Summer Reading

One thing we always do with our summers is read. We have participated in the summer reading program at our library every year since Sweetheart was 3. Our goal is always for each girl to read/listen to 100 books. At the end of the summer they get a certificate, an ice cream and a free book. It's one of their favorite things.

Last summer a librarian had told us that the "teen" program began at age 12 so we assumed Sweetheart would have to do the teen program this year. But...I noticed that the children's program runs from 0-12 years. So, it looks like she can pick. Honestly, the children's program is way cooler and I'm going to encourage her to take advantage of it one last year. We'll see.

Choosing books for Sweetheart has been a struggle. Since we were using Sonlight this year, we didn't have to worry about it too much. She had plenty to read during the school year! But the juvenile section is so different. On the one hand, she has outgrown a lot of books. The ones she used to love: the Hank the Cowdog series, Cam Jansen, the American Girl books....they are all too easy for her and she's read them all. Others are too weird and inappropriate. I can't possibly pre-read everything.

So she ends up reading things that don't challenge her at all. She reads from our shelves--like Magic Tree House books that she's read 100 times each. No challenge at all. At the library she gets things like BabyMouse books. Now BabyMouse is funny. I know because she pestered me until I read them with her. But she can tear through 2 BabyMouse books on the way home from the library!

The answer for this summer came in the form of an e-mail from Sonlight. They had put together "Summer Reading Packages" for elementary, middle, and high school--separated by boys and girls. You can buy the packages, but we need to save our money for next year's curriculum. So, I'm hitting up the library for these titles.

I trust Sonlight, but I still wanted to pre-read these titles. I just don't fully trust "big kid" books. They delve into bigger problems than say, the Berenstain Bears do. You know? The first title I read was Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters. I LOVED it. Sweetheart is reading it now. She found out over the weekend that her cousin is reading the same book and her good friend just finished it. Extra motivation!

So then something happened that really, really encouraged me and made me realize that my child is truly  becoming LITERATE. I don't mean "literate" as in "can read", but "literate" as in "well read." I'm pre-reading the next title, Penny From Heaven. The book was lying next to where I was sitting. As usual, the annoying library bar code covers up important information on the front of the book. This time, the author's first name. But Sweetheart noticed the author's middle initial and last name: L. Holm.

Sweetheart: Is that Jennifer L. Holm?

Me: I have no idea.

Sweetheart: (flipping to inside the book) Because if it is, she's the one who writes BabyMouse.

Me: *thinking: really? Wow. Those two books are really different from each other!* Well, go look inside the BabyMouse book and see if it lists this one.

It did. My child recognizes authors! That is so cool!! And now she's excited to read the next book because it's by an author she likes. The other day she asked me who my favorite authors were and I was all...Duuuuhhhh. Then she proceeded to list her favorite three.

Very cool.

So that is our plan for summer reading. And Little Bit will be reading to me this year! (And I'll be reading to her as well.) Tomorrow I'll share my other plans for our summer. I think I've found a unifying way for a 12 year old and an 8 year old to do some fun things together.

Ready to Read?

One of my most favorite things I learned in college (besides my excellent grammar), was about reading readiness signs in children. I took a course called "Early Literacy", as my degree was in Early Childhood, and just loved that course. I didn't love all the projects we had to do....but I did enjoy what I learned.

I did my student teaching in 1st grade and Pre-K. Pre-Kindergarten was awesome because we got to wear dockers and Keds in a day and age where everyone still wore heels and hose to teach in. Yep, that's the important stuff right there.

Anyway, at that age (4-5), one of the "tests" they gave the kids was exactly what I had learned about in college. It was called "Draw a Man." They gave the kiddos a piece of paper and a pencil or crayon and asked them to draw a man. (or person) Then they repeated that test at the end of the year. Was it an art test? Nope. It's a reading readiness assessment. I student taught in the spring, but got to go through and look at the beginning of year assessment pictures. What I learned in college certainly held true in that Pre-K classroom.

Basically the research shows that how much detail a child puts in their drawing of a person is an indicator of how ready they are to tackle the skill of reading. For example, if a child just has a big face with eyes, nose, and mouth? Not so ready. When they start adding details such as the correct number of fingers, eyebrows, etc....then they are ready. Also, the presence of a "baseline" is an indicator. That is when they draw a "floor" under their person instead of just drawing them floating on the page.

