Reading Troubles

This is where new posts begin. All questions or discussions about any of Heart of Dakota's curriculums start here. If you wish to share a one-time post about your family's experience with our curriculum, you may post under the specific curriculum title (found beneath this "Main Board" heading).
Post Reply
nena3927
Posts: 114
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2013 10:10 pm

Reading Troubles

Post by nena3927 » Tue Jun 03, 2014 10:26 pm

My ds 6 is on lesson 17 in The Reading Lesson and it has become absolutely TERRIBLE to get him through a lesson the past 2 weeks. We are out on summer break but we are continuing with one page per day in TRL till we start school back at the end of July. This year he has done well in TRL for the most part but there were many lessons that started or ended with tears :( Some of this is an attitude problem which we are working on but as we progress through the lessons he is having more trouble not having a "breakdown" I guess due to the larger words he is supposed to read. I think one thing that I failed this year in doing was letting him move too quickly through the lessons and not stopping and drilling the key words at the end of each lesson till he had them down pat before we moved on. I'm looking for encouragement on what to do with him. I'm pretty stern when it comes to school work getting done (maybe too stern idk) but I've told him, "You can do this today in 15 minutes or 2 hours but you're not getting off this couch until its done". Its getting really hard and today he said he hated reading which broke my heart. I feel like a failure and don't know what to do. Like I said some of this is an attitude problem but some of it I think is also the difficulty in the new words we are reading. Has this happened to anyone else??? What did you do? I just sat down and made flashcards with all the key words on them and thought about not letting him move to lesson 18 until all those words were memorized. I also have Alpha Phonics which I got really cheap from a used homeschool sale and thought about taking a break from TRL and using that for awhile to give ds a change. Then I thought about getting All About Reading instead to see if that would help him but it is so expensive and he has done pretty well in TRL until now and only has 3 lessons left. I'm really at a loss. Any advice would greatly be appreciated. Thank you!
~Nena
Blessed Wife and Mother of 3 :)
DS (7) Beyond
DD (5) Beyond
DS (4) Loving R&S Preschool Workbooks

MelInKansas
Posts: 1700
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:32 pm

Re: Reading Troubles

Post by MelInKansas » Tue Jun 03, 2014 10:35 pm

Lesson 17 - wow - nearly done!

My 2nd born daughter had this kind of a struggle somewhere in the middle of learning to read. Reading would bring her to tears every single day and she told me it was "too hard." Now for her, she gets frustrated if something isn't perfect the first time so I know that was part of it. But I would not discount the tears if the child is generally compliant about school and this is the only area where he is struggling. That can be a sign that it is too much too quickly and he needs to slow down or take a break. I did not want to stop reading practice for several reasons, first because I knew she "could" do it, second because I didn't want to send the message that when you cry or complain we are going to stop doing it, third it just seemed wrong to me. But I listened to others' advice and did stop for a couple of weeks, talked with her before we started again, and started again more slowly with a different program. I would encourage you to consider doing something similar. For us, the tone of reading time just needed to change. She still gets frustrated when she can't figure out a word the first time, but what I think she needed most was time to mature so that it was not as difficult of a struggle. Areas like reading and writing, you do not want to push it too fast, too early because all you will get out of that is a child who hates reading or writing and always feels incompetent or defeated.

A couple of your reactions, like drilling the words, seem like trying to keep beating on something that you and he are obviously already very frustrated with. Also it is not about memorizing the words, he really needs to be able to sound out and break down words. One thing a friend of mine whose child struggled with reading (by this I mean not reading well until about age 9) told me is that she learned that children have to be able to hold a certain amount of information in their heads in order to be able to read well, especially the longer words. This only comes with maturity, there is no way to train them in this. They just need to grow into that ability. Since he is only 6, he is ahead and not behind and you should relax and give him some time, take it slowly, and season it with grace. I hope this is helpful.
Melissa
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end"

DD12 - Rev to Rev + DITHOR 6/7/8
DD10 - CTC + DITHOR 2/3
DD7 - Bigger + ERs
DS5 - LHFHG
DD2 - ABC123
2 babies in heaven

nena3927
Posts: 114
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2013 10:10 pm

