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Meredith80
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| Posted: June 10 2010 at 10:45pm | IP Logged
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I have a 5-year-old son (my oldest) who has been learning to sound out words, but he is easily overwhelmed by a sentence and certainly a paragraph (as in 100 Easy Lessons). We got to lesson 42 or so, but it was becoming a struggle every time, so we abandoned that.
In looking ahead to the fall, I'm not sure where to go. I know that he may just be too young, so I don't want to push him, either. He can sound out words if he tries, but sometimes he just tries to guess based on the first letter of the word. He can do a sentence if he sets his mind to it, but it's like his eyes bug out when he sees all the ink in front of him and he gets very overwhelmed.
A local homeschooling mom is fond of The Writing Road to Reading and recommended that. Perhaps that's not best for him as writing isn't a strength of his yet.
Any suggestions of where to go with him?
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mom2mpr
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| Posted: June 11 2010 at 6:53am | IP Logged
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Personally, I'd help him LOVE books. Bring him to the library, let him pick his books, read to him from all different levels (easy readers with your finger under the words as you read) and some lower level chapter books (Magic Treehouse or My Fathers Dragon). Take him to the bookstore and buy him his own book every few months. Always have a book around and bring them with you everywhere.
I am back to that plan with my 7 year old who is struggling. I realized I put so much pressure on her. My ds was reading Magic Treehouse himself at 4-5. I was having a hard time realizing she was her own person and would read in her own time. I was homeschooling after all and that was why ds had it together at 4.. 
I have relaxed, placed this plan in place and she is getting more comfortable and trying.
I tried curriculum with her (never really used it with ds) and it was a hassle.
At such a young age and the fact he is already trying, I think you have no worries 
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Anne, married to dh 16 years!, ds,(97), Little One (02), and dd (02).
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SeaStar
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| Posted: June 11 2010 at 7:06am | IP Logged
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Your ds might enjoy the Montessori approach... it is very gentle and gradual.
Pink cards are fun (the link I posted has free printables). I used the pink series with my dd this winter to teach her reading.
She loves My Little Pony, so I found a set of MLP phonics books at Bookcloseouts.com (Who even knew there was such a thing ?)
There were not many words in them she could sound out at first, but we just started with the ones she could, and I read the rest. She was thrilled with her pony books. Now she has made great progress and can read most of them on her own.
Maybe your son would like to pick out some books he's interested in and do the same thing...
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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mom2mpr
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| Posted: June 11 2010 at 8:04am | IP Logged
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Thank you, Melinda. I'll be using those pink cards to continue to work on vowels with dd. Awesome!!
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Anne, married to dh 16 years!, ds,(97), Little One (02), and dd (02).
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jenncatan
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| Posted: June 12 2010 at 4:32am | IP Logged
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I would second the montessori pink cards and then blue. My little ones loved doing the work with the cards.
I purchased the pink, blue, green series from Montessori for Everyone.
pink, blue, green series
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Mom to ds15, ds8, dd6 , dd1
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Betsy
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| Posted: June 12 2010 at 7:08am | IP Logged
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I can't say enough good about the program from ABeCeDarian Company. With my first ds I used Reading Reflex. This program is very good and I would recomend it also, but with a few caveats, the teachers needs to make manulipitives and I felt that the advanced lessons got VERY tedius expically if you had a child that hated to write (for the sorting I needed to make lists for him to sort rather than write).
With that being said about Reading Reflex, I feel that ABeCeDarian is a far superior program that uses the same fundamental approach to reading as Reading Reflex or more specifically the method described in Why Our Children Can't Read. Some of the benefits are that: the program is in a work book for so that there is no extra preparation for lessons, the lessons are short and gentle, the method is effective and there is a Yahoo Group that is awesome for support.
Let me know if you have any specific questions about this program!
Betsy
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MaryM
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| Posted: Sept 08 2010 at 2:46am | IP Logged
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Meredith80 wrote:
| A local homeschooling mom is fond of The Writing Road to Reading and recommended that. |
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I had recent contact with the publications director for Spalding. As this topic and this program comes up from time to time on the board, she asked if I would pass on information that they are now offering an on-line course which they hope will make the program more accessible. Their most recent effort is an on-line course designed specifically for home schooling parents. In case anyone is interested this is what she shared.
Quote:
Spalding Education International, home of The Writing Road to Reading, is now offering an on-line course for home educators.
The 10, hour-long sessions are first offered live, and then recorded so they can be viewed at participants’ convenience. Each session will be available for repeated viewings until Dec. 31, 2010. Questions or requests for clarification may be submitted through the Spalding Forum at www.spalding.org. Questions are monitored regularly and will be answered on the Forum within a few days.
To learn more about the course, fees and materials, and how to register please go to the Spalding web page, www.spalding.org and click on parents and then on the webinar link on the left side of the page. Spalding Certified Teacher Instructor Janie Carnal has prepared an overview of the course.
Janie has a pleasant voice and manner and always receives rave reviews from both the parents and teachers who enroll in the many courses she has taught. We are excited about this new venture and encourage all interested home educators to participate. |
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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Grace&Chaos
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Thanks for posting Mary. I just started 100 Easy Lessons with my ds 5, but have been curious about WRTR program. I still feel very inadequate in teaching my kids to read. I tend to just teach them to love books, the actual reading makes me nervous. My dd 10 was already reading when we pulled her out of school and my dd 6 1/2 is a great reader now. But I did switch around and really don't think I had a "method". The teaching them to love to books is what makes them want to continue practicing even if I've sat there telling them what the next word is. Eventually they stop asking and before I know it they're reading. 