Now...you want to go assess your children's drawings, don't you? Go ahead! It's fun!!

Yesterday, Little Bit drew a picture for me while we were running errands and it got me to thinking about this again. If you remember, we just completed "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" back in December just after her 8th birthday. She is reading now. And here is her picture from yesterday:

Yep. Research holds true. Because here is a picture she drew when she was four years old:

What a difference, huh? So see, I could have told you when she was four that reading instruction did NOT need to begin when she was five. If her drawing is an indicator of readiness...she wasn't! (We did work on phonics and reading instruction when she was 5, but not hard-core.) The above picture is from a book called "Wiggles" that she wrote. The word "Wiggles" was written from right to left and each Wiggle was drawn with the correct color of crayon. Oh how I loved her ball people.

But see? The man is floating on the page. And there is very little detail. They say children draw those ball people because the head/face is an important feature they notice about other people and when they look down, they see their legs. So those are the parts that get included first. You will often see "feet" or "shoes" be added and also details on the head, before other details begin to emerge. Oh I just love analyzing children's drawings over time!

Of course, it's just research and there are plenty of children who probably blow this theory right out of the water. But, it's really fun to watch over time as their drawings become more detailed and mature and their reading ability climbs with it.

Have fun looking back at your child's drawings now!

Sonlight--How's That Working For You? (Part 2)

In Part 1, I shared that even though I was still loving homeschooling, we had run across two problems.

1. My 12 year old wasn't independent with her day, and it wasn't her fault!
2. I needed to be able to spend more time with my (then) 7 year old.

So, has Sonlight helped us meet those goals?

YES!

Sweetheart with her shipment of books for the year. 

Here is how Sonlight has helped us, as opposed to the other curriculum we were using before.

First of all, Sweetheart (12) starts her day here:

Play-Doh optional.

In her room, at her desk, she is able to accomplish a lot right away without my help. Here she does handwriting, Bible reading, reading, a math practice sheet, a history lesson, and sometimes part of her writing assignment. ALL in the first hour or so of school and ALL independently. Now, at the beginning of the year there was a lot of coming to ask me questions, which I had prepared myself for. That has gone away. Also, in the beginning she would beg to come sit at the table with Little Bit and me but I only allowed it a few times. We all worked better separated for the first hour. She adjusted quickly and this part of the day flows now. It's nice to get so much done so soon.

So while Sweetheart is in her room working, Little Bit and I use our time to work on her reading lessons. I am pleased to say she is now a real-live, full-fledged reader. That was one reason I protected our first hour of  school (i.e. kicked Sweetheart out of the room). Little Bit needed to be able to work with me on this. We still spend that first hour reading, but now....she reads to me!

Little Bit and I also do Bible, read-aloud, and history during this time. Then she gets a play break while Sweetheart comes to me for narration on everything she has read that morning.

So right there, in our first hour of school, BOTH of my homeschooling problems have been solved!

There is another thing Sonlight has accomplished which I would not have classified as a problem actually. I never had a real plan for Sweetheart in reading. She reads so much we have to practically slap the book out of her hand to get her attention. We joke about who would be responsible for going to get her should the house catch on fire because she's sure to not notice.

So I have never worried much about "assigning" books to her to read. But since Sonlight comes with nice little ready-made, well-thought-out assignment sheets, she has been reading some GREAT books! This comes at a super time in her life. The better a reader your child becomes and the more they out-grow the "younger kid books", the more problems you run into! The content of many books in the juvenile section of the library is questionable. I can't tell you how many books I've picked up that deal with messy divorces, or eating disorders, or other things that my daughter doesn't deal with or need to worry about. Let's not even get into the dating, boys, or the really sick vampire love genre, OK?

Sonlight offers us good literature that teaches history at the same time. Does that mean there is nothing controversial? Of course not, but honestly we haven't come across anything that shocked me or that we couldn't discuss together. We have loved the read-alouds so much that we often can be found reading ahead just because we can't stand to wait! (And she has caught me reading ahead too!) And that sitting on the couch together and reading thing is WAY better than sitting at the table all the time. Which is why I'm glad we got rid of the homeschool room. My pregnant body agrees the couch is better too. :)

Little Bit has a few things she does on her own each day. 