Re: Reading Troubles

Post by nena3927 » Wed Jun 04, 2014 12:02 am

Thank you Melissa for your encouraging words! My ds sounds alot like your dd...if he doesn't get the word right the first time, he breaks down. It is so hard for me to stop reading completely as I feel we have gone so far and are sooo close to finishing TRL. I noticed that by not doing TRL for just one week, I had to remind my son several times of certain sounds because he could not remember them after just taking that short of a break. Maybe it is a maturity issue. Since he has trouble remembering some of the letter sounds themselves I really don't think he could handle a program that teaches a lot of "rules" too. I just don't think he could remember everything. He can sound out words pretty good but I read in the beginning of TRL tonight where they said to make sure the child knew the key words really well before progressing to the next lesson so that's where I thought I had messed up with him. I only stayed one or two days on the key words and then moved on to the next lesson. I feel the same way about the tone of reading needing to change in our home. I want him to love reading not cry over it :(
~Nena
Blessed Wife and Mother of 3 :)
DS (7) Beyond
DD (5) Beyond
DS (4) Loving R&S Preschool Workbooks

countrymom
Posts: 770
Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:16 pm

Re: Reading Troubles

Post by countrymom » Wed Jun 04, 2014 4:30 am

My son really struggles too and we are on lesson 15. The key words are important, but for a struggling reader just memorizing them can be hard. I have handled the key words by reviewing them at the beginning of our reading session everyday after we go into the next lesson. So if we just finished chapter 15 I would review those words (once) at the beginning of our session everyday we were in chapter 16 until finished with that. After that I go on to the next chapter words. If he gets them well sooner, I quit, if not I go on anyway. I also go slow and go back through each chapter at least once, but now that we are farther in usually two times. I use a timer and set it to a limit that pushes him slightly, but it doable. I have broken our reading session into two segments and we go 10 minutes the first segment and 7 the second. I am about to push that up to 10 on the second as well. I have also added in level 1 reading books that he likes like Thomas the Train. These books are variable and may have words he doesn't know, but he loves the books and can figure some of them out be context. If not I just tell him the word. He can read a lot of the words and it builds his confidence and gives him something to look forward to. I do that in our 2nd session of reading. I do the key word review at the beginning of our 1st session. With the timer, if he gets off course and starts not focusing our dinging around I turn it off and get him redirected, then I turn it on again.
One last thought, I use a pencil as my son reads and place the point under the letter or letter combination that he is sounding out. If I know he knows the word, I just place it under the middle of the word. This really helps him, especially in sounding out. I would say hang in there, but don't push too hard. My son is 7 1/2 and many 6 yr olds are simply not ready to read yet. My son really struggled at 6 and I didn't do anything more than basic phonics such as letter sounds and basic 3 letter words.
Countrymom
Wife to J
Big J - LHFHG, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, R2R, Rev to Rev, Modern Missions, beginning parts of World Geography
Little J - LHTH, LHFHG, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, working in CTC

MelInKansas
Posts: 1700
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:32 pm

Re: Reading Troubles

Post by MelInKansas » Wed Jun 04, 2014 7:03 am

You don't have to stop completely, but I think 2 weeks off would make a big difference. Yes, he will probably "lose" some in that time but it will be easily regained. My DD also needs lots of confidence when doing things that are hard for her. Slowing it down helped, she felt more confident that she could do it well, and lots and lots and lots of praise. We have talked through over and over again that missing words the first time does not mean that she can't do it and she didn't do anything wrong, that it is important to keep trying until you can get it and most of all that she CAN do it. We would have our most tear-filled sessions, we would stop for a break and come back and she would get through and then I would say "see, you CAN do it, you just needed to keep trying." I am trying to learn more patience and compassion especially with her as it does not help at all if I get frustrated too. She is a girl, so sometimes we just had to stop and I had to hug and hold her while she finished crying and got her frustration out.

If he can at least read a lot of words in Lesson 17 maybe a break to read BOB books or something like that for a while that's pretty easy and will give him more confidence? Then go back to TRL and maybe back up a bit to work your way back up to Lesson 17? Just some suggestions, you probably know what is best better than I do (and God knows what is very best so pray for wisdom!)
Melissa
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end"

DD12 - Rev to Rev + DITHOR 6/7/8
DD10 - CTC + DITHOR 2/3
DD7 - Bigger + ERs
DS5 - LHFHG
DD2 - ABC123
2 babies in heaven

Tidbits of Learning
Posts: 303
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:18 am

