when is child ready for emerging readers?

[holyhart]

My dd and I are not finished with RME yet, but I'm wondering if we should be continuing with it or not. She is extremely bored with it now (she didn't use to be) and likes to pick up other books and does fairly well reading them. She needs help with some larger words or needs to be reminded of some phonics "rules" from time to time, but overall, she can sit and read a small-ish book quite well.

Has anyone else ever found this? Did you go ahead and finish the formal phonics? Or do you think that maybe we could take a break from that (perhaps end it) and just read books and go over site words/blends/diagraphs as they come up?

Would love to hear what others have done.

[sharonb]

With my dd, we did the emerging readers AND continued phonics. We use Rod & Staff for phonics, and it is for 1st and 2nd grade. By the end of 1st she was a VERY fluent reader, but I have had her doing 2nd grade phonics anyway because it covers prefixes/suffixes, accented syllables, dividing words into syllables, writing pronunciations, contractions, and many other topics. So, each day she does a lesson of phonics and she reads from the emerging readers. The emerging readers were too easy at first, but she needed practice reading aloud (she gets ahead of herself and tries to skip words!)

Phonics can get boring from time to time, but I am so impressed with what my children have learned. We have stuck with it through the tough times (even though I have been tempted to switch programs from time to time!) and it has definitely paid off. You could take a short break from your phonics program or make the lessons shorter each day, but I wouldn't just "end it" if your child hasn't learned all of the concepts yet.

[my3sons]

Kelly - Well, way to go dd! I'm glad to hear she is doing so well with her phonics. Teaching our dc to read is pretty exciting stuff. I think I'd clip along with the phonics with your dd and finish it as soon as possible. Doing this will just make sure she doesn't have any gaps you might end up having to backtrack to fix later. If dd can easily read the first book in the Emerging Reader's Set, then you could go ahead and start with that. One thing we did while my ds was finishing phonics but reading quite well already, was to get both of the Bibles from the Emerging Reader's Set and start with The Early Reader's Bible schedule and questions in Beyond. Then, by the time our ds had totally completed phonics he had also completed The Early Reader's Bible, and after that we started with The Beginner's Bible and worked through the rest of the Emerging Reader's Set. Just a few ideas to consider - you'll know what you like to do best for your dd!

In Christ,
Julie

[Tansy]

We finished 100 ez lesson and started in the on the "list" in the back of it, we got about 13 books into it and she came grinding to a halt. The books were getting too hard. I have a 2nd grade phonics program that breaks down lot of the emerging readers. It didn't work with DD1 she got board really quickly with it. But its working just fine with dd2.

It has fun activities with reminders of lots of phonics rules, and odd ball phonics words, The rule breaker past tense verbs (fly flew wright wrote), minor-ly discusses helper verbs, covers syllables, does a bit of narrations. It has about 6 of the emerging readers in it so we have started on them nice and slow. My dd is enjoying it and getting lots of (brief) revisiting of phonics lessons she has covered (but I some times see her forgetting the rules) She read the word avalanche today! so I'm super proud of her! So maybe you can do something similar with the emerging readers so you know she's not gonna have any gaps.

[funkmomma71]

My daughter did RME up to the the 95th or 96th lesson, after that it was going to be mostly review. She then spent the summer readinf Dr. Suess and other early reader books. By the time we started Beyond she was very well prepared to start the Emerging Readers books. We have been working thru the Emerging Readers and doing Plaid Phonics, though I wish I had chosen R&S instead. So far she is having no problems with reading or spelling, which is closely linked to phonics instruction. We also review phonics rules as they appear in her reading. HTH

[Carrie]

Kelly,

I always tend to err on the side of completing all phonics instruction to make sure kiddos have been exposed to all the rules. During the first part of my public school teaching days, whole language was in vogue, and kiddos often had phonics gaps that didn't show up until third grade when chapter book reading came into the picture (and the children's word banks were full). With full-blown chapter books, there is no guessing your way through the rules for pronouncing words.

With each of my own kiddos, we found they were reading very well 2/3 of the way through their phonics programs, but I was often surprised as I finished the program that there were a few rules they didn't know (and would have missed out on had I not finished).

You may wish to set the timer for her phonics lessons and have her go as far as possible in 'x' number of minutes. Often if kiddos know there is a definite end time, they are more likely to work hard during the whole time. Let her know as soon as she's finished the book she's done with phonics!

You could also begin the Emerging Reader's Set while finishing phonics if that is motivating to her.

Blessings,
Carrie