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Hi ladies!

I am a big lurker here on the message boards -- I rarely post myself, but I have found so much wisdom & encouragement from reading the posts. I would love thoughts, input, or advice for my question!

I have used LHTH for preK and LHFHG half-speed for K/1st for my first two "official" years of homeschooling my oldest daughter. She is 6, and will turn 7 in mid-September. We are ready to begin our new school year in two weeks, and we will be using Beyond full-speed. I am so excited!

My oldest has been what I would call a "reluctant reader." We are almost finished with Lesson 18 of The Reading Lesson. We have been working through TRL for over 2 years! Part of the reason it has taken us so long, I think, is her lack of --interest? perseverance? drive? to roll up her sleeves and do the work of reading. She has always resisted doing more than 2 pages. The other part of why it has taken so long has been family circumstances. Three months into her K year, I got pregnant with twins! It was a long, hard pregnancy with sickness, complications, pre-term birth, and a month-long NICU stay for the boys & me (in a different city!). Her 1st grade year was much less eventful, but we nevertheless had to adjust to life with newborn twins, a toddler, a preschooler, and my oldest! Because of all of this, I did not push a ton of phonics. We would only do 1-2 pages of TRL, and I would leave it at that. I wish now I would have practiced more with her, too (I don't know when I would have squeezed that in, though!!). I think she needs repetition and practice to solidify decoding, blending, etc. The past 2 weeks I have done a bit of a "phonics bootcamp" -- we've done extra pages to try to finish TRL before we begin Beyond, flashcards, and read books on her level (level 1 or below) that I've had her read 3-4 times each. I can say that that extra practice has done wonders for her confidence!! She is so excited that she has read 2-3 books on her own, and I am so excited because I have wrestled the past 2 years over her lack of interest. I LOVE reading, and I had to work through a little of my personal disappointment when it seemed she did not like to read nor want to read.

I did the San Diego Quick Assessment on her this morning, and she is reading at a K level. I had really wanted to begin the Emerging Readers with Beyond, but I am questioning if she will be ready for the ERs? Should I do advanced phonics instead with her (the later Explode the Code books, maybe?--we've not done any up to this point), let her build confidence through books like Biscuit, Mittens, Mia, Syd Hoff books, and so on, and then try ER's next year with Bigger or even just later in the year? I found something online called Sound City Advanced Decoding Practice... would she need that? At what point do you teach certain endings like -tion, -ould, -ought, -cious, and so on? From what I could tell, TRL doesn't cover that. Does that come up in grammar instruction in Beyond?

I can't wait to read your thoughts, experiences, and wisdom!!

Thanks so much,
Lacy

I woudl work on reading the easier books first. Biscuit is a My First I Can Read book (as are many of the ones you listed). The ER books are Level 2 I Can Read and higher. It may not take her all year to get read for the ER books. She might be ready about 1/2 way through Beyond if she gets motivated.
As fo rthe other endings, most kids learn them as they read the ER books. They don't take a lot of time to explain, and when they come across one of those words, you just explain what those letters say.

I haven't used TRL, how many lessons are after 18?

There's no phonics instruction in Beyond. I'm guessing they are suppose to kinda get it from the books? Idk. Maybe someone who's used TRL will come along with advice.

I'm thinking she should probably finish the reading lesson first. If she's at a K level, I wouldn't think she's ready for the ER set. The first book, choosing the easiest bible, the early reader one, is a 2.0, meaning the beginning of grade 2, and they get higher from there.

Building a strong foundation is key. We just read them for grade 3. Your daughter is still pretty young. I'd focus on finishing TRL and maybe get some early readers, like Bob Books, from the library if she's chomping at the but to read books.

There are 2 lessons left. I had hoped we would finish in two weeks in time for Beyond -- we will see!

My youngest really enjoyed picking out an easy reader set at Barnes and Noble, and that really motivated him. His reading really improved afterward, though he still is more picky than his older brothers Perhaps your daughter will be more motivated if she sees that she can "take ownership" of her reading choices?

I was a reading specialist in my former life. All About Reading is the best program I've seen out there.

But the bottom line is this. Some kids JUST ARE NOT READY to read until they are older. Then it just all clicks and they take off.

I would pursue more phonics instruction, however, whether that be with what you're currently using or All About Reading.

I would echo what others have said. Take it slow. If you push ahead too fast there will just be more frustration. You could maybe start with the easy Bible option in ER and then do the harder one when that is finished. If you use all the supplemental titles with the ERs it goes much more slowly.

Also some encouragement for you, just because your daughter has been slower to start reading, that doesn't mean she won't love reading. I think the HOD books and program (where reading wonderful, living books is the focus) help create a love of learning in almost any child. And I have also heard that even more than reading to them, if you read around them, that helps them to also focus on reading. It's definitely true in my house. Even my kids who can't read yet will sit and look at books for long periods of time and are very interested in them.

My oldest was "slow" at least in some areas. As with you, it was partly due to me not having time or not making time to teach and practice (and partly due to her lack of interest). But she now LOVES to read. It's to the point where I feel like it's really an idol in her life and have had to work on that with her.

My son was veeeeeery reluctants to learn to read. We too, took 2 years to finish The Reading Lesson. We followed it with many Easy Readers from the library and the Emerging Readers set from HOD. Now he LOVES to read! We are just now on the Nature Reader by Christian Liberty Press. He reads it SO well. No hesitation, 99% of the words he has no trouble with. I am *glad* we went at his pace. He did not like *learning* to read but now he reads for fun. And we are almost done with Bigger! I think he will be fine in Preparing because he is reading so well now. We should be done with all of the Emerging Reader set by the time we are done with Bigger.

Thank you for so much encouragement!

Your thoughts reminded me again that one of the reasons we homeschool is to work at our child's pace & readiness. It's ME who gets in a hurry, especially when I begin believing lies that "If she attended a school, she would be reading at THIS level." I need to celebrate where she is right now -- finally reading! and excited to read more! -- without worrying at what level it is.

Jennymommy - I did let her pick out some Disney Princess readers -- not my first choice , but it is a goal for her to work towards for finishing The Reading Lesson. I do want to do what it takes to lay a great foundation of being able to reading and LOVING reading!

And I am so excited for her to dig in to all the wonderful books HOD has selected. I think that is why I had hoped to be able to roll right into the emerging readers. But I want to follow at her pace, so we may try to build up to the ER mid-way through the year. I've tried to find some good lower-level readers for her to practice, practice, practice on and will try to mirror the follow-up questions Carrie has for the ER with what she's reading.

We will see!
Thanks so much,
Lacy

If you would choose to do Explode the Code with her, you would do earlier books not later ones because she listed at K level and higher. My son who fits in the ERs perfectly (right at his level) is in book 4 currently. Books 1-3 are 1st grade, Books 4-6 are 2nd grade and books 7-8 are 3rd grade. Book 1 is short vowels (assumes they know consonant sounds), book 2 is consonant blends, book 3 is long vowels.

The set of books that really help my son (he did not figure out reading until age were the BOB books. He could actually read it the first time we tried it and that really helped his confidence. I am searching the house to find all of them again for my younger son. He does not want much to do with reading yet and he is 7.

Take your time with her. Many children are not ready yet. Only 2 of my 4 children were reading at that age, the other 2 were not ready.