Now, I only ordered the "core" from Sonlight. Our writing, math, handwriting, spelling and science are not "Sonlight" curriculum. (Although they do sell some of what we are using and I ordered some of it from them.) So we still have that part of our day that we do pretty much like we always have. But that's OK because our morning starts off with those first steps of independence I was looking for. I know as we progress through the junior high and high school grades, she will become more and more independent. And honestly I'm not looking to ever be done teaching her until she graduates. I know that seems to be some homeschool parents' goal, but it isn't mine.

So yes, it's working for us very nicely!

Next time: The Tweaks (there are always tweaks)

Why I'm So Happy About School (Even Though We Are Behind)

Last spring, after deciding that we had hit a wall in reading instruction and the things that were formerly working---weren't anymore, I made a change. I sent out an e-mail to our homeschool group to borrow "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." A dear mom of 8 responded. We went and picked up the book at her house and started the next day.

I felt very honored to use this book. She taught all 8 of her children, 1 of whom is married and 2 of whom are in college, to read. At the top of every lesson are her children's initials and the date they did that lesson. Little Bit already had a good literacy base before starting this book. She wasn't a 4 year old doing these lessons and so we found the book easy to fly through.

Last week found us on lesson 86. (We took the summer off.) The stories were getting longer and a bit more frustrating. I looked ahead and noticed there wasn't a whole lot more learning to happen in the remaining dozen+ lessons. Sure, some more sounds were introduced, but I can introduce those anytime. I asked Little Bit, "Are you ready to be done with this book?"

Of course the answer was yes! So I grabbed the first "reader" from her Sonlight package and handed it to her.

Buh-bye old reading book! (The cover probably fell off 4 or 5 kids ago!)

And she started reading with NO problem. Sure, I'm there to assist her. But I can honestly say...I HAVE ANOTHER READER IN THIS HOUSE!!!

I've seen enough kids learn to read and I can tell she is just at that point where all she'll do from here on out is get better at it. I love this point of reading.

Hello REAL book!!!

And that is why I am so happy with school, even though I am slowly realizing we will never finish all our subjects by May this year. It's all good. The kids are learning!!

**By the way, Little Bit is 8. I share that to encourage some other homeschool  moms. I was a teacher for 11 years and a Reading Specialist for most of those years and here is my kid--reading at age 8. I determined long ago not to push it with her and not to worry about "when" it happened. She has a very positive view of reading that I absolutely know she would not have if I had pushed her to read at the "right" age. Every child is different. Don't stress!

The Summer of Literacy

The way the word "literacy" is commonly used today means, "able to read and write." In fact, that is one of the definitions in the Merriam-Webster dictionary today. But the Webster's 1828 dictionary defines literacy as, "Learned; lettered; instructed in learning and science."

Interesting difference.

When I speak of literate, I mean "well-read." As in, I can read a older book and catch the references to other works of literature or art.

I can't, by the way. I have decided that on the whole, Americans are VERY poorly read. On the whole. You might be the exception. I have tried to find a list of "recommended reading" for high school students but it seems that it varies greatly. If a student is in AP classes, then they might graduate having read a minimal number of great books, but if they are in regular or below regular classes? Forget it.

I think we just so often aim for the bare minimum. I mean, functionally literate means that a person can read and write enough to understand street signs, etc. Don't get me wrong...I am so thankful there are programs for adults who cannot read or write. It brings tears to my eyes to see how grateful folks can be when they finally learn to read. How horrible to go through life without being able to!

But I'm tired of the bare minimum. I want my children---and myself---(and S wants this too for himself) to be well-read. There are SO many books and works that we have never read. Books I have heard about my whole life but have never actually opened and read.

I've been thinking about all of this for a few months now. I think it really shook me up when I opened Gulliver's Travels earlier this year and couldn't understand it! Good grief.

So, here is what I'm doing about it:

1. The girls are working off of the 1,000 Good Books List. I am getting whatever I can from the library (and not all of them will be found there) and reading with them this summer. I have requested books from all over our county. I will highlight each book they have read and see how many we can get through this summer. Some we have already read or own, so I'm just marking those off. It's not that many though.

