Should I worry about a reading curriculum?

[seemesew]

My youngest is an amazing reader! We have done The good and the beautiful and she has flown through their reading booster cards so much so that she's finished all of them in 1st grade. She reads the Boxcar children fluently AND even gives each character different voices with the correct expressions. She is reading American Girl books and many others and isn't even 7 yet.

I am just wondering if I should drop any reading curriculum so we can focus on spelling next year. She doesn't want to sit and do a reading curriculum and gets so upset! I don't blame her she knows most of it and what she doesn't she picks up on quickly. I would like to drop a few things, and tgab is possibly one of them, so I have more time for other things. Unlike my older boys she doesn't seem to need the same things and get frustrated because she wants to be writing or doing copy work but we are spending time practicing advanced phonics and she doesn't want to, she wants to read and write (but we do need to work on writing/spelling because she is very much her grade level in those). 

Give me peace of mind that she will be okay if we drop reading curriculum/phonics, even if its only for a year or two? She turns 7 soon and will be in second grade next year.

[ScoutTN]

Read good books and discuss. Curriculum is not necessary. Do some buddy reading so you can see any phonics concepts she’s missing and teach those informally. Keep her steadily advancing in difficulty level, but don’t require all reading at that level. Keep RAs well ahead of where she can actually read easily. It will be fine.

[MiddleCourt]

My oldest was an early and intuitive reader. I was given the good advice to fill in phonics gaps with spelling. I think that’s perfectly acceptable! Like PP said, read good books and do spelling and I think that will be perfectly fine for a 7 yr old. 

[Clarita]

We did that with DS7 this year. Spelling solidifies the phonics. We don't miss the reading curriculum at all. We do a book that he is reading next to me so he can ask what words are (he didn't get to the part in the reading program where they cover words like psychology, Greek and Latin roots). I taught him how to use a dictionary, but I don't make him use it all the time because that seemed a bit tedious when he's enjoying the reading.

[seemesew]

9 hours ago, MiddleCourt said:

My oldest was an early and intuitive reader. I was given the good advice to fill in phonics gaps with spelling. I think that’s perfectly acceptable! Like PP said, read good books and do spelling and I think that will be perfectly fine for a 7 yr old. 

That's what I was thinking too, that spelling would reinforce or teach what she doesn't know. 

[HomeAgain]

Once ds learned to read, I dropped the reading curriculum and added some spelling.  In second, though, I did add a reading program back in - not for phonics, but I wanted him to get into the habit of reading and discussing.  We had finished the learn-to-read phase and he was firmly in the read-to-learn. Plus, it worked as a sort of speech training for him, helping him to remember how to form certain sounds he struggled with.  I got the second grade Elson Reader.  It was easy and had a variety of pieces along with discussion questions.  We did one piece each day, even if was only a 5 line poem, and kept it nice and relaxed.  He ended up going through the series, one a year, until the end of 6th grade.  I don't regret it.  By the end he was reading pieces from Teddy Roosevelt, Washington Irving, and several others that we were able to expand upon and add in some longer books if he liked the short pieces.

That said, we did end up going through the first few Elson readers a second time toward the end.  I set him up with Reading & Spelling Through Literature, ignored the reading lessons, and focused on just the spelling.  Each level has a corresponding Elson reader making up half of it, so he was able to revisit some stories he had liked well enough the first time through.

[WhitneyS]

You can use spelling to reinforce phonics. Choose a program like All About Spelling and that will cover that base. 
 

Read and discuss with her. I love the Teaching the Classics from Center for Lit. It teaches you as the parent how to discuss literature with your child. As a former high school English teacher it’s what I was looking for from my students when we discussed literature! It’s very gentle and will become intuitive for your daughter if you slowly introduce it. 

[Ellie]

On 3/2/2024 at 10:02 PM, seemesew said:

Unlike my older boys she doesn't seem to need the same things and get frustrated because she wants to be writing or doing copy work but we are spending time practicing advanced phonics and she doesn't want to, she wants to read and write (but we do need to work on writing/spelling because she is very much her grade level in those).

I don't even know what "advanced phonics" means. She's clearly reading well; what more phonics could she possibly need to know?

LIttle 6yo persons don't need to do "writing." Nor spelling, really. Not yet. Let her read for another year. If she wants to do copywork, let her. That would be more beneficial than making her do "advanced phonics."

[Servant4Christ]

I skipped a year and a half, I think, of formal reading curriculum with my oldest. He loved that time because he read over 50 literature books (he's my child who loves to read) that corresponded with his history and science. Unfortunately, he wasn't getting the additional skills and practice at things that are covered in a formal reading curriculum such as simple literary devices that are slowly introduced along with ever progressing vocabulary and comprehension skills and research techniques. Another thing I noticed was that my son got very focused on one or two favored genres. So, we found another reading curriculum and have been using it ever since. It's short and sweet and makes him think. His reading curriculum exposes him to genres and subjects he wouldn't choose on his own and that more times than not actually surprise or interest him.

Not all reading curriculum integrates phonics. Ours is mostly comprehension and literary devices and techniques along with poetry across multiple writing styles and genres. The Spelling curriculum we use (R&S) sometimes reminds the student of the phonics/spelling rules and adds in roots, prefixes, and suffixes as you go.

Edited March 7 by Servant4Christ

[Malam]

18 hours ago, Servant4Christ said:

Ours is mostly comprehension and literary devices and techniques along with poetry across multiple writing styles and genres

Which do you use?

[Servant4Christ]

2 hours ago, Malam said:

Which do you use?

Believe it or not, R&S. The workbooks that go with the readers go over more than just comprehension. They go over devices, techniques, poetry rhyme and rhythm.... I am truly amazed at all it entails for such an unassuming, plain looking workbook and reader. Though they don't go into a LOT of genres, I pull in some other genres (books from outside sources) that use the same literary elements, devices, or techniques that are being taught. It's easy to do because there are only 60 lessons per workbork/school year. We split every lesson into two days, which still leaves plenty of room in the schedule.

[Langell0002]

We used Cle for language arts and reading from first to 5th.  Next year we are taking a year off and just reading.   I'm glad I did it but with my second,  we'll probably just read and discuss till 6th.  I didn't have the confidence our discussions would have been enough with my first.   That comes after a while.