at the top corner. On one page might be cursive practice, a spelling test, Hiragana practice, Spanish copywork and grammar practice, just one after the other. Excellent space saver.

 

On my tablet:

Bible Study Guide For All Ages (Bible summary cards are separate but you can do them on the tablet just fine)

Daily Art (art appreciation app that should be previewed by parents)

Resizable sticky note app for new memory work

ANKI for old memory work

Ray's Arithmetic (completely oral, we use the AL Abacus from RightStart)

Reading Lessons Through Literature (ELTL & SWB resources also available on PDF)

EM Grammar (also printed for him)

EM Geography (also printed for him)

SOTW & AG

Write Japanese

Rapid Japanese (audio)

McGuffey & My Book House (McGuffey for skill, MBH for beauty)

Jot It Down

 

Not on my tablet:

Where The Sidewalk Ends

Hey Andrew TM

EM Grammar (also on tablet for me)

EM Geography (also on tablet for me)

Apologia

Artistic Pursuits

Sketchbook & pencils (about an hour a day)

SOTW Student Pages