2. S and I went to Barnes and Noble the other night and bought 3 of their paperback classics. They had a deal for "buy 2, get 1 free". However, nothing rang up free at the register so we got back in line and because they had "screwed up" (in the very professional words of the cashier), we got the most expensive one for free. Awesome. So we are sitting on our garage sale double-recliner couch each evening, with our reading glasses on because we are in our 40s..and reading classic literature.

Soon, we'll be so smart you won't be able to understand my blog.

3. We hope, one day, to read some of the books on the 100 Great Books list. Honestly, I'm not sure I could read and comprehend some of those right now. Better get all these high school level books read first. We might settle for being able to read and understand the King James Version, a thing which I often cannot do now.

I think your blog reading is safe.

Curriculum Choices for 2011-2012 School Year

**Deep breath**

Don't you just LOVE picking out and browsing and searching and researching curriculum??? I do. I absolutely love it. I think I'm just about done making decisions for next year. All that's left now is to actually....pay for it.

And plan it, teach it, blah blah blah. Details, details.

Here we go....oh, for new readers my girls are 7 and 11. They will be entering 2nd grade and 6th grade. Well, probably more like "first and 1/2" but that's a topic for another time.

Math
I will not need to buy anything for math right now. (Whew!) Sweetheart will be finishing the last 10 lessons or so of this

and then starting this

Little Bit will be continuing to work on this

Bible
We'll get back to this in a minute. But the curriculum we were using last year, we still love. I don't think we'll have time for this in our school day, so we will use it some nights for family worship time.

Handwriting

Sweetheart will use this

and Little Bit will use this

Pretty simple and easy.

English/Language/Writing/Grammar

For the first time ever I will be teaching these topics! I chose this 

based on Erin's TOS review. Sweetheart is SO excited about this curriculum. I am too, honestly.

Little Bit will be using something similar to what Kenny is doing in this post. I cannot find those printable pages for the life of me, but I can make some. She will also have copywork.


Spelling

We will continue using All About Spelling. Love it. Can't say enough good things about it. Sweetheart will be on Level 4 and Little Bit on Level 2. (I'm an affiliate so if you buy....click that link!)

Science

This one is up in the air. Not the curriculum we'll be using, but how much we'll be in each other's business. For Little Bit, I chose this

but I want Sweetheart to do it too. We will hopefully use these

But Sweetheart needs more than that. Along with Carrie's kiddos, she will be doing this





and using these

But I want Little Bit to do that too. So...they may just "sit in" with each other. Probably I will just act like both of them are for both of them, you know? I'll figure out how to work them both in later.

And now for the exciting one (and expensive one!). We will be using this for History and Reading (and Bible)

Sweetheart will be studying core D+E (American History) from Sonlight. I am thrilled. I've eyed that Sonlight catalog for years. When I finally sat down with S and confessed what I really wanted to use he said, "How much?" Then I told him. And then he said, "That's nothing. Get it." I love him so much. (Thank you for mowing honey!) And our Bible will be taken care of through this curriculum.

And then last week I decided I really wanted her own thing for Little Bit. But buying core A new does not make sense as 1. we don't have the money for both cores and 2. there are no others behind her to use it. So I am going to beg, borrow, and check out this core in pieces. I'll git 'er done, but it's going to take work.

Along with that (here comes the "first and 1/2")...Little Bit and I started using this at the end of last school year.

We are going to keep plugging along in it until reading clicks for her. She's getting there. It's exciting to watch. She is enjoying this book a lot and it is working so much better than anything we've done previously. Maybe the timing is just right? But we'll keep going with that book as long as it's useful to us.

I am so excited about all these choices--especially the new ones. Math, Handwriting, and Spelling are old hat so they aren't as exciting. :)

I hope this post is helpful.. If you have any questions about anything I've chosen, I will be happy to answer them. I know curriculum choices are very personal and we are all so blessed to homeschool these days with so many choices before us. Paying for all this is going to take work, and honestly I'm not buying all this. I'll share about the finances of curriculum next time.

