If you have a strong early reader, how do you meet their reading needs?

[Kfamily]

Really, what I am wondering is should I give my dd5 books at a level she seems comfortable with and what if that means books I normally wouldn't choose for a Kindergarten student? Dd 5 is reading Seabird and The 5 Children and It by her own choice. She has read a great deal of Our Island Story on her own accord and has read 326 pages of a 450 page anthology of children's stories and fables (For the Children's Hour). Honestly, I expected this book to get us through K and 1st but she's nearly finished with it and way ahead of where I am in reading it to her. :001_huh:

 

I have some books in mind for her to read as part of our curriculum but not enough and not exactly the ones she seems ready and interested to read. She just informed me that she would like to read Minn of the Mississippi next and I was not putting that on our list yet!:001_smile: I honestly don't want to appear to be bragging. I really feel thrown by this and want to challenge her and meet her needs but I think she is always ahead of me even when I think I have raised the standards. What would you do? Should I go ahead and include more books and challenging ones at that? Why am I having so much trouble thinking out of the box on this one? If she really needs more shouldn't I put more in front of her? This is me......:lol::001_huh:

 

 

Any advice is much appreciated!

 

Would you start a history rotation with a first grader with books such as Child's History of the World and Our Island Story mixed with good picture books and add some mythology? Is this too soon? I always thought this was too soon but I think I may have to rethink this.

[PeterPan]

Now you know why we do VP history, because for us it is a pile of books to go with each card. Of course you let her read Minn of the Mississippi! If it were something requiring more emotional maturity, you'd steer her another way. Really, the safest thing with a young reader is non-fiction or older historical fiction. Get TQ and the VP catalog and just start buying. :)

[angela in ohio]

The only thing that got us through was non-fiction. I wasn't willing to let my early voracious readers read junk, so I supplemented the great literature I wanted them to read with piles and piles of non-fiction books from the library. We would work our way through different aisles: space, history, biographies, etc., etc.

 

I make my plans for dc to read, and then they read a lot on their own on top of it. I put the books we are reading together "for school" aside, and they know not to touch them.

[Tree House Academy]

I would let her read to her level, but make sure the subjects are comprehensible for a 5 year old (and appropriate). Just because my 9 year old could read Harry Potter book 6 doesn't mean he gets to do so just yet...KWIM?

[Kfamily]

Thank you, I am hearing both of you suggest non-fiction. I will definitely go with that. Over the last couple of years I have really purged our house of a lot of the "twaddle" books.

 

What about these books?

 

Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales

Peter Rabbit collection

Winnie the Pooh books (original)

Little House on the Prairie

Boys and Girls of Colonial Days

Child's History of the World

picture books for study of ancients

Garden of Verse

Bible storybook

 

I could add these...

50 Famous Stories

D' Aulaire's George Washington, Ben Franklin

Wind in the Willows (read aloud)

Understood Betsy

Among the Forest People (Meadow and Pond too-these are nature readers)

 

I need some nonfiction suggestions for ancient history or early colonial history... any favorites?:001_smile:

 

Am I missing some? What about COFA books for say Abigail Adams? Do they have one on her?

What would you suggest for read alouds?

 

Thanks so much!

Edited December 9, 2008 by Kfamily

[The Governess]

The little house series would be great! And a great children's Bible like Catherine Vos' would be great too and take her a while to get through.

 

Here is a link to a great discussion on amazon about books that are appropriate for early readers.

 

Have fun!!

[angela in ohio]

These all are good! One more thing - dont overlook the importance of good picture books, even for those who CAN read longer books. There are some picture books that are just not to be missed, and they are great even for advanced readers.

[Laura Corin]

You might like to look at my Amazon lists. - scroll down on the index page to get to the younger lists.

 

Laura

[Kfamily]

Your lists are very helpful!!

 

We already own Mr. Popper's Penguins, Half Magic and Alice in Wonderland so I can add these now.

 

Thank you lovelearnandlive for the link. I will definitely read this!

 

:001_smile:

[Crimson Wife]

What about working your way through the literary classics excerpted in WWE1? I don't see any title listed in there that I would consider as having inappropriate content for an advanced K5 student.

 

Also check out the read-alouds listed for Ambleside Online.

 

With my advanced reader, I pretty much let her read what she wants so long as I consider the content appropriate and it's not twaddle. She's currently reading the Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander.

[Kfamily]

I don't have WWE but I have been seriously considering it for dd next year and this might be a plan to keep in mind.

 

Thanks:001_smile:

[Carol in Cal.]

She could probably enjoy books by Edward Eager, for instance, and see nothing inappropriate in them.

