I feel that there is so much pressure on us to get our 5.5yr old to read, as all my friends whos children are in school can read and now i am doubting my abilities to educate our children and feel i am letting her down! some kind words and tips please aaaaahhhhhhhhhh
My daughter didn't really read well or on her own until last January. She was 9. You've got time. The kids in school need to read early because of how they're taught. Lots of reading and writing activities. At home you can tailor education to a non-reader. My daughter didn't read but she was listening to me read and listening to audio book version of the Hobbit and the Illiad at 7 and 8. We touched on reading over the years but I never really followed a formal program with her. Progress seemed to naturally happen - Every 6 months or so I'd notice a big leap in her skills. When she was ready, it came very fast. One week she was not reading at all, the next she was digging through a bookshelf full of novels to find one to read. This is a pretty common pattern in homeschoolers that don't do formal reading lessons. The kids are later readers but once they start it's fast and they're generally surpassing they're schooled peers in a short time.
thank you for that, its funny you say that because dd spent 5 weeks in school, and said that when she was there she kept getting given sheets to do, but could not read them!! so at least that explains why she struggled! its really hard not to be down when she has all these friends saying "do you want me to read it to you" it makes her feel down!!! but on a positive note her knowledge of the world around her, her respect for other peoples feelings, and us are much better than her peers!
Don't feel bad! Dawn is totally right on. My dd is 5.5 and can only read a little bit. She loves to spell words but phonics is really hard for her. She is much better at sight words and memorizing. I am not pushing her. We take it at her own pace and she will get it when she is ready.
I have a teacher friend who has her doctorate in reading/phonics and she said that for some children, their brains just aren't ready for reading as early as other children's brains are. She said that sometimes it's like a switch in the brain gets flipped and all of a sudden the slow readers are ready and reading then comes very easily. I've also talked to a middle school math teacher who said the same thing about kids and math. She said with some kids their brains just aren't ready to understand math concepts no matter how hard you try to teach it to them. According to her, that is why higher math isn't taught until high school and college, because most brains aren't ready for it at a young age. (My brain never got ready for very high math! :lol: ) Anyway, it makes sense to me. I was a late reader but once that switch in the brain flipped, I started reading almost anything I could get my hands on. Still do.
Here's my three bits of encouragement: My daughter read at five, but my son just turned seven and I'm still trying to get him past the three letter, short vowel words with which he still struggles. However, since I've relaxed and been more willing to let him go at his own pace, he's made progress and he's had a better attitude. Schools can't allow children to progress at their own rate, even though much that I have read says that pushing a child to read can actually CAUSE learning difficulties. (Personally, I think the difficulty comes from the comparisions that are naturally made in a classroom setting. A child who is not reading when 95% of her classmates at least seem to be reading, may start to think that she "can't" or that there is something wrong with her. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy -- "I'm dumb, so why try.") My husband tells me that he didn't really read well until the beginning of fourth grade, and he devours books now and remembers every word he reads.
My oldest just turned 7 and he is not really reading yet. He can sound out CVC words, but HATES to. So I push him to do a couple a day and the rest of the time just read everything to him. He loves to hear me read stories and when he wants to know about something will ask, "Can we get a book at the library about ----? One side of me is sure that when it "clicks" he will be reading everything he gets his hands on. The other side of me worries that I should be trying something more, so I totally understand the worries. But I think that I will damage my son's love of learning if I push too hard.
I didn't read the responses, but wanted to offer this to you. Part of the reason we pulled ODS from PS was that he was bored. His last name put him in the first seat, the teacher would pass out the work starting with DS. Oh, this is a first grade class mind you. She would walk around and pass out the papers to the students one by one.. then when she handed out the last paper she would have to stand in front of the class and read the directions to the class, because most could not read it. My son would be done before she was done handing out the papers, then he would have to at 6 and 7 years old, have to sit still and quiet for another amount of time so that the kids who at 6 and 7, could not read the papers... so I think your DD is just fine!!! I don't push my kids to read. Garrett just picked it up on his own when he was about 4 or 5. Rylee is starting to show an interest.. she is beginning to want to follow the words of story books with her finger.. but I don't think she is even close to really reading. But she does get the left to right thing, which is a start.