The Power of the Written Word

Little Bit has found it. In church last week, she was sitting at a little table beside our big table (this was Bible study). She had gotten out of her chair several times to hand things to her sister or whatnot and I had "encouraged her" to stay seated. So a few minutes later, this little slip of paper comes sliding across the table towards me.

KAU i si
T Bi U
WOW

It says, "Can I sit by you Mom?" OK, some of the letters are upside down. We may need to work on spacing...but I could READ it! She was delighted. And I think felt quite powerful.

A few days later she "wrote" a book. She writes books all the time. It involves her drawing the pictures and then coming to "read" the story to me. Sometimes I write it down. Sometimes I don't. (She writes a lot of books.) Most of the time, even if it's a book she wrote a year ago, she still remembers the story line. The kid has a sharp memory. Seriously, it's like freaky sharp. She was looking for her lost DS game last week and remembered that the last time she played it was at the pizza restaurant. That was well over a month ago. And she remembers what errands we ran prior to that meal at the pizza place. And probably what she was wearing.

Anyway, she started to "read" the book to me and I stopped her. Her vocabulary was so good I knew I needed to write this one down.

The book was called "Spi Kat."

"In a house deep in the woods and far away...lived Spy Cat. (I edited that name as I typed) He lived in a garage, but the owner didn't know he was a spy!

Spy Cat had a mission at the museum. The diamond was stolen!

He looked high and low.

His friend met Spy Cat at the museum.

They found it! A guy named Dr. Boot had it.

They both got plans to get it. His friend with the scar thought of slapping him with his tail. Spy Cat thought of killing him and getting the diamond. (Violent much?)

Back at the lab, Dr. Boot had the diamond in a special case.

Spy Cat's helper pushed Dr. Boot down. The diamond rolled out of his hands and Spy Cat's helper caught it.

The museum had the diamond again and Spy Cat and his helper were heroes."

The only help I gave her was to verify and type proper names instead of pronouns, which can get confusing when all the characters are "he."

This is a child who can barely write a note--mostly in upside down capital letters--but she is most definitely a writer. How? How can it happen that a 7 year old who only knows CVC words can write?

All I can think is, she's been read to. A lot. She's heard her sister's books that she has written. She's been encouraged and provided with paper.

Is she "on schedule" for a first grader? Absolutely not. She would be considered VERY behind in public school. But I am loving watching this child become a reader and writer. Sure, it's taking longer than I thought it would..but it's happening. And it's very exciting to watch.

In Which I Become Literate

Great Illustrated Classics have been some of Sweetheart's favorites for well over a year now. They are condensed version of....classics. Huh. And guess what else? They have illustrations!

I am a wealth of knowledge.

Anyway, they can be had for very cheap at Michael's stores. Strange combination, I know. Also our local used book store has a good stock and then we borrowed a bunch from my sister. They were a perfect reading level for her for quite some time (actually, I do remember having to read them to her at first) but now they are easy.

In part thanks to the book club we were in, and also these books, I have finally read books that I have only heard about my whole life. I knew the term "Liliputians" but honestly had no idea that was associated with Gulliver's Travels. But I totally read "The Natural" for a novel unit in high school and then watched the movie, so there's always that.

Sweetheart just finished reading Little Women and we watched the 90s version last night. SO enjoyable. I could not have told you ONE THING about Little Women before this year even though I've heard of the book all my life.

I have to say, Sweetheart catches references in books and movies and even cartoons all the time because of reading these classics. I think that's part of what being literate is about.

Now, do I want her to read the original versions? Maybe. Some of them. That would be good. But having read these condensed versions, she knows enough of the story that it will make reading the original easier.

I highly recommend them.

And also, what DID I read in high school? Why am I so illiterate and poorly read?

I'm telling you, Sonlight and I are going to be friends next year. I want my chidlren reading GOOD books.

Do high schools have a required reading list? I bet there are no standards and that it varies from state to state and district to district. I also bet I wouldn't want my children reading half of what's on those lists. Tell me how it works where you live.

Getting Books Your Kids Can Read

So, I totally overwhelmed you all with my information on Lexile Reading levels a few weeks ago. It's really useful once you get the hang of it and I know I still owe you that post on early readers.

But....I found out something cool and wanted to share. If you order books from Scholastic, they have Lexile levels for the books!

