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Kristie 4
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| Posted: March 19 2007 at 3:25pm | IP Logged
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Hello,
I have taught three of my children to read. The first did 100EZ lessons, ditto the next and also the next. The first needed some time and extra reminders (we tried the WRR but failed miserably.... too much for Mom). The second was done it by age 5 I think, but then stayed at the Frog and Toad stage till age 81/2. From there we did more Alphaphonics (but she found this babyish) and then went to Word Mastery (an old phonics download). It sounds as if I have been slinging curriculums at her, but this isn't the case. Mostly I have been having her read real books and read to me. She has almost finished a Narnia book, the Island of the Blue Dolphins etc. These were books we had already read as a family. Last night as I was talking to her she shared how she doesn't like to read but loves me to read to her (and we do lots of that!). She says she wants to get into the book and dwell on the language etc. but gets hung up on the actual reading part!! She is a child whose favourite authors are Tennyson and Tolkien. We always thought she didn't enjoy reading because she couldn't read what she really wanted to read (ie. the Simmarillion). She is very bright and memorises large reams of poetry effortlessly. But I have seen that phonetically she is weak and I think relies on sight vocabulary (she tends to this in piano as well.)
I don't want to kill her desire to read, but I have been requiring it each day hoping that in that she will become more fluent and it will be more of a joy for her. At the same time her 6 year old brother, though not as fluent, can read almost anything- and she unfortunately is embaressed by this, so that going through the phonics book with her is hard.
Any ideas or comments would be great here,
Thanks,
Kristie
p.s. She is almost 10 now. A Math and Latin whiz. 
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Kristie in Canada
Mom to 3 boys and one spunky princess!!
A Walk in the Woods
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Karen E.
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| Posted: March 22 2007 at 9:05am | IP Logged
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Hi, Kristie,
First of all, I'm no expert, so bear with me.
It does sound as if she's something of an auditory learner, if she can memorize things so effortlessly (I'm assuming that you mean the memorization comes from hearing?) If that's the case, her reading might progress by having you read aloud to her while she is also looking at the page, so that you can capitalize on that auditory strength, and reinforce the visual. If she's seeing the words you're saying, it might help.
Also, you might consider a full visual screening, in case there are any underlying problems that aren't readily apparent.
Anyone else have ideas?
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God bless,
Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: March 22 2007 at 9:17am | IP Logged
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Thanks so much Karen... I don't know why I didn't think of having her follow along as I read to her (she is usually knitting, sewing, drawing- a real artsy one!).
She and her dad have been reading through the Princess and the Goblin together, taking turns on pages, for the past few days and I think this will help too!
Thanks,
Kristie
p.s. Love your blog! (I am a faithful reader- made the monkey bread for my daughters sleepover a few weeks ago and they laughed and laughed over the 'lazy' label!)
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Kristie in Canada
Mom to 3 boys and one spunky princess!!
A Walk in the Woods
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teachingmyown
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| Posted: March 22 2007 at 9:24pm | IP Logged
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Kristie,
I just saw this today and have been thinking about you all day. I wish I had something valuable to add. I think what Karen said makes a lot of sense.
What about the
Phonetic Zoo from the Institute for Excellence in Writing? It is an auditory program and it is geared toward older students. I haven't used it personally, but have heard good things about it.
I wish I were more help. I just wanted to let you know that I will pray for you that you figure it out. It must be so frustrating for both of you!
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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Kristie 4
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| Posted: March 23 2007 at 9:57pm | IP Logged
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Thank you for your kind words Molly.
I have seen the phonetic zoo but I am afraid the accent (we are Canadian) combined with what my daughter would deem as 'too little for her' would make it a bad match.
I have felt strongly to lay low once again, to let her read with her Dad, blog, read to her younger brothers etc. and see if she will follow with me as we enjoy books together. I feel comfortable about this...I just have this inkling that it will gel in it's time.
Tonight she had a blast reading to her little brother, which was her idea, and beautiful to see!
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Kristie in Canada
Mom to 3 boys and one spunky princess!!
A Walk in the Woods
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teachingmyown
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| Posted: March 23 2007 at 10:08pm | IP Logged
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That sounds great! Laying low is usually the best method.
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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Elena
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| Posted: March 24 2007 at 5:28pm | IP Logged
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I have a lot of experienced with this as I had a son with a lot of difficulty reading and then I met up with a reading specialist, Dr. Karen Holinga, in Grove City, OH.
The very first thing she told me was to get an eye evaluation with a pediatric optomitrist. It may be that her eyes are just working so hard that it makes reading a chore. With prescription reading glasses that problem was solved. It might also be that her eye muscles need a little therapy and they can help with that too.
Dr. Holinga also taught us that a struggling reader needs to read something six times before they have fluency. Two of those reads need to be in the same session. So maybe if you are going to have her read two or three pages, you read them to her first, and then she reads them twice. Then every day she reads them and by the sixth time she will be fluent. She should also do copy work and dictation from what she is reading.
Anyway those are some of the tricks that helped us!
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Elena
Wife to Peter, mom of many!
My Domestic Church
One Day at a Time
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4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Struggling Reader
