ER Books Or Wait

[psreit]

Maybe I went about this wrong, but I need some advice. My dd read half of the ER books last year. We stopped because there were becoming too many words of which she needed help. I remember a thread which was probably last year, Julie said we shouldn't have to help more than so many words on a page. I felt like I was giving dd too many helps. So, we stopped the ER's and I got Pathway Readers. She did the primer and grade 1 last year and she is on the first grade 2 book at the present. I had planned to do the other grade 2 book and then resume the ER's. I want her to have the first book done before New Year. The Pathway Readers have been working well as far as dd being able to read the words without much help. They gently add new words which I may need to help her with sometimes. She is enjoying the stories in them. So, that is not a problem. My question is, am I holding her back by not having her in the ER books? We did try to begin one of them again just last month. It was Prairie School. There still seemed to be a good many words I needed to give her. She is in 3rd grade, and this is how I see things working out. If we stay with the Pathway until she finishes the second book, she won't finish the ERs until sometime in 4th grade. Then she would start DITHOR 2/3 at that point. If she does not read the second Pathway, she could finish the ER books the last half of this year and then begin DITHOR 2/3 at the beginning of 4th grade. Should I keep her on my original path, or should we get back into the ER books this year? The ER books will be introducing her to more new words than the Pathway, but if I have to help her too much she gets frustrated. I just want to make sure I am not holding her back. Thanks for any help.

[psreit]

Also, are the books in DITHOR 2/3 higher level reading than the ERs? I want to challenge Angie, but I want her to enjoy reading. Because of her vision problem, she frustrates if she can't get a lot of the words. One thing that is a problem, she still is not focusing on all the letters in the words. She often sees only some of the letters and will say a word with those letters in it, but it will be the wrong word. I have her stop and look at it again and then she usually gets it. I just want to make sure I have her on the best path.

[my3sons]

...If we stay with the Pathway until she finishes the second book, she won't finish the ERs until sometime in 4th grade. Then she would start DITHOR 2/3 at that point. If she does not read the second Pathway, she could finish the ER books the last half of this year and then begin DITHOR 2/3 at the beginning of 4th grade. Should I keep her on my original path, or should we get back into the ER books this year? The ER books will be introducing her to more new words than the Pathway, but if I have to help her too much she gets frustrated. I just want to make sure I am not holding her back. Thanks for any help.

I think you have made some very good decisions, and that is great dd is making progress! I think you will know whether to finish the second Pathway set or not once she completes the first Pathway set. Then, you can either have her finish the ERS books the last half of this year, and then start DITHOR 2/3 at the beginning of 4th grade (which many fourth graders do BTW ), or have her finish the second Pathway set and finish the ERS after that. Both are fine options. "Prairie School" is a Level 4 - 4th grade book, and it is a tougher one, definitely a step up, so I wouldn't be discouraged by dd struggling with it a bit yet. The DITHOR Level 2 books are all third/fourth grade reading levels. They are also longer than the ERS books (though not overly long), with fewer pictures in general. This makes them a nice step up from the ERS books, without being a huge transition. I think it sounds like things are going in the right direction, which is good news. One other idea would be to finish the first Pathways set, and then go back to the start of the ERS using the suggested supplemental titles instead. Then, after moving more quickly through those, you could finish out the ERS with the titles she hasn't read yet, and at that point start DITHOR 2/3. I will say that there is a transition to reading living books that don't have such a carefully controlled vocabulary. It was good for our dc to do the ERS before starting DITHOR, as this was good training for the living books in DITHOR, as well as the different genres - so either way, it will be good to finish out the ERS before starting DITHOR. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[psreit]

Thanks, Julie. I guess I just needed to be reassured that I was on the right track with Angie. Since I already have the second Pathway book in the grade 2 set, I think we will go ahead and read that one before we go back to the ERs. I definitely plan to finish them before DITHOR. I was just curious to know if there was a jump from the ERs to DITHOR 2/3 books. Using the supplemental ER titles is a good idea too. I'll see where she's at when she finishes the second Pathway. If she's not ready for Prairie School, we'll use some of the supplemental titles.

[my3sons]

Thanks, Julie. I guess I just needed to be reassured that I was on the right track with Angie. Since I already have the second Pathway book in the grade 2 set, I think we will go ahead and read that one before we go back to the ERs. I definitely plan to finish them before DITHOR. I was just curious to know if there was a jump from the ERs to DITHOR 2/3 books. Using the supplemental ER titles is a good idea too. I'll see where she's at when she finishes the second Pathway. If she's not ready for Prairie School, we'll use some of the supplemental titles.

I'm so glad to be of any assistance - you are doing a super job with your dd!
In Christ,
Julie