Re: Reading Troubles

Post by Tidbits of Learning » Wed Jun 04, 2014 7:51 am

Here are my thoughts on learning to read. If you can instill a love of reading early, then you are way ahead of the game when it comes to school for the rest of the school career. If you instill a dread of reading, you will fight an uphill battle the rest of the school career. It is summer. I would put the book away. I would check out books from the library over the summer and do night time read alouds or pick a storytime book to get through together this summer, but I would not force the issue.
FWIW, about mid-way through The Reading Lesson with both of my boys, we had to take a breather. They had reached a plateau and needed to hang out there and feel confident in their skills before moving forward. Bob books are really good for feeling out those early skills to help them feel confident in their current reading abilities. Yes, we reached plateaus with reading and buying more curricula was not the answer. Pushing reading more for the day to get finished did not help either. It made my one son loathe school work for about a year and it definitely slowed down his reading progress. It took a long time to get back that love of learning or the want to try to read. I would honestly just put the books away for summer break.
2020-2021
dd20, dd19 Grown and Flown :D
ds18-12th grade at hybrid school
ds14-8th grade MTMM President's Study and Science

StephanieU
Posts: 1652
Joined: Tue May 21, 2013 7:10 pm

Re: Reading Troubles

Post by StephanieU » Wed Jun 04, 2014 7:54 am

We had to do something similar to Tidbits as well. We didn't use TRL, but my daughter hit a wall using another program as well. We slowed WAY down with that and focused on reading. We read all of the Bob books, starting at level 1. We also read some My First I can Read books. When she was reading well with those (almost all short words), then we picked up the reading curriculum again and went full speed while continuing to read real books (Bob books, My First, and Level 1 I can Read books). This was almost a year ago, and now she is doing great with the Emerging Readers (ready for Unit 15 I think now).
Hopefully knowing that it is common for kids to hit this sort of wall will help you!
Mom to
DD15 US1 (completed LHFHG-WH)
DS13 MtMM (completed LHFHG-Rev2Rev plus some of LHTH)
DD12 Rev2Rev (completed LHTH-RtR)
DS7 Beyond (completed LHTH-LHFHG)

nena3927
Posts: 114
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2013 10:10 pm

Re: Reading Troubles

Post by nena3927 » Thu Jun 05, 2014 2:12 pm

Thank you so much ladies for your replies! I have been given several great tidbits of advice! I have put aside TRL for now. I may not start it again till the end of July when we start school back. I will definitely do the review of key words when we resume though at the beginning of each session as countrymom suggested. I don't know why I never thought of that! I have the 'Now I'm Reading" first set of books and just ordered the second, he prefers those over the Bob books and loves that they come with stickers that matches each book he is reading. I think my ds really does just need a break right now from "formal" lessons because once I pulled out the Nora Graydos books he read the first five yesterday with no problems and has followed me around today wanting to read several more. Maybe I haven't ruined him yet! I have a very "follow the book exactly and box checker" type personality so I'm gonna have to learn to accommodate my children's needs. Its also very good to hear that others have went through this same situation with their children as well. Thank you so much for sharing ladies :)
~Nena
Blessed Wife and Mother of 3 :)
DS (7) Beyond
DD (5) Beyond
DS (4) Loving R&S Preschool Workbooks

Nealewill
Posts: 1611
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2013 5:08 pm
Location: Cincinnati, OH

Re: Reading Troubles

Post by Nealewill » Thu Jun 05, 2014 2:50 pm

I also think taking some time off sounds great. For each of my kids, 6 was basically the magical age of being disagreeable and obstinant about school :-). With my first I felt bad. By the second one I noticed a pattern LOL. Don't worry, my 6 year old has an attitude right now as well with the subjects she hates :-) I think consistency is key. Taking it slow if they need it.

I will say, AAR is going to be similar to the TRL in structure and everything. So if you child hates TRL, they are going to dislike AAR just as much. I used AAR for my middle child because he has a language delay and could not read multi syllable words. We have used level 2 and 3. But now he can read pretty much everything. I find that with any reading program, there is a transition that happens between reading the words they learn in the program and reading real books. Once they learn basic phonics, it seems like the emerging readers are focusing on similar sounds throughout the various books. Those are great.

Maybe for a break have you tried the Bob Books? My youngest DD loved those! She actually taught herself to read when she was 3 and 4. She read those things like crazy! Also, she loves all the Dr. Suess rhyming books and the letter a books and the number books. In general, she just loved to be read to and to read!