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Blessings,
Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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JennGM
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| Posted: Sept 08 2010 at 9:30am | IP Logged
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I'm a big fan of Sound Beginnings from Our Father's House. We have now used this 2 years in a row. Julia translates some of the WRTR into preplanned and short lessons.
It's quite doable, and comparing notes with a few other moms, it's quite perfect for boys. It combines the phonics, spelling, reading, writing all in one...making minimal seat work.
I was going to continue that this year, but add the Ayers Spelling notebook from WRTR.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: Sept 08 2010 at 9:49am | IP Logged
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I've heard Sound Beginnings as an option as well, especially the part about making WRTR easier.
Jennifer, When do you start this program? I have four boys the oldest being 5, so I really want to get a grip on this soon. I hear that they will not pick up the reading as easily as my girls  . I'll be honest I was very tempted to purchase the program late this summer but the price held me back. We had already purchased so much for the school year. Maybe I can add to my Christmas wish list, I seem to keep coming back to this program. The Lord is trying to tell me something 
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Blessings,
Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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JennGM
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Grace&Chaos wrote:
| Jennifer, When do you start this program? I have four boys the oldest being 5, so I really want to get a grip on this soon. |
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We started at age 5, in Kindergarten. He was not reading, but had a basic grasp of sounds and letters. We used Leap Frog videos, also. There was a bit of Montessori activities (sandpaper letters, tracing letters in sand), but not too much.
We didn't go through the whole book the first year, and took it easy. But we also didn't use other phonic books or programs. From this we graduated to Bob Books and Beginner's Bible, and then he was on his own.
If you're not a member, join Cathswap yahoo group. Sound Beginnings is sold quite a bit for less expensive. That's how I bought mine first. I liked it so much, I bought the full program because it was a bit revised from the used program.
But it's a one time investment, except the paper and pencils. There aren't workbooks or anything else to keep buying each year.
Grace&Chaos wrote:
| I hear that they will not pick up the reading as easily as my girls . |
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That's probably across the board a true statement, but your children will individually follow their own pace, be it slower or faster. Don't be discouraged beforehand. Read, read, read to them. Videos we chose reinforced the reading -- Scholastic book videos, for example. Watch Thomas the Tank Engine and we read the books. Subscribe to a magazine or two that pricks their interest to WANT to read. We had "Ranger Rick" before he could read and he really pushed himself to read.
The Montessori activities reinforce the writing and reading, which is why I was attracted to Sound Beginnings, as she agrees with these principles. It all builds up on each other. And boys do need kinesthetic more.
That's what worked here. I wouldn't classify my son as advanced or brilliant, but he's a good reader now, and this is what we did.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Grace&Chaos
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Thanks for the great advice. I have a feeling our principal, dh, will have a purchase requisition to sign very soon .
I love the idea of a magazine. My girls have enjoyed Spider and Ladybug, so I subscribed the boys to BabyBug. They love getting a "magazine" (it looks more like a board book) every month. I will have to look into more boyish magazines for them pretty soon, I'll check out Ranger Rick. And of course, I will continue to read to them frequently  .
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Blessings,
Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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stefoodie
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we've used both 100 easy lessons and phonics pathways. the kids have either liked one or the other, and we've always tried to do it in a relaxed manner -- if they don't want to do more, we stop.
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stef
mom to five
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mami bonita
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Aside from the "put it aside for now" you may want to consider having his eyes checked. My daugher could read a word, but when she looked at a page she flipped. I often had a blank notecard to have under each sentence so her eyes would focus only on the one line. We did have her eyes checked and she was far sighted. The doc said that she could see fine, but it was a matter of eye strain to focus on the right part at the right distance. He suggested vision therapy, but we haven't done that. She has glasses now that really just help with the focus point. Doc also said that the glasses and vision therapy should help to the point where she won't need them forever.
We are now in 2nd grade and she is reading on level and doesn't fight it anymore. It has taken 2 years to get a good degree of cooperation in school in general as well.
So point being, it could be physical (eye strain) or just developmental.
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dolorsofmary
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wow this thread was written for me! I copied out the pink series cards and I am going to do this with my son today. I'm excited. Thank you for the encouragement. Everyone thank you for responding to my thread and I am doing everything you suggested. later on in the day someone who is part of my local homeschool group strongly suggested WRTR and so I looked into it in hopes that I would have a complete soup to nuts curriculum to use that my son and I would love. But when I read the amazon reviews it discouraged me because it sounded like it is very hard to understand without formal training and it seems that just the book is not enough - you have to buy all the add ons and so I was thinking right now while my husband is out of work would NOT be a good time to make a purchase like that. BUt I did a search on WRTR and found this thread and I am very very pleased what I found. Thank you!
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jenncatan
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| Posted: March 28 2011 at 10:12am | IP Logged
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instead of WRTR we are using Sound Beginnings, which is based on WRTR but has daily lesson plans and materials for a full phonics curriculum. It can be purchased from:
Our Father's house
I've been very happy with it! I would wait until 1st or second grade to use it.
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Mom to ds15, ds8, dd6 , dd1
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Teaching Reading