What this means is, you can actually click on a range of Lexile levels and they will show you all the books in that range that are for sale. This way, you can be sure that what you are ordering for you child (or at least some of what you are ordering, after all, some books are for read alouds or just for fun) are in a range they can actually be expected to read. You can also just look at the information on each book and the Lexile level is provided at the bottom.

Very useful if you are needing independent reading material for your kiddo.

And if you aren't ordering from Scholastic, you really should! You can get cheaper games in their "Click" flyer. I ordered Math Blaster for DS! Many of their games, just like their books, are cheaper than stores.

By the way, I've actually been posting at my other blog this week quite a lot! Who knew I would have so much to say about food and my kitchen? Big things happening over there! Here's a sneak peek:

Go check it out! (see sidebar)

Deciphering Reading Levels: You Need Three

I'm glad some of you were interested in this topic. I really hope that some of this information will be helpful. Make me feel like all those hours spent in inservice and training eating snack mix and drinking lemonade were worth it.

So, I know how to test children to find their reading level and I have the testing packet to do it. I have tested a few homeschooled kids and found their level. But levels change weekly. You don't need to know how to do that but there is something you should know.

Everyone has not one magical reading level but 3 reading levels. Easy, Instructional, and Hard. This is pretty easy to figure out and you probably already know this even if you've never heard it put this way.

A book that is on an Easy level for your child is a book that they read quickly with very few errors. When they are first learning to read, these books become memorized quite easily. That's OK. I heard once that good readers come to school with at least 10 books memorized. Like, for example, Brown Bear Brown Bear or Goodnight Moon or Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. So mom, reading that book to them for the 178th time IS good for them! But it doesn't have to be a memorized book. For Sweetheart, the American Girl books and the Magic Tree House series would all fall in her Easy level. She reads them in one sitting, comprehends what she is reading, and doesn't struggle with the words. Easy.

Instructional level books are the ones they NEED to read in order to get better at reading. These are the chapter books that Sweetheart has to work at a bit more.  These are the books that she has to ask me questions about while she's reading. Technically, an Instructional level is one that they read with 90-95% accuracy. So, they may read it pretty well, but they need a bit of help. Maybe they are having trouble working out several words, maybe they aren't comprehending it as well, they just need some help. Instructional.

Now, every child also has a Hard reading level. This is bad. You don't want them to spend time with hard books. Hard books are frustrating and you don't get much out of them. Hard books are where they miss a lot of the words, struggle through a lot of the text, don't understand it very well, and have to pause, repeat themselves, etc. all through the reading. Hard.

YOU, Mama, have these three levels too. I can pick up pretty much any children's book and it will fall into the Easy category for me. Instructional might be hard to find, but there are books which I would have to work a little harder to understand and from which I could learn. And, sad to say, I found out earlier this year that the original version of Gulliver's Travels definitely falls into my Hard category. I read two whole pages, skipping some words, and when I was finished I was all, "huh?" Have you been there?

So what does this mean for your kiddos? It means your children need to spend time in two levels, Easy and Instructional. It means it's OK to let your children read that which is easy for them. Easy is enjoyable. Easy is good practice. If they don't read enough Easy books, then let them read "babyish" books to their little brothers and sisters. It's good practice. It builds confidence. And when a book is Easy, they are freed up from the work of reading and can notice details they haven't before. It will most likely be during a reading of an Easy book that your child pays more attention to punctuation. When you aren't struggling with the text, you can notice those quotation marks more. So, keep those Easy books around. Use them to teach grammar! Easy = good.

But you must find Instructional books for your child as well. This is much more difficult. Instructional books are not Easy, but they aren't hard. They are in the middle, but the middle is a narrow strip. Now if you have a reluctant reader, it might be more difficult to decide if the book is really Hard or they just don't want to try. But I'm going to give you some resources next week that you can use to find just the right book.

So, in summary:

1. Let your child read Easy books. Easy is different for everyone. Beginning readers might not have very many things that fall into the Easy category, but I'm going to teach you next week how to get your hands on some Easy readers for the just starting out child. Easy should be enjoyable but not boring.

