Hi,

One of my dc will be 11 this summer and technically in the 6th grade. However, her reading skills are probalby at a 1st or 2nd grade level. I'm wondering how to handle the TOG reading and assignments while we work to improve her reading skills. Her maturity level is fine, which makes me think I should just do UG with her,reading it aloud until she can do it for herself. I don't want to short-change her on content by using LG books. THen again, if we did LG, mabye that woud HELP us as we work on her reading. I also have some younger students that are LG and that would certainly make things more streamlined...I just don't know! Any advice??

Thanks,
Deann

Deann,

If you can acquire books slowly (i.e. using the library a lot) I would start the year with LG books and let it be easy for her so that she gains confidence. Which Year are you using? If it's the Ancient World, there's a lot of good information in LG books, and you could always get UG books (or reasonable substitutes for them) to supplement with read alouds.

Thanks, Marcia. As a matter of fact, we will be using Year 1 Redesigned. Your input helps a lot!

Blessings,
Deann

It could have been me writing that first post. I have wondered the same things. Mostly, thinking to myself "How am I going to find time to read all this to her?"

Marcia, would you recommend the same for Yr 2? Unfortunately, we have a very small library system and I was planning on buying a fair amount of the books.

I was wondering how things were going for your "non-reader". We too have had similar problems. My daughter (second child) is almost 10 and although we had done various phonics programs for the past five years, she just wasn't getting reading. She is in third grade but should be in fourth. Homeschooling and being able to teach them where they are at is such a blessing. During these past years of phonics education, we also completed Occupational Therapy to overcome some sensory processing issues and Vision Therapy to overcome tracking issues. I finally found a reading program that works! We have been using Rocket Phonics since last summer. In four months she has moved from a late 1st grade reading level to starting 3rd grade level. She has always pushed away from reading and just last week she started reading a Magic Treehouse book on her own...with great enthusiasm. She is also commenting that she is reading about where her friends are now.

Regarding Tapestry, I am still reading her literature and history assignments to her. I decided that it is better to help her gain an appreciation and desire for reading and as she continutes to improve (the program goes up to a fifth grade level) we will transition into more independent reading. Next year for 4th grade we will most likely go back and forth between lower and upper grammar levels.