 

I would load her up with lots of biographies--of all non-fiction, those are the ones that read most like fiction. Also give her a lot of science books. One of the things that happens with voracious readers sometimes is that they get into the habit of reading everything very quickly, as if it is fiction for entertainment. Although she is really young, if she is reading difficult books I think that it is important to get her to read some books that force her to slow down to really understand them. Start with the Magic School Bus books and discuss how some of their information fits together.

 

I would also start her with some foreign language tapes. Since she is not spending her time on reading skill acquisition, give her a chance to pick up another language while actions and memorization are relatively easy. Later you'll be glad you did.

[FriedClams]

We use lots of reading lists since I can't keep up with the kids reading. I use the 1000 Good Books list from Classical Christian home education, Sonlight (though check for content), Living Books, Charlotte Mason lists, etc. I just keep pumping them books and pray about high school and the inevitable time when they leave me in the dust, LOL!

[Kfamily]

This is exactly why I want to be careful to separate the books of our curriculum from books she reads for pleasure. I do not plan on letting her read all these books by herself. I want to be sure she reads the words correctly. Despite an amazing vocabulary, she still is 5 and her life experiences are too limited to understand historical names and events. She comes to us with words she needs help with.

 

 

I do have Song School Latin and several French song cds for foreign languages but we are not overly serious about it. I probably need to be more consistent with this.

 

Thanks!

[PeterPan]

Oh, I wouldn't worry about checking her pronounciation too much. My dd cracks me up occasionally with some word she'll say that she learned to pronounce incorrectly by reading. It's not the end of the world and easily rectified. :)

[Kfamily]

Your words of advice are always so reassuring!

 

Except for daily handwriting and math and weekly picture books and crafts for our geography around the world what she reads is so hard to manage. She reads a lot every day. I manage a little and she romps freely with all of our personal library open to her.

 

:grouphug:

 

Again, congratulations for that sweet new addition to your family!

[Lovedtodeath]

The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease will help you. Most picture books are more age-appropriate in content, but are actually at a higher reading level.

[angela in ohio]

Oh, I wouldn't worry about checking her pronounciation too much. My dd cracks me up occasionally with some word she'll say that she learned to pronounce incorrectly by reading. It's not the end of the world and easily rectified. :)

 

I love hearing a big word spoken incorretly by a youngster. It is a sure sign of a voracious reader. :D

[Kathie in VA]

Have you see the 1000 Good Books list online?

It's here:

http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html

 

Hope this helps. I also have an advanced reading and need to remember this list for him. He is 9 years old (~3rd/4th grade) and reading books from an 7th/8th grade reading list.

[nmoira]

Would you start a history rotation with a first grader with books such as Child's History of the World and Our Island Story mixed with good picture books and add some mythology? Is this too soon? I always thought this was too soon but I think I may have to rethink this.

I followed the sequence outlined in Some of My Best Friends are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers from Preschool to High School. This is an excellent book with an extensive annotated bibliography. I don't follow the age recommendations as they don't seem quite right for highly gifted kids. Each bullet point represents one of four distinct progressions.

 

 

• Poetry (throughout sequence)

• Fairytales/Folktales --> Fairytales/Folktales/Fables --> Folktales/Legends --> Legends/Myths --> Myths/Epics

• Biography (throughout sequence)

• fantasy and realistic novels --> fantasy, high fantasy, and realistic --> high fantasy, realistic, fantasy, high fantasy, historical fiction --> realistic, fantasy, high fantasy, historical fiction, science fiction

 

We have spent a lot of time gathering books for the fairytales sequence in particular. DD the Elder almost literally ate up the Lang coloured Fairy Books (The Blue Fairy Book, etc.). I don't restrict her reading to "classics" because (1) not everything contemporary is twaddle (even some series books), and (2) she reads so much and so widely, I'm not worried about her boxing herself in.

[Annie Laurie]

I followed the sequence outlined in Some of My Best Friends are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers from Preschool to High School. This is an excellent book with an extensive annotated bibliography. I don't follow the age recommendations as they don't seem quite right for highly gifted kids. Each bullet point represents one of four distinct progressions.

 

 

• Poetry (throughout sequence)

• Fairytales/Folktales --> Fairytales/Folktales/Fables --> Folktales/Legends --> Legends/Myths --> Myths/Epics

• Biography (throughout sequence)

• fantasy and realistic novels --> fantasy, high fantasy, and realistic --> high fantasy, realistic, fantasy, high fantasy, historical fiction --> realistic, fantasy, high fantasy, historical fiction, science fiction

 

We have spent a lot of time gathering books for the fairytales sequence in particular. DD the Elder almost literally ate up the Lang coloured Fairy Books (The Blue Fairy Book, etc.). I don't restrict her reading to "classics" because (1) not everything contemporary is twaddle (even some series books), and (2) she reads so much and so widely, I'm not worried about her boxing herself in.

