Reading/DTHOR question

[Larissa]

I seem to recall this being discussed before and at the time it was discussed ... I didn't have the issue ... but alas ... now I do.

My son, who is doing a beefed up Beyond, is doing DTHOR along with it. He is doing very well with it and I am so pleased. The issue I have is that he reads a book that is supposed to be scheduled for 5 -10 days in only an afternoon. He loves to read!! I am thrilled that he does. Should I just let him read the whole book like that, but them have him reread each chapter the day it is scheduled? Or should I go up a level in difficulty? He is in 2nd grade, and won't be 7 until December. I just had him read The Sword in the Tree. I hesitate to go too much higher than that.

What do you do when your child reads ahead like that? I completely understand reading small amounts at a time to digest and think through the reading material. I've read enough CM philosophy to get that. I never had that issue with my oldest son, he would only ever read exactly what was assigned.

[Tansy]

My DD2 fights me on Just reading what is assigned for the day. But I have noticed when she flies though books she misses many important points and themes. When she is forced to take small bites she doesn't .

A friend of mine was having this problem with her son, so she bought a ratty copy of the next DITHOR book for him and when she caught him going beyond she cut him off literally. She would rip out "today's reading." He stopped reading the whole thing immediately.

When you look over the work book you will find pages devoted to building to climax, guessing what comes next, etc. if he reads it all in one sitting he won't have to Think about it or make inferences, he will already know the outcome.

So I vote No in this house, only assigned portion... and it helps make her eager to do DITHOR cause she has to find out what will happen next!!!

If he is a voracious reader, add more books or longer ones, not necessarily harder ones to assuage his reading addiction.

[pjdobro]

I make my dc stop at the assigned spot as well. After we are all done, they can back re-read the whole book at once if they wish, but not before. I had a problem with my dd with this because she was a fast reader so I did as Tansy suggested and found longer books and sometimes more difficult ones as well. My goal is to have a book that their reading assignment for the day takes about 15 to 20 minutes for them to read. I would think for your son's age, you would want to keep it closer to 15 minutes. If the book is too short for 15 "15 minute" reading sessions then I would either add a second book for the genre or find longer or slightly more difficult books. I'm guessing that you used the Sword in the Tree for adventure. Is that right? If it is and you want another suggestion to finish out the genre, I would suggest My Father's Dragon and the two sequels to it if you have time. If I remember correctly, each book is 10 chapters long and each chapter isn't too long. So when my ds read it, we read all three of them at a pace of 2 chapters per day. My ds loved these books so I think it is a good choice for a boy around 7 or 8.

[twoxcell]

I would make him read only the assigned pages and then have extra books available that he can read at his leisure.

[Larissa]

I was thinking along those lines too. We go to the library every other week to load up on extra books for leisure reading. Thanks for the suggestions on reading books, Patty. I'll check those out.