My son is 7yr and can't read yet. He has a speech problem so it was sooo difficult just to teach him the ABC song. My daughter was a very late reader too and she didnt have a speech problem, she is doing fine now at 15yr. Go with the flow Sam
My dd was about 6.5 when it all really clicked for her. After that she would complain about reading etc. Then all of the sudden this year, she took off and is reading all of the time. She reads a book a day plus newspaper, over my shoulder on the computer screen, and everything else. She is at her grade level or higher I am sure now. I think that this year will be the year we take off with writing and spelling because lately she was been wanting to write letters, make lists, and other little projects that require writing. Just take a breath and step back from it all. If you student is getting some of it and not other parts, perhaps there is a piece to the puzzle missing. If you can find some learning objectives that are weak or missing, perhaps after they are remediated you will take off again. Or if there is a developmental issue where the student is simple not ready for some aspects of reading, perhaps you could work on others until 3-4 months down the line then come back to it. We got to a point where we could not blend, backed off, worked on other stuff, backed off again, still no blending. I really doubted the whole homeschooling thing. I knew my kid was smart, and felt I was failing her due to inexperience on my part. I then started reading forums like this and also googled keywords like blending horizons phonics, trouble blending curriculum, and I found out that others had had the same trouble and had used 100 easy lessons and I ordered that. After 2 weeks we were blending and over our hump. We finished up the 100 lessons and awarded a bicycle (35.00 on sale at K-mart) for finishing. We then went back to our old program and were not inspired and changed to explode the code and were very pleased with the progress. I tell this story to say that your only commitment in homeschooling is to the child's success, not to method, curriculum, or schedule. Relax and stay flexible.
My son did not read well at all until he was 7, and then it was like he was reading all at once. This year he was in 3rd grade but had a 5th grade reading level. Sometimes it just takes kids a bit longer in the beginning but once they do start reading they go up in reading levels really fast. I credit Hooked on Phonics and HOP Master reader for helping him learn to read as well as he does. I think it was that game on Master Reader called "Chop it" that really helped him break up lwords into parts that helped a great deal.
This should be one of the top pieces of advice new homeschoolers get. If something isn't clicking, leave it alone for awhile. I've said over and over that I've found that when my kids didn't get something in math, english, whatever that my best tack was usually to back off for 6 months then try again. Honestly, it's like magic. It's less about your skills in teaching then your patience and willingness to wait for their brains to be ready.
The beauty of homeschooling is that your child does not have to "keep up" with other children. Many public school children aren't keeping up either. The school might pass them on, but the child isn't necessarily comprehending what they are reading. Personally I believe there is more to reading than just being able to say or identify a word. I agree with what everybody has said. If a child has to move on when they are not ready, they are forever playing catch up.
Our 7-year-old isn't reading very well yet. Our issue is her interest level is in the youth books but her reading level is in the preschool books. She can't read the youth books so she gets frustrated and wants to quit. And the preschool books are too childish in subject matter so she doesn't want to try to read a "baby book." The solution for her is defining the words. Oftentimes we introduce a new word for her to read but it is never defined fully. So she sees the word, reads it but has no understanding of it and because of that doesn't understand the sentence. Then she stops understanding the book which is no fun! That's when she wants to quit. It takes us a long time to get through books because we stop and define all the words she seems unsure of. But I've noticed that when we go BACK to the book she reads it smoothly and understands it. For her it was a vocabulary issue, but that might not be the case for all.
thank you all so much for your responses, we tried using teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons, and only made it till lesson 50, then she refused it! so when we start it up again do we start at lesson 1? i have pathway phonics and have no clue how to use it! i have used jolly phonics as well, but again not sure how to break it down. i feel really stupid not being able to teach her with all these resources cause i dont know how to use them!!!!!!!!
Maybe you don't need resources and fancy-schmancy techniques. Maybe you just get an appropriate book out of the library and sit down with her and have her try to read. Help her sound out the words she doesn't know by covering up all the letters except one or two and have her give you the sound. If she doesn't give the right sound then help her. Make sure she understands what all the words mean. Mankind has been learning how to read for thousands of years without fancy videos or techniques. I think many are helpful but if you don't understand how to use them maybe they are more complicated than just reading itself.
P.S. If you made it to lesson 50 and then she refused then there was something in one of the lessons that she didn't get. I'll bet if you go back and find it she'd be interested again!! Just find the last lesson she was doing well and whatever she didn't get is right after that. Was it working up until then?
it was working, but she seems to be on strick, so not sure if she is playing up, which i cant see her doing as she gets upset and asks me to read it! is it normal for her to guess words? or memorise books? look at pictures and make the sentence up about the story because she cant read the words? i know i have a lot of questions, but dont want to make her hate reading!
