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UPDATE: I checked into the Bob books a little more and they are actually over $11/set now. I think I will get sets 2 through 5. It sounds like many on this board have had success with them. DD does get all excited if she reads all the words on ONE page of a book by herself. She did make a comment today that she wanted to read easier books. This board is great! If I wasn't on here, I wouldn't know about all these resources. Thanks! Be back in a week after camping. Then it is on to LHFHG!!!

Please pray for dd. When she had her physical today, she did not do well with her left eye reading the eye chart. I'm not sure what that is all about. Her main problem has been close up. Maybe the eyes aren't teaming again like they should. I believe the left eye is the one she had surgery on before we adopted her. Her right eye was pretty good. She's scheduled to see the eye specialist again in October. If she shows signs of really having problems, maybe I will need to take her sooner.




...makes up words while reading? I know that children who cannot read, will make up their own story by looking at pictures. But, I am talking about an early reader who is looking at a word that she knows and will say something totally different. I know sometimes she looks at the first letter and just blurts something out that begins with that letter. Sometimes I think the pictures distract her and she is not focusing on the words. How do you handle that? I have let it go for a while, but when dd was reading from the Early Reader's Bible (she knows many words in it), she was missing 2 and 3 letter words! She was the one who asked to read, so it wasn't something I asked her to do. Anyway, this was happening quite often, so I told her again, as I have many times before, she needs to look at all the letters and stop making up words. Then she got upset and refused to read anymore. Some days she can goes through sentences with no trouble. Then other days she just doesn't seem to be with it. She does follow up with an eye specialist because of vision problems, but I don't feel that is often the problem.

I homeschooled my 3 oldest, but not when they were learning to read. So, I knew this would be a challenge for me. Are there any techniques that have worked for anyone? DD is adopted. She has some insecurities and some anxiety issues. She is very sensitive, but can be stubborn. So, it is hard to know sometimes whether something is really bothering her, or whether she is using her emotions to manipulate.

DD has come to me asking to finish reading. So, by leaving her alone to think about what happened, she has snapped out of it already. We have one more page to read and I guarantee she will read it very well. Any suggestions will be helpful.

My son does this very thing. Just today he was reading in TRL and he kept reading "The duck has lots of fun in the pool" (or something to that extent), but the word wasn't pool, it was sun. The picture showed a duck in a pool. I think that's pretty common for little ones. A friend told me her DD does the same thing. I guess on one hand it can be seen as good because they are using the pictures for cues to make sense of the story. He also gets upset when I correct him. I just try to be lighthearted and ask him to sound the word out and focus. That usually gets him on the right track.

I know that happens with young readers. I guess I get concerned when dd does it for words like 'the' or 'in'. Words like that. Then I know she isn't focusing. Today she was constantly saying wrong words. But, I think I know why she couldn't concentrate today. She's been complaining about bellyache. She may have an intestinal virus. So, I can give her the benefit of the doubt today. But, there are days when she will act tired so she can try to get out of reading. It's because she gets frustrated when she doesn't know words. Some I will just tell her, but sometimes I have her sound them out. Sometimes she just doesn't want to put out the effort. I guess we just keep plugging away and wait for that 'click'.

Here's an idea I got from Julie. She said that she let her son "practice" with the Emerging Reader story for the day on his own before reading it to her. I'm doing this with Allison, and it's working really well. I tell her that she can practice the story so that she's all ready to read it to me. I also tell her that I know she'll want to look at all the pictures that go with the story, so she can do that while she "practices" as well. This seems to make it so they're not distracting when she's reading to me, and we can clip right along.

If she does skip a word or say one that's wrong, I'll just say right after that sentence, "Uh-oh, a word in that sentence is trying to trick you. Can you read it again for me VERY carefully? " This doesn't seem to bother her at all and she'll almost always read it correctly the 2nd time.

Kathleen

I believe this is very common and something that most children grow out of. However, last year, when my ds was 8.5, I found when he had to read a list of words(no context, no picture clues) there were many that he couldn't read although he seemed to read fluently from emerging reader type books. We had him tested and it turned out to be a convergence problem(eye muscles weren't always able to focus and he wasn't seeing indivdual letters that had also contributed to spelling difficulties) which needed some vision therapy. We've been in vision therapy for 6 months now and have seen really great results, including that he has begun reading for pleasure. Not trying to scare you, but it is something to kind of keep an eye on as your child gets older. For more information about vision therapy you can look at covd.org.

Thanks for the suggestions. That does sound like a good idea to let dd look at the story before she reads it aloud. We aren't doing ER books yet, but I've been using some early readers from the library along with TRL.

As far as the eye problem, dd was born with crossed eyes. She had surgery to correct it and is now wearing prism glasses. So, convergence has been an issue. She seems to be able to see well with the glasses, so it is hard to tell if the reading struggles may sometimes come from the eyes or if she just has problems focusing. She is very easily distracted. She visits the eye specialist in October. So, we'll see if there is any more improvement in her vision. Hopefully it is something that will pass.

My dd does this. She will be 7 in October. I have to have patience of steel! I am pretty sure she has some form of vision issues (she is 20/20, but I think she has some convergence issues). I did thousands of dollars worth of vision therapy with my oldest dd and didn't see any improvement. My oldest dd took off in reading at age 10. I'm not going to do vision therapy with my youngest dd because I think it is more a developmental eye issue that will be out grown. She gets better every year. My oldest dd has to have a prism in her glasses to focus. The doc said there was nothing that could be done to correct her problem other than a prism. She has 20/20, but needs the glasses for the prism only.

