Questions on what comes after Emerging Readers...

[LeAnna]

I am a little confused and wondering what comes after Emerging Readers. I am wanting to use the Reading Lesson, in which I am assuming takes 1 year, or does it take 2? Then, I would go on to the Emerging Readers and there is a schedule to follow, but you don't neccessarily have to follow it? Then, do I go onto DITHOR using the next set of Emerging Readers (level 2 books)? What are the Read a louds are they something to use in place of the Emerging Readers or are they to be used along with, just for Storytime?
Sorry, for all the questions. Still trying to figure this all out.

[inHistiming]

LeAnna,

The read alouds are books that you will read aloud to your dc. They are scheduled in the manual under storytime...with suggested titles for each genre in the appendix.

I used Reading Made Easy, and it took us about 6 months to finish...only because we had several breaks in between; there were 108 lessons. I have no experience with The Reading Lesson, but I'm sure someone will chime in here to help with that.

As for the emerging readers...there is a schedule for those in both the Beyond..and Bigger...manuals, and I believe they use the same books. So, if your child is ready while in Beyond..you can do the reading, following the schedule (child reads aloud to you) and having the child answer the questions (in appendix) orally. There are only 3 questions, and the reading selections are short. If your child is still working on phonics during Beyond...then you could wait and do the emerging reader's schedule when you get to Bigger...following the schedule and answering the questions as in Beyond... or whenever your child is finished with phonics. If your child finishes phonics mid-year, you could start with the first scheduled book for emerging readers and work through until you finish or schedule it so that you would begin with whatever week you are in for school, and finish the latter half by the end of the year, KWIM? I hope this is making sense! I began with the first Unit, but we ended up spending twice the time using the bible for read alouds so we are actually 'behind' as far as the schedule goes...but we're just working through it as is, and will start DITHOR whenever we finish the reader's schedule.

I know there will be others to add to this, and maybe they'll have some good suggestions I haven't thought about. Good luck!!

[LeAnna]

Then, if the Reading Lesson may take 6 months even to finish, what would I use to finish out the year? Are there some ideas of books that I could use after this is done? I will have a almost 6 year old and almost 5 year old, that will be doing Kindergarten together. If it may take 6 months, I don't know as I want to move on to any of the higher books, or would I? Especially with the younger one?

[inHistiming]

I don't know how long The Reading Lesson takes to finish...we moved through Reading Made Easy faster than reccomended. The publisher reccomends 3 lessons a week, which would take 36 weeks, which is close to a full 'school year'. Our daughter was just behind in reading and we wanted to get her up to speed. I think moving up to the emerging readers is totally dependent on the child's ability level. If he/she is able to read at the 2.5 grade level in Kindergarten that's wonderful, and I don't think there is any reason not to allow that. By the same token, if your child struggles with reading, maybe more time could be spent in phonics, either reviewing lessons, or going through the book again. Are your children reading at all yet? If so, what kind of books are they reading? What have you done for Language Arts/Reading instruction so far? Maybe we could offer some better suggestions once we have that information...I'll keep watching for your response. And don't feel bad about all the questions. We've all been there, and I for one still am much of the time! That's why Carrie has the board available; so we can help each other. Ask away!

[LeAnna]

My kids aren't reading yet. For preschool we are just working on letters and sounds. So, we were planning on starting the Reading Lesson in September when school will start for us. So, maybe we will just work through it and plan on it taking a year to get through and go from there?

[Melanie]

I would plan on The Reading Lesson taking a full year, or even longer. Just depends on individual. And your 6 yo may be able to move through the book a little quicker. The emerging readers follow, and then Drawn.

There are read-alouds scheduled with each program for you to read to you kiddos.

Mel

[Carrie]

LeAnna,

The authors of both the Reading Lesson and Reading Made Easy feel those programs include full phonics instruction to take your kiddos to a beginning 2nd grade reading level. Depending on the age and particular skills of your kiddo either phonics program will take a year to 18 months or more to complete.

Once your kiddos have finished either The Reading Lesson or Reading Made Easy, they are ready for the Emerging Reader Set. So, you just begin it then. Follow the 170 day schedule for the Emerging Reader set in the Appendix of "Beyond.." or "Bigger..." during that time. The passages and short and the questions short, but the schedule is carefully designed to slowly grow your reader into being independent.

Once you have taken a year to complete the Emerging Reader schedule, you move into "Drawn into the Heart of Reading."

The read-alouds are for you to read to your kiddos. In "Little Hearts..." the scheduled read-alouds are sold as a storytime set of 8 books. Page numbers are assigned daily.

In "Beyond..." and "Bigger..." the read-alouds can be bought in a package or selected by you based on our recommendations in the Appendix. Either way works, as the lessons are not tied to specific books in those 2 guides.

In "Preparing.." the read-alouds are tied to the historical time period and are assigned by page number each day.

So, each guide is a little different in its design and purpose for the read-alouds. This is to cover a variety of skills and utilize a variety of excellent literature Charlotte Mason style!

Blessings,
Carrie

[netpea]

In our case my ds at 5yo went through The Reading Lesson in about 6 months. My dd is now 5yo and is going through it at a much slower rate. It just depends on the child. My son was starting to read Dick and Jane books at 4, my daughter is barely reading CVC words. The book is designed to just go along at each individual child's rate.