2. Find books that are Instructional. Instructional is different for everyone. And it changes. I remember when Sweetheart couldn't read the American Girl books by herself. Now they bore her. These levels climb up and up each year. That's good. I guess the word I'm looking for is challenging. They should challenge them when they read, but not frustrate them too much. You should read Instructional books WITH your child because there will be a lot of teachable moments during the reading of the book.

3. Stay away from Hard books. But remember: what was Hard a few months ago, might be just right now. It changes. But don't make your child read books in their Hard level. Nothing will turn a reluctant reader off faster than that. Not sure? Have them read a page. Hold up a finger for every word they mis-read or struggle through or skip. If you get all 5 fingers up by the end of the page, there is a good chance the book is too hard. You know your child best though. If they are terribly motivated by the content, they may want to read it. Use your best judgement and don't frustrate them too much. If you need a reminder, try to read Gulliver's Travels. (or whatever is Hard for you!)

Next week: Reliable Leveling

Deciphering Reading Levels

First of all, this is going to take more than one post. I know that right now.

Second of all, I am not an expert. Some of you have more years of homeschooling under your belt and will have lots to share on this subject. I welcome your thoughts.

Thirdly, I sat through a LOT OF TRAINING in my former life as a teacher and I'd like it all to mean something, OK?

There is a lot of confusion in the way books are leveled. Please do not think that teachers just walk over to the library and pull a book off the shelf and have a student read it. Teachers, at least in the district where I taught, have whole rooms full of emergent readers that have been specially leveled. Testing occurs at the beginning, middle, and end of the year to let teachers know what level each student reads on. Then they put the kids in a group with similar-leveled children, pull leveled emergent readers out, and read with them. Throughout the year, teachers take "running records" on students as they read...which helps them know to the percentage point if a child read the book with 95% accuracy or 60% accuracy, and whether they should move up or down a level for that child.

Teachers have a lot of work, folks.

In the olden days when I first began teaching, we had none of that. We had a set of "basal readers." Basal readers are a textbook adopted and chosen by the state and given to teachers at the beginning of the year in the form of a class set of 22. Every child in the class got out the book, turned to page 17, and started reading together. Which did not work, by the way. By the time I finished teaching, 11 years later...teachers just left those basal readers on the shelf.

Where I taught, all the teachers in Kindergarten through second grade were trained in guided reading. In addition to the book levels that regular classroom teachers used, which were the Fountas and Pinnell levels, I also had training in Reading Recovery. But we had charts that told you how a F&P level corresponded to a RR level. Then, there are Scholastic Levels, DRA levels, just plain old grade levels...it goes on and on. Oh mercy, there is science to this stuff I'm telling you.

There are many, many other ways to level books and none of them seem to have anything to do with the other. For example, some publishers just go ahead and level their own books. This results in frustration when a parent or grandparent purchases a book that says "Pre-Kindergarten" and the child cannot read it. I do not trust ANY book that has been leveled by a publisher. I want to know that book's level based on F&P, or RR, or DRA....levels that are based on research.

There is so much that goes into deciding a book's level. You, dear homeschool mom, don't need to know everything about book levels, but it is helpful to think about what all is considered when leveling them the correct way. How many syllables are in the words, the level of vocabulary, the length of sentences, the decodability of the words, the number of different words used, the predictability, the use of patterns, and on and on and on.


It is probably not too hard to figure out when thinking about emergent reading books, but leveling gets a lot harder when your child moves on up into chapter books. Then, if you have a great reader they may be able to read books they really don't need to be reading content-wise, or if you have a child who is struggling to read and are way over the age of reading Fancy Nancy, even though the level is appropriate... what do you do then?



Here is an example of a publisher leveled book.

It's confusing though. If you read the notes inside, they intend for parent to read this TO the child. Big difference.





Let's assume this was a book for your young child to read: the only word that repeats is "the." There is a pattern though, and the pictures support the text. Also making it harder? The text begins in a different place on each page and sentences are broken into 2 or 3 lines which requires visual tracking.



Still, "borrowed"? Later, the words "juggled" and "attached" show up. These are HARD words folks and not ones that will naturally be assumed by looking at the pictures.

I'm going to share some things to help all us homeschool moms---all we homeschool moms? to figure all this out. Knowing a bit about reading levels can really help you choose the proper books for your children.

Up next: Everyone needs three.