several hours between reading and questions

[Gwenny]

My daughter is reading her history in Preparing on her own. I then do the follow-ups with her. Sometimes it's several hours between her reading it and my asking her the questions about it. Yesterday she couldn't really answer the questions-says she forgot because it's been so long. That's happened before. So, am I unrealistic to think she should still be able to answer if she read carefully--I make her read it again. What would you do? Should I not expect her to know? She is 11 and the reading is not too difficult at all.

[mom23]

I think it's a skill to develop that they remember what they read earlier. It can be a difficult one (one I don't think I was ever required to develop as a student) but an important one. Keep on! I think it's one of the reasons we do things the CM way-reading smaller portions so that the student can really mentally chew on those readings and absorb them. I'm wondering how fast she reads? It's a common mistake that my dd makes to think that good reading=fast reading. I remind her often that good reading=meaningful and expressive reading. It's okay to read slower than your top speed in order to really think about what you're reading. You may consider setting a timer for her in a sense that she has to spend at least a certain amount of time with her reading (20 mins or so?) If she's done before the timer then she could sit quietly and think about what she just read so that she's ready for the discussion later. As a way of training (not sure if this is really recommended, but it worked for my dd) I have read the questions to her before the reading so that she was looking for those things as she read. We gradually worked into her being able to pick out what was important without that original "heads up."

[Gwenny]

Those suggestions sound great mom23, I appreciate your help. I'm going to try that. I think she is zipping along and not paying much attention. We are on unit 4, so I'm sure she'll get better and better if I help her like this.

[8arrows]

Could she take a few short notes to jog her memory?

[jenn in nc]

Of my seven, I have one who reads at lightning speed and then has trouble remembering what he read. I've found that if I have read aloud quietly to himself, it helps slow him down. Maybe that would help?

[Gwenny]

Good ideas! Thanks!