And if it makes you feel better, some kids are reading for reading early, some aren't. My oldest didn't really catch on to reading well until she was 8. And my son started reading much better very recently (he turns 8 tomorrow!!!!!). Even as a child I was terrible at reading. I was very slow and didn't sound things out well. Now as an adult, I am fine :-) So everyone is different. I wouldn't worry about him struggling or jumping the program unless you feel there is a huge problem and a huge gap. But at that, ARR is going to be structured very similarly to TRL so he will probably still complain.
Daneale

DD 13 WG
DS 12 R2R
DD 10 R2R

Enjoyed DITHOR, Little Hearts, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, R2R, RevtoRev, MtMM

queenireneof3
Posts: 173
Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:44 am

Re: Reading Troubles

Post by queenireneof3 » Fri Jun 06, 2014 10:05 pm

My son (7 at the time) hit a wall with TRL around chapter 13, exactly as you described for your son. We took a semester long break from TRL (in fact I didn't think we would be back since he had such a hard time by chapter 13). We tried Hooked on Phonics K and 1st grade books given to us by a friend. They were simple enough and re-taught him all the short vowels sounds in such a relaxed manner that he decided he liked reading again! One day, after our semester long break, he picked up TLR all by himself and said, "Let's read this today." I was shocked. He FLEW through chapter 13 and the rest of the book very quickly. Sometimes reading an entire chapter in one sitting.

I think breaks can be good, especially as someone mentioned above, his meltdowns are limited to reading at this time, indicating that this truly is a tough subject right now.

I am keeping my HOP books for my daughter, who today finished lesson 12 in TRL. We shall see how she does! She prefers the HOP readers over the Bob books. HOP also has a reading app which my kids enjoy.

I was also going to mention that TRL has a companion CD-ROM that has some games and extra reading practice for each chapter. I would suggest limiting his use of that CD only to the games he enjoys. My kids get bored if they have to do the entire lesson on the CD-ROM in one sitting.
Sara Irene
wife to Brett for 16 years already!
mommy of ds B (13yo), dd S (11yo), ds S (7yo), dd (3 yo), dd (1.5yo), and two who went to meet Jesus 3/5/2014 and 7/23/14

my3sons
Posts: 10698
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Reading Troubles

Post by my3sons » Tue Jun 10, 2014 1:57 pm

Good advice! I'd take a break, and come back strong, maybe with an incentive chart. :D I'd also get the CD if you don't have it. Here is a past thread that may be helpful too...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13088&p=94201

In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

StillJulie
Posts: 394
Joined: Sat Jan 24, 2009 5:04 pm

Re: Reading Troubles

Post by StillJulie » Tue Jun 10, 2014 3:35 pm

my3sons wrote:Good advice! I'd take a break, and come back strong, maybe with an incentive chart. :D I'd also get the CD if you don't have it. Here is a past thread that may be helpful too...
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13088&p=94201

In Christ,
Julie
Thanks for the reminder about the CD. I just ordered it for my struggling reader.
16yo DD using US History 1 for 11th grade
14yo DS using World Geography for 9th grade
13yo DS using Rev to Rev for 7th grade
10yo DD using Creation to Christ for 5th grade
8yo DD using Bigger for 3rd grade
7yo DD using Beyond Hearts for 2nd grade

Tooactiveboys
Posts: 55
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2013 5:44 am

Re: Reading Troubles

Post by Tooactiveboys » Fri Jun 13, 2014 4:27 am

Hi, my 6 year old is just starting the reading lesson. I found a book "games for reading : playful ways to help your child read" by Peggy Kaye. I got it used off amazon and our public library carries it too. It can offer fun, quick ways to review sight words and key words. A good way to make it fun over the summer. I plan on doing a review week every 5 lessons with a variety of the reading games suggested in the book.
Becky
Married to DH 21 years
DS 9 just finishing Bigger
DS 8 just finishing Bigger
Completed: LHFG, Beyond

nena3927
Posts: 114
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2013 10:10 pm

Re: Reading Troubles

Post by nena3927 » Mon Jun 16, 2014 11:09 pm

Thank you so much for your replies! The link was so helpful Julie! And I'll be looking into the reading games book as well Becky...it sounds like something my ds would really enjoy! Again thank you ladies so much for all the help and encouragement. I really appreciate you guys!
~Nena
Blessed Wife and Mother of 3 :)
DS (7) Beyond
DD (5) Beyond
DS (4) Loving R&S Preschool Workbooks

Post Reply