another question! 4th grader Bigger with R&S 3

[renee]

Hello. My soon to be 4th grader will be finishing up the second half of Rod and Staff 3 English/orally when we start Bigger next school year. Should I do the writing assignments or skip them? I wasn't sure how Bigger would flow with R&S 3. He is solid on all skills but weak in writing. That is why I did not place him in Preparing. He also needs to work on cursive. His is a natural speller, and I am interested in giving dictation a shot.

A friend actually gave me a copy of Preparing today. I also ordered Bigger today. I still think Bigger may be the way to go with this reluctant writer. Also he can handle reading in small doses. After about 6 pages he is exhausted! He is reading on grade level and has no trouble pronouncing new words (using Abeka readers and other books around 3rd/4th grade level). I think Preparing may have way to much reading in there for him.

I hope this makes sense. Could someone fill me in on how to handle scheduling English 3/writing assignments.

Thank you,

Renee

[Nealewill]

You would do 2/3s of R&S orally. I do have my kids write a small portion of it down.

As for reading out loud vs to you - if you know your child is reading well, then I think it is fine. I don't listen to my kids all the time. They are reading really well. And when I look through the book and ask specific details, they tell me correct answers so I know they read it and understood it. I would encourage you though to try and listen a few times a week if you can. It is only for a few pages at a time. If given the opportunity, my kids will actually read as much out loud to me as they can! I usually have to limit them and usually will only listen to a max of two kids read something per day. I actually totally fall asleep listening to them read LOL. So....I had to put a stop to so much listening LOL.

Also - with Bigger, it is not necessarily intended that the kids read their history to themselves or the science to themselves. You can have them do it at some point, but it isn't required. With my son, he started reading some science and/or history half way through the year. He can now read all of the history, all of the science and do DITHOR in a day. It is actually a lot of reading! But sometimes he asks if he can do only science or history. I say that is fine but both him and his younger sister get impatient waiting on me (I work from home and can get busy with work) so many times they just decide to read everything to themselves so they can go outside and play. Hey....fine with me! But I would just be gracious and sensitive to him in this area. You may find that he will love the books so much he will want to read it himself. For example, I am reading the toothpaste millionaire to my son for story time right now (it was a DITHOR book but I used it for Bigger storytime instead) and my son has been reading farther in that as well because he gets mad when I stop But, I am only fine with my kids reading stuff ahead or to themselves as long as they can read it well. Hope that makes sense.

[renee]

Thank you so much for your post. It really helped me to sort things out in my mind!

Renee

[blessedmomof4]

Just wanted to note that the only parts of the Preparing plans that your child is expected to read independently are the boxes marked I, which are the Independent Study and Science boxes. Also, whatever books he would do for DITHOR, you would get the level that is appropriate for him, maybe DITHOR workbook 2/3 for a reluctant writer but with the 3/4 level books to read. You would still be reading aloud to him for the Tboxes and working with him for the S boxes. I am concerned that with him having finished half of Rod and Staff 3, doing Bigger might be a step backward. Preparing schedules Rod and Staff 3 or 4. You have three levels of dictation to choose from in Preparing. You can easily add a cursive book, and have him do written work in print until his cursive is completed. Preparing also gently leads your child toward greater independence. I know you said you already ordered, but maybe you can look again at the placement chart with these things in mind. HOD has a great return policy