Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Looking for answers

I'm using this book with my just turned 5 year old. We've been doing it since September and we are on lesson 47. We don't do it every day even though I'd like to. On the front cover it states that one lesson can be done in 20 minutes. I've found that the first 10 lessons were in that range but slowly they've taken longer and longer. When this happens I break them up so we don't spend too long on a lesson. So far I have been happy with this method and my son gets excited when he sees that he gets to learn a new sound on the upcoming lessons. However, because it's beginning to take longer and longer to finish a lesson I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong. Does anyone else have this problem? Also, my son is quite the perfectionist when he's reading. He gets really frustrated when he makes a mistake on a word. It's hard for us to continue the lesson because after he's messed up on a word he gets in a rut and can't seem to get out without me eventually telling him what the word is. Have any of you (my readers) had perfectionist readers? How do you help them progress after they've made mistakes?

3 comments:

Anne said...

Try giving him a break from the reading textbook, but do other activities that involve sounds, etc. Try practicing his letter sounds with chalk on the sidewalk, or in a sand box (we use a salt box.) Then, just read to him, lots and lots! Make sure he has a view of the page that your reading, and he'll start following along.

Remember, children learn at their own pace, and if he's not ready to read, pushing him won't do anything but make him hate it.

Strawberry Girl said...

My little Sione gets frustrated with his writing. He is the perfectionist with it and will breakdown sometimes so I tell him that he needs to just move on and not erase everything (which he will) and if he can't take it I end the lesson and wait until he is not tierd and/or hungry and/or grumpy. He has been all of these lately so we haven't been able to get much work done. But he was in a good mood today and was even joking about his letters. Good luck.

~Annie

Michal said...

i say it's okay to tell him what the word is if he's stuck. try to make this normal, so he doesn't feel like it means that he's failed. learning to read is challenging, and sometimes they can learn from having you read as well. just encourage him to sound it out as best he can, then gently help him if he gets it wrong. i'm not familiar with the particular book you're using, so i don't know if that's a big no-no to them, but i don't think it's a big deal. he'll get there.