heartofdakota.com

Hello,

My turning 7 year-old fits squarely with the "Bigger" level for the fall (based on the placement chart), but I plan to work through it half-speed because she doesn't have stamina to do a lot of school...

My concern is how to choose which books for her to read and also read alouds - you see, she has this strange thing where she often finds books "too scary" and refuses to listen. We did LHFHG for kindergarten (and used LHTH for preschool which we LOVED!), and she could not stand the Burgess books. The Family time Bible was fine - she doesn't have a problem with people dying or sad things occurring, but even slight suspense, ESPECIALLY when some main character is doing something foolish or disobedient, is just intolerable for her. We had to abandon the Burgess books because they were "too scary." We skipped Beyond but covered much of the same material, through my scrambling around. I'm ready to come back to HOD!

I think my daughter has improved some since kindergarten, but not much. For instance we read "The Railway Children", but we had to skip certain sections, and her fear that "something scary" might be coming up impeded her enjoyment of the book. I tried a Burgess book again recently and it was still "too scary" for her. I am not sure why suspense gets to her so much - her five-year old sister does fine with the Burgess books - and everything else I've read to her. I guess my DD7 is just a sensitive type.

I don't really think I should push her much in this regard, so I wondered if anyone could let me know - if I just get the "girl interest set" for Bigger - is she going to be freaking out? We've already read about half of the book choices for Beyond (she LOVED "All of a Kind Family," the Pooh books, etc.), but I also wondered whether some of these may be good choices for us. It is generally "naughtiness" with potential consequences looming that make her get overly fearful. For instance in the Railway children, stopping the train with flags was fine, but when a bunch of kids went into the tunnel where they weren't supposed to go, it was intolerable for her.

I'm going to do LHTH for the third time this year, with my youngest, a boy, who is 3 1/2. At this point I'm thinking my five year old girl will do some of his activities with him, listen to big sister's books and work through Reading Made Easy and Math, and I probably won't do LHFHG with her - maybe next year.


Anyway, I digress... My point is - does anyone else have this problem with things being "too scary?" Can anyone help me find some good books for Bigger that she will enjoy? Books that would also appeal to her five-year-old sister would be a plus so I can read to them both (my five year old has a good attention span). Also I need to find books for her to read herself for pleasure. She is an excellent reader and will read anything she gets her hands on (unless she decides it's too scary - then it is promptly dropped).

Thank you - I love what you are doing, Carrie!

I have just a minute as the plane is landing, but here's a great link so you know you are not alone and how these great moms handled this...
http://www.heartofdakota.com/emerging-reader.php

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks for the reply, Julie...

The link was to the emerging reader's set. Is that what you meant to send me? We have read most of these books already, and they were good choices for my daughter... She reads very well now, and has become more of an "independent reader," though I usually have her read to me a little each day.

Does it help to stop and discuss with her? What are you worried about? What do you think might happen? Why does that upset you? What else could happen? etc. I have at times read ahead and said, "I know what is going to happen and it's going to work out okay" or "There is a bit of sad or scary, etc. part coming but we'll get through it together." We have done that both with books and movies and it has helped. Hope you can find something for your daughter!

I'm so sorry! I copied the wrong link there! Here is the link I was going to copy for you, and one more I found as well. Hope it helps - I thought these were great discussions...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4151&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6681&p=48708

In Christ,
Julie

Bramble - thanks so much for your suggestion to talk with her more! That seems an obvious idea now that I think of it, but I usually don't ask many questions, just skip ahead. When she was younger I remember trying to talk to her about her fears but she would always clam up and just say "scary." Now, however, I know exactly what sorts of things bother her and I usually feel her start to squirm a little before she really gets scared. She is also able to communicate and express herself more clearly. I think next time that happens I shall put the book down and ask her just those questions that you mentioned and perhaps look ahead a little and then keep reading (perhaps skipping/summarizing some of the suspense-building section) . Hopefully that will help me understand her more and support her better...

Julie - thanks for the links - I went and read them both and found them interesting. I think I will go with the book suggestions as written (probably choosing girl interest selections), and use times when she is frightened as a springboard to more heartfelt talk with her. I don't want her to miss out on great books because of these fears, and perhaps they will fade away as she sees that suspenseful situations generally end very happily in children's lit!