Can't figure this out...

[Mom2Monkeys]

my ds4 (5 in Dec.) asks to do school (LHTH) and seems to really enjoy it. But, as soon as I start reading the Bible story, he gets a little spacey. This is pretty much with any story, but some he seems to still grasp the concept, others not so much. Anyway, its an incredibly SHORT read but yet, when I ask him a question about it (usually the ones at the end of the story) he has NO CLUE! He gives completely different names, doesn't answer at all, or tries to escape. He can't tell me who was in the story or anything that is happening. Should I not be asking him any questions about what we've read? He can't talk to me about it whatsoever. When we do a Bible activity and I try to show him the relation to the story, he acts as if the story hasn't even been read.

He can somewhat relate to us what he has learned in Sunday school classes, but it's generally very short, one-word/name answers...then he'll say, "no, maybe it was about ____. No, it was ____." What is great is his class seems to be one story behind us, so as we work on one through the week, they do that same one in part or whole the Sunday after. I think he remembers more of the story once he does it in class, but maybe that's b/c we've talked about it all week. Who knows....am I asking for too much?

He is a pretty smart guy...already knows all his letter names and sounds and can ID upper and lower case. He can read a few short words, so I know he has the ability to soak in all in somehow. Just tell me what I'm doing wrong here! LOL

Rambling and Frustrated,
Tamara

[Mandy in TN]

Try asking questions while you read. When you read a name, ask your child right then. What was his name? If he doesn't know, ask him to listen carefully for the answer and repeat the sentence. Do this with all the questions.

HTH-
Mandy

[funkmomma71]

I wouldn't worry too much about your son's inability to answer comprehension questions at this point. With my dd, who turned 5 in Oct., it took several weeks before she started to grasp the whole idea of answering the questions and relating back to me the stories we were reading. Just like any new skill, it takes practice, practice, practice before it comes naturally.

You might want to try reading snuggled up on the couch, or while he is drawing or doing some other activity. With my dd, I would keep going back to the story when she didn't have the answer. Our breakthrough came when she, after I repeated back to her the answer from the story, said to me " Oh! I knew that!" I asked why she didn't just give the answer when I asked her if she knew the answer and she said she was afraid of being wrong. I told that it was OK to be wrong, but not OK to say "I don't know" or not answer. So now she answers the questions and most of the time she's right and she gets such positive feedback form that, that she is eager to answer questions when asked.

Hope all that helps!

[tmcg]

I agree that talking to him about the story as you go and asking questions along the way may help. I also think that maybe he is not auditory and his mind drifts when he listens. Maybe have him draw a picture about the story as you read it and then stop periodically to talk about what is happening. Like what he thinks will happen next, how he would feel if that happened to him, or explain something pertinent about the story and what life lesson you can learn from it. Maybe have him act it out later. Mabye read short spurts...only a couple of pages at a time in case he cannot concentrate. Also is he bored with the story? If there is more than one thing to read, possibly offering him a choice of which one to read first will help him feel more involved. I would sit in a place with few distractions and be sure when your read he is not tired. Every time I read a story I start to drift off becasue I am not getting enough sleep and if it is my tired time then I am useless. So, if that is more challenging do it when he is at his best. Just some ideas... let us know how it goes.

Tammy

[netpea]

does he look at the pictures as you read the story? Maybe he's visual? Maybe you could spend a few minutes before you read talking about hte picture and pointing to the people and saying their names?

[Carrie]

Tamara,

This is not uncommon at all! When little kiddos first start listening to stories that are a little longer than what they're used to they seem very spacey. Seriously, just trying to get my little guys to sit for a five minutes at that age was a tough task! My sisters and I have all had the same experience and realized that our little ones would slowly grow into the needed listening skills. We placed a carpet square on the floor and required our boys to be seated on the square for the story. In Charlotte-Mason style reading, you don't stop in the middle to explain things, you just read the story through. If you want to talk about the picture or some of the names in the story before reading though that works great with CM-style reading.

About half a year into the program, we could really see a difference in our kiddos ability to answer the questions. It was as if it finally clicked that they would be required to answer. When they answered wrong or incorrectly, we always just read the sentence with the answer in it from the text to show them it was in there!

It is a skill that takes some time to develop.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Mom2Monkeys]

As soon as I read the advice to look at and talk about the pictures before the story, it was like a little light bulb sparked up! That's what I need to do with him. It is just the stories from LHTH so they are already quite short. He is a cuddler too, so I'll try to get him cuddled up with me to look at and talk about the pics then maybe have him start a drawing as I read. Maybe I could have him tell me about the drawing after he's done instead of asking him questions just yet. He is so eager to please me (usually, other times he's a trying to take that last little nerve I have and toss it)...maybe he's afraid of being wrong. His sister is so VERY advanced and he hears people comment so often about how brainy she is....usually they just talk about how handsome and sweet he is. (he is a handsome little guy if I do say so myself)...but no one ever boasts to us about how smart he was in class or that he really knew his stuff like they do about her. It's gotten to be the same way with my youngest ds who just turned 2, talks above average (and ds4 is in speech therapy since he isn't talking up to par),can ID his letters and count to 11--he gets comments all the time too... Poor thing My mommy heart feels for him now.

Thanks for the great pointers. I have to go hug my sleeping, tender-hearted cuddle bug and let him know how smart he really is. (and how his sweetness and loviness is better than all the brains in the world

ETA: I wrote the above last night and as of this morning-- it's going great! I sat on the couch with him and we talked about the pictures, got the names straight, took some guesses at what was going on, then we read the story. He was able to tell me about it and answer questions.The one time he had trouble, I took your advice and re-read the sentences with the answer in them and he figured it out. He even related the scheduled Bible activity to the story! After having his confidence up like that, he did his "Count on Me" page and counted by 2's without my help! We're also doing MFW Phonics and WOW! He zoomed through it and read several words without getting frustrated at all. When he had all he could take, he gently asked me if school for him was almost over and we finished on a strong, positive note! Thanks for your advice ladies!