This is what I do. I have a book mark that stays under the line she is reading. I sit in front of her and keep my finger on the top of the work she is reading. That way there are no words below the text (the book mark hides the words) and I am pointing to the word she is to read. I do not move my finger until the word is read correctly. If she makes up a word, I will gently ask what letter the word starts with. If she skips a word, my finger does not move off the word skipped. She gets very irritated when I don't move my finger . If I don't do this she jsut can't track the words properly. She also takes here eyes off the words and looks at the pictures or askes a question. She has been though a phonics program and knows her sounds and can read the words fine. It is just very taxing on her to read. After she has read one story in the Early Readers Bible, she is DONE. It is quite exhausting for her to work this hard. With my experience of my oldest dd, I am sure my younger dd will learn to read fine! I just have to be very patient until she develops enough attention and stamina and her eye muscles grow strong enough to read independently. It will come!

Tabrett,
Thanks! It sounds like you are experiencing exactly the same thing. DD has a little far-sightedness along with needing the prisms, but she has shown that, with the glasses, her vision is very good. But she may have some problems with tracking the words. I keep my finger under the word. Sometimes she holds my finger and helps move it along. Other times she pushes my hand away. She will put her own finger under the word sometimes. Maybe that would be a good idea using the bookmark on the bottom and pointing at the top. Then she won't be seeing so many words at a time. You are right. It does take a LOT of patience

There's so many good ideas here already - the ladies on this board are amazing! I wonder if it would be worthwhile to get the BOB books and have her read those before beginning the ERS? Our dc loved those. They are short, black and white (so less distracting pictures), have a controlled vocabulary, and are inexpensive. They are available at practically any larger book store (they even used to be at Sam's and Walmart). You could just get the very first set and see how it went. I think they are around $7 or so. I like the bookmark idea and did the same thing only with a white index card (so it was less distracting). With one of our sons, I had a marker board handy, and when he missed a word spelled phonetically, I put it on the white marker board with black marker, one letter at a time. Then while he was still saying the first sound I quickly wrote the second one, and kept doing this until the word was finished, and he could blend it. I put a line under it to show quickly blending it then. It really seemed to work well for him. If it was more a sight word, like "the", I'd just write the whole word on the board (or sometimes break it up like "th" in one color of marker and "e" next to it in another color), and say this is just one of those words you have to know from memory. Sometimes just isolating it on a marker board helped. We did the "practice" reading for the ERS that Kathleen did such a good job of describing, and that worked well for my ds. Be encouraged though! What you are describing is not uncommon, and I do think your pumpkin will continue to improve.

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks, Julie. I will check out the Bob books. I don't plan to have Angelina start the ER books until, at LEAST, after she finishes TRL. We have a good way to go through that yet. I got the Early Reader's Bible just for something fun to read during TRL. She does know a lot of words in there. I thought I would then use the Beginner's Bible with the ER books. We were given a copy of that. I just notice that some days she will read great and then other days she can't read the simplest word. I tried reading an easy book with her just a little while ago and it was a chore. But, I think I know why. Angie has a doctor appt. today. She is so worried about that. It is just a physical. When she gets something on her mind, she can't concentrate on anything else. If I have her read when this appt is over, I know she would do better. I am learning to wait until the last minute to tell her things, because she will worry for days about something she thinks will bring her discomfort. Anyway, I will try to incorporate some of these things and hopefully she will show much improvement through this school year.

Oh, thanks for sharing that Pam! I do remember now that dd is doing TRL, and that it would be very early for her to have completed that (unless she speed-read through it like Dale Jr. ). The Early Reader's Bible is really meant to be something they do more when they are ready for the ERS, so it may be good just to set it aside until she's made it through TRL, as it may be just too much for her right now. I'm so sorry your little one gets nervous for her doctor's appointments. We have one like that as well. Hope it goes well!

In Christ,
Julie

Julie, It is hard to know where dd is in conjunction with TRL. She actually learned to read some in kindergarten, but definitely not to the point where she would be in the ERs. I just started at the beginning of TRL to make sure everything was covered. She has been able to read most words right off the bat in the first four lessons. That's how far we have gotten. I was looking at the Bob books online, but I'm not sure in which set to start her. I know she doesn't need the first and maybe the second set. I just don't want to spend the money on something she really doesn't need. As far as the Early Readers Bible, I think I will just read it to her. She loves to hear Bible stories and some devotion books I have are still a little over her head. I know there will be more of that when we begin LHFHG, but I can use it for something extra. I'm sure she won't mind reading it herself when the time comes. Thanks for your help.

UPDATE: I checked into the Bob books a little more and they are actually over $11/set now. I think I will get sets 2 through 5. It sounds like many on this board have had success with them. DD does get all excited if she reads all the words on ONE page of a book by herself. She did make a comment today that she wanted to read easier books. This board is great! If I wasn't on here, I wouldn't know about all these resources. Thanks! Be back in a week after camping. Then it is on to LHFHG!!!

Please pray for dd. When she had her physical today, she did not do well with her left eye reading the eye chart. I'm not sure what that is all about. Her main problem has been close up. Maybe the eyes aren't teaming again like they should. I believe the left eye is the one she had surgery on before we adopted her. Her right eye was pretty good. She's scheduled to see the eye specialist again in October. If she shows signs of really having problems, maybe I will need to take her sooner.