where to start in the Emerging Reader Schedule

[netpea]

Hi Carrie (and everyone else too )
My daughter is progressing rapidly through The Reading Lesson. When she finishes it, i will start her in the Emerging Reader series. My question lies in whether I should start at the beginning or skip over the Beginner Bible. She has the Early Reader's Bible and The Beginner Bible. While she has not read them out loud to me all the way through, she has read them both cover to cover to herself. Her reading abilities have really taken off over the last few weeks. So do you think I should have her read through the Beginner Bible out loud this time, and do the questions for it, or just start with the next book in the Emerging Reader series?
Thanks.

[6timeboymom]

I'm not sure what the "right" answer is but we skipped the Beginner's Bible. My son didn't care for it; he just got his "real" bible at church and thought it was too babyish now. (he's in 3rd grade) We used some other beginning reader book we had around here until it was time to start the rest of the books.

[Carrie]

LeeAnn,

Since your daughter has already read both of the Bibles in the Emerging Reader's Set, I would base my decision on where to start in the Emerging Reader's Schedule on three things. First, how well do you think she is comprehending what she reads? If she's still just reading the words, but not comprehending as well, then it would be worthwhile to do another trip through the Bible with the questions. If she's comprehending well, then you could omit it.

The second big factor is whether you'll end up getting to books that are too difficult for her to read too early if you skip the Bible at the beginning. Once the books get to Animal Adventures and the CLP Nature Reader on up, the reading level feels like it jumps up a bit (just by the sheer volume of words on a page). So, you'll want to make sure that it won't get too hard too quickly. If you think she's on track to read those types of books, then you could skip the Bible.

The last factor to consider is how she would feel about reading the Bible again. If she would not enjoy that or would be upset over it, then you'd want to skip reading the Bible. If she enjoys reading things over again and really loves the Bible, then you could easily do it with the questions to give it a different feel.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Amey]

Lee Ann,

I am so glad you asked this today! I was wondering the very same thing. We are in the same spot, only my son is about halfway through his Beginner's Bible. After reading your post and Carrie's response I just decided to start with the Emerging Reader's Schedule for the Bible in the spot where he left off. He did great on the comprehension, but I did have to help through some words like "taught" and "Psalms" and a few others. So, although he has been reading it by himself, I'm glad we are not totally by-passing it because I want to be there to help him with some of the more difficult words. Just something to consider. I was not aware that he has probably been skipping these words as he read along, and that might be something you want to check on with your dc before jumping ahead. Just a thought...

[netpea]

Well, I know my daughters comprehension is good because she actually pointed out a mistake in the Beginner Bible to me that I have never noticed. She is now reading through the Family Time Bible on her own. We have 4 chapters of the Reading Lesson left, then maybe I'll try her reading the Beginner Bible out loud to me and see how she handles it. If she's reading well then maybe we'll skp ahead.

[deltagal]

I did skip the Bibles with my son and went straight into the first reader. It was a good call. He has done very well with the schedule and the books continue to give him a great deal of confidence. We're currently working through the Nature Reader.

Enjoy!

[mskogen]

We skipped the bible readers too. My son had just finished Abeka 2nd grade reading and could really read above that level. However he did not "feel" confident to read chapter books. Therefore we just started the emergent reader program after the bible readers. This was the ticket. He hasn't stopped reading since. It was the perfect fit. However my second ds this is not the perfect fit. We will do the emergent reader as Carrie has written it. He is more a hold my hand kiddo. He just likes time with Mom! He loves also to read books again that he loves. He already is reading the bible on his own(from the emergent reader list) but when I told him he would have to do it again with me for school he was ok with it. He said it ok b/c its God's word and its important to read it again and again. Yeah for him....Hope this helps with your decision

Blessings,
Michelle
wife to dh for 9 years

[moedertje]

We started my ds on the "Early Readers Bible" about 2 months ago and we used it for his devotions. He just finished it this week-end. He actually read a chapter a day to us in the evening (or he read to Grandpa in the am who was visiting), answering the questions and than the same chapter the next morning and doing a sentence for journaling with a picture in his book. He was very glad to do his devotions not noted as school time and even got up to do it on the week-ends. He would come and ask me if I had done my devotions. Great accountability!

Since we were away for the weekend he started back at the beginning and is now reading 2 chapter a day. After this I will have him read the "Beginners Bible". We will use the bibles for devotions until he can read a large print regular bible and use that for devotions. He loves reading his bible and does not mind reading it again. This will teach him diligence in reading through the bible from beginning to end for the rest of his life!

We do A Beka for phonic which includes readers, but I went ahead and made a list of the alternate books that Carrie listed for the bibles in the Emergent Reader Schedule to pick those up and have him read them during his rest time, to Daddy or to his siblings.

[my3sons]

I think it's important to have the child read out loud from whichever of the 2 Bibles you want (The Beginner's Bible is harder). My ds was reading very well - above the general reading level of the 2 story Bibles in the Emerging Reader's Set, but I still had him read through them (actually both of them ) because I found he was mispronouncing names and places in the stories. He started the set at a younger age though, so I wanted to stretch it out a bit. He did his Bible reading for the set first thing in the day, while my older ds read his Bible too. I liked it so much, that I kept a Bible time for him (using the Family Time Bible) when he finished the 2 Bibles from the Emerging Reader's Set. I moved his Emerging Reader's Set time to later in the morning then. Anyway, I think Carrie gave some great guidelines for making that decision LeeAnn. I just thought I'd share how our beginning of emerging readers time grew into the beginning of a Bible quiet time for our ds. I think it's wonderful your ds has read both already, LeeAnn. We cannot have enough Bibles in our homes!

In Christ ,
Julie

[water2wine]

I am agreeing with Julie! We did the Bible Reader with my dd and she learned so much from it. I loved how it really helped strengthen her knowledge. We also did it where she read it first to herself and then read it aloud to me and then narrated and answered the questions. To me this was a huge part of the emerging readers. I think if they are beyond the level of the Bible reader going to the harder Bible reader is an excellent idea. I would definitely not skip it. It was huge in teaching the Bible stories and increasing faith. Also my dd that did the Emerging readers this way really grew in narration skill with the Bible stories book. She is to this day the best narrator out of six kids and she has special needs. So there is a lot to learn there. In fact I am excited to do the Emerging Readers again very soon and hoping I can get through the Bible reader with my two youngest children. One thing we did do with my dd was take her through it a little faster when her reading improved but we did not skip any of it and I am very glad we didn't. HTH some.

[gestep]

You could also have read the Bible portion out loud at a faster rate and go over the questions. This will help to see how her comprehension is too. If it is really easy for her do a whole week in one sitting-you will zip right through it.

Gina
Bigger for 7 and 9 yo dd