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Jordan
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My oldest child is learning to read and there are a few things that I am unsure of. Is it sufficient for a child to learn to read by simply reading little books like "Bob Books" alongside a parent? Will my child miss something important that will come back to haunt her later? How do I decide when it's the right time to offer the next book?
I know I've read that it's fine to teach reading without a phonics *program* but is the same true if the teacher (me) has no teaching background?
We also use a moveable alphabet to build words and to make words within word families. Dd really enjoys doing this part. She wasn't really catching on to "The Name Game" with the LSFLF but she can do the exact same thing with the moveable alphabet and it works better for her.
We started a long time ago with 100 EZ Lessons but we didn't really like it. Dd learned to blend from it so that was a help. Then I bought LSFLF from CHC, which I like, but dd much prefers the Bob Books. I think she's bored with the pictures from LSFLF and there are many more words per page than in the other 1st readers. She also likes to feel like she's reading a book/booklet as opposed to the folded piece of paper in the LSFLF program.
I should also mention that dd is approaching five and is excited about learning to read. I think she's doing very well with it and is catching on quickly.
We have sets 1-3 of the Bob Books and I just received both of the Level 1 sets from Nora Gaydos's Now I'm Reading. Will this be enough practice for a beginning reader? Am I going to miss something if this is all that we do? It seems too easy. 
Thanks,
Jordan
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Jordan
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lapazfarm
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Sounds perfect to me. That is basically how I taught all of my children to read.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
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PDyer
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lapazfarm wrote:
| Sounds perfect to me. That is basically how I taught all of my children to read. |
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Same here for my daughter, except I threw in a Leapfrog video here and there. 
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Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
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SuzanneG
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That's how we do it. I've had the same concerns/(thoughts of "is this enough?"). So, I'll be looking at this thread for a bit of reassurance too.
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Suzanne in ID
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mellyrose
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That's basically how I did it. We did LSFLF and Bob Books (my boys prefer Bob books as well) and some other phonics-based readers. We started last fall with my oldest and this year he literally reads everything. I've had to keep the newspaper away from him recently because of all the inappropriate stories.
I'm doing the same with Nate this year.
Oh - we did the LeapFrog videos, too, and a few Between the Lions videos. Nothing structured, though --
The most important thing for us was consistency. It was easy with Colin as he loved learning to read; it's more of a challenge with Nate as he has lots of things he'd rather do and he knows his brother will read anything he wants him to. But, I have them both read out loud to me every day, and I read out loud to them every day.
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Melanie in AZ
Colin (11/00), Nate (05/02), Lydia (04/07)
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SuzanneG
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mellyrose wrote:
The most important thing for us was consistency. It was easy with Colin as he loved learning to read; it's more of a challenge with Nate as he has lots of things he'd rather do and he knows his brother will read anything he wants him to. But, I have them both read out loud to me every day, and I read out loud to them every day. |
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With Nate.....how much time do you think he spends reading to you?
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Suzanne in ID
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mellyrose
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SuzanneG wrote:
With Nate.....how much time do you think he spends reading to you? |
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Nate reads to me at least 15 minutes a day, 5 days/week. That's my bare minimum, and we make it most weeks. I don't tell him a time frame, though -- it's just "reading time" to him. And it's not at the same time each day, either. It's more like "Hey, Nate -- how about reading to me while I feed Lydia?"
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Melanie in AZ
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Mackfam
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Jordan,
I think you're doing great! We do pretty much the same thing here. Don't change what's working for you guys!
Once they hit about the end of 1st, beginning of 2nd grade, I like to make sure I hit all of the phonograms/phonemes (these are the blends like oa, ee, ough, tion) just as a review to make sure they can decode pretty much any word. That's it.
My 2nd grader reads about 10-15 minutes aloud to me daily. We love the moveable alphabet as well - it substitutes for spelling, and I have him build words with challenging blends that may have stumped him during his reading. My little guy hates writing! But rearranging letters works!
I use LSFLF, Angel Readers and Cardinal Readers.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Jordan
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Thank you all for your responses! I am very encouraged that others have basically done the same thing and it's worked out fine.
We have also used the LeapFrog videos and I think they're excellent, especially at teaching the sounds of the letters.
Jennifer, how do you like the Angel Readers?
May I ask one other question? What signs do you look for when deciding when it's time to move on to the next book in a series? My dd doesn't read them quickly but she doesn't struggle either. I don't want to frustrate her later by letting her move on too soon nor do I want to bore her by holding her back. I've been having her read each book at least three times or until she does it easily, though easily is still slowly. Is slow just normal when they're starting out?
Thanks so much! 
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Jordan
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Mackfam
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I really like the Little Angel Readers, but it is probably just a preference of our family. If your dd enjoys BOB books, for heaven's sake, stick with what works.
Now, here's our problem with other readers: my kids find them sappy and twaddle. They refused to read the Sing, Spell, Read, Write readers (I have talked to a few moms that said that earlier releases of the program had much better readers, we bought ours in 00.) They really didn't care for the BOB books either, which sort of saddened me since they were so accessible from the library and other places. They wanted purposeful stories with meat from the beginning. Ok  how much meat can you put in a short vowel "a" story????? That's when I found LSFLF. It clicked right away with my dd. Ann at Mass - she could relate to that. It wasn't an alien named Sam sipping from a can with a hat. My son is a natural reader, he moved quickly through LSFLF, and I felt he needed a bit more practice. I couldn't have him read the same story more than once, he was bored. That could just be him, or him being a boy, but whatever it was, once he read the story it was consumed and he wanted something new. That's when I found the Little Angel Readers. They were another good fit, lots of sequential phonetic practice, enjoyable stories that weren't twaddle. In fact we just finished the last reader today!!! 
Oh, I'm jumping on the LeapFrog bandwagon - we just love those!!!
As far as what signs to look for in moving on, just follow your daughter's cues - which you already are. She's reading the stories multiple times for you which is great, just keep in mind that kid's minds are total sponges at this age and my kids could have an entire story memorized word for word in one sitting - which wasn't really an indication of mastery. Maybe read the story once or twice, and if you're both satisfied move on. Keep a record of those words she struggles to decode, or just needs to memorize as a sight word and maybe on Fridays have her just work with the moveable alphabet and a few of her "stumpers." If she seems bored with a book, that's a sure sign that you need to move on. If she gets frustrated and starts to melt down over reading time, that's a sure sign that you need to slow down, or stop and go back. Make sense?
You're doing just great Jordan, as evidenced by your dd's love of reading and her excitement! Just keep on doing what works!
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Jen Mackintosh
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Oh, I forgot to answer your other question. Yes, slow is normal.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Jordan
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Thank you so much, Jennifer, for your thorough response. I especially appreciate your perspective on knowing when it's time to move on to the next story. I guess I thought we were supposed to read each book three or four times before moving on but I'm glad to have a different perspective on that. I like your idea of using the moveable alphabet to reinforce areas that stump the child in their reading, rather than reading the same book too many times.
Thank you again. This has helped me a lot.
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Jordan
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Teaching Reading Without a Program