 

Oh thank you for posting that, it looks like what I've been looking for.

[Chris in VA]

Just wanted to add--

 

Sometimes I have the feeling that many homeschoolers (not you, necessarily--just a general comment) give their kids books, say, in history, and want everything to be in order--so they don't allow them to read anything that doesn't fit. I call this "over theme-ing, which is a preschool teacher term that means limiting one's curriculum to that which fits your theme for the week, and thereby missing opportunities to go with interests and serendipitous occurrences (ok, I don't really talk like that). People often forget that it's good to expose kids to concepts over and over, and that it occurs naturally, too--and, that it's perfectly fine to read a book out of order, because it builds knowledge. Next time the concept comes around (or the first time it comes around in the curriculum), the child will have prior knowledge and be able to go deeper. Over and over and over, get those facts in as many ways as possible.

 

So if Minn of the Mississippi is of interest now, great! You can either revisit it as a 3rd grader in the history rotation, or do something else. Same goes for everything else. Now, that said, I do save some classics and such, but honestly, we have read the Little House books around 7 or 8 times--and keep finding something new, because we are changing, and bring more to the book each time.

[nmoira]

 

• biography (throughout sequence)

 

 

I messed this part up. It should be:

 

nonfiction --> nonfiction/biography (3rd grade or equivalent and up)

[nmoira]

 

Sometimes I have the feeling that many homeschoolers (not you, necessarily--just a general comment) give their kids books, say, in history, and want everything to be in order--so they don't allow them to read anything that doesn't fit.

I just wanted to take the opportunity to put in a plug for the Horrible Books (Horrible Histories, etc.). You'll be surprised what you learn from your children when you do start covering the topics they've had some exposure to. :D

[Blessedfamily]

Just wanted to add--

 

Sometimes I have the feeling that many homeschoolers (not you, necessarily--just a general comment) give their kids books, say, in history, and want everything to be in order--so they don't allow them to read anything that doesn't fit. I call this "over theme-ing, which is a preschool teacher term that means limiting one's curriculum to that which fits your theme for the week, and thereby missing opportunities to go with interests and serendipitous occurrences (ok, I don't really talk like that). People often forget that it's good to expose kids to concepts over and over, and that it occurs naturally, too--and, that it's perfectly fine to read a book out of order, because it builds knowledge. Next time the concept comes around (or the first time it comes around in the curriculum), the child will have prior knowledge and be able to go deeper. Over and over and over, get those facts in as many ways as possible.

 

So if Minn of the Mississippi is of interest now, great! You can either revisit it as a 3rd grader in the history rotation, or do something else. Same goes for everything else. Now, that said, I do save some classics and such, but honestly, we have read the Little House books around 7 or 8 times--and keep finding something new, because we are changing, and bring more to the book each time.

 

I guess I'm guilty of that. In fact, last week dd read a Harriet Tubman biography, a medieval book, and Wagon Wheels, all of which I was saving for later history.

 

She does the same in Science:reads books I buy for later topics. (Of course she has shelves of other books that aren't part of the curriculum that I don't schedule.)

 

I don't like to discourage reading, but it took a long time to find just the right books, and now I have to find more.

 

What you say makes sense. Besides, if it's in her schoolroom or the family bookcase, she's going to read it anyway.

Edited December 11, 2008 by Blessedfamily

[Kfamily]

Some of My Best Friends Are Books sounds very, very interesting! I will definitely look at this one. I will look into the Horrible books too, I have noticed good comments about them.

 

Good Advice, Chris! She does read all over the place and out of order and that is where I need to let go.:D

 

This has been sooo helpful and encouraging-thank you all!!:grouphug:

[Karenciavo]

We get a lot of library books for my ds6, biographies, non-fiction (he loves reading about the human body), and as others have said, older books. He probably reads 100-150 pages a week, in addition to school. It hasn't been that difficult, 2 books a week.

[Crimson Wife]

I followed the sequence outlined in Some of My Best Friends are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers from Preschool to High School. This is an excellent book with an extensive annotated bibliography.

 

This is a good reference but be forewarned that the content of some of the recommended books may not fit your criteria for appropriateness. So you'll probably want to pre-read any book listed that you're not familiar with before handing it over to your child.

[Kfamily]

I will definitely read ahead!

 

:001_smile:

[angela in ohio]

We found that many, many of the books in this resource would not work for our family. But I used the ideas on bibliotherapy from it. :)