It's the final week of the two weeks break. Glad to have a break from work. Reese is having fun playing at home minus the Ipad for a few days which is a good thing. He plays with his toys, reads, draws and watch some cartoons. He was ban from the Ipad for 3 days for misbehaving... hehehe....
Lately I realized that Reese will read anything that he picks up. Read as in really reading the words. Previously, he will only look at pictures and read when I asked him to. Reading is no longer a task but enjoyment for him. He reads very quickly and so fast that he will miss out words along the way or add in his own words! He is capable of reading chapter books but prefers books with lots of illustration. When we go out, he will read signs, prints and etc. and often asked the meanings of words, phases and sentences.
When we do out studies, Reese does the reading instead of me now. My role is to supervise and explain things to him. I am so pleased with his reading progress. With him reading willingly, he is learning more and more things from books. Whenever I pick him up from school, he is usually reading quietly at the reading corner. Reese loves science and he will tell us many things that he picked up from the 'I Wonder Why' series. I have about 5 of these books in the car for him to read and rotate the titles every now and then. We are reading 1 new story book a day for the past few days. He is currently obsessed with the book 'Pompeii Buried Alive' (Step into Reading series Step 4).
Tested his reading level a few weeks back and he is now reading at Grade 3 level.
8 comments:
Keep it up!
Thanks Mery!
Great job! Is Reese reading at a 3rd grade level based on sight words or is he able to decode words using phonics and also comprehend the words that he is reading?
Curious Parent
Hi Curious Parent,
I tested Reese using 3rd grade level books and some reading test that is readily available
on the net and he reads comfortably. He decodes words using both phonics and sight. He has no problem understanding whatever that he reads. If he doesn't understand something, he will ask and usually, when he does reading with me, I will have a Q&A session with him to make sure he comprehends whatever he reads. When he was young, he was first taught phonetics. Sight words came naturally when he started to read. It's only this year that he is really into reading. He learns a lot of things by just reading. He now understand that reading gives him pleasure as well as knowledge. He is not into chapter books. He loves books with pictures. I invest heavily on books. I do read aloud with him and every other day, I will get him to read a book to me and we enjoy it together.
Wow!
I am delighted to hear that. Many young minds are just memorizing the shapes of letters and words with no comprehension or phonic skills; and people call that reading. You are obviously doing the right things as a parent. I am working with my children on phonics. I have a 4 year 2 months and we have gone through the alphabet and sounds (vowels and consonants). I just wish he was more interested in learning to read beyond that. Also what suggestions do you have for critical thinking books. Also what curriculum did you use for preK? Was it Sonlight?
Thank you for your response.
Curious Parent
Curious Parent,
For critical thinking, I only managed to find a few for young children. Check out my post on critical thinking for the titles. http://reesematthewkam.blogspot.com/2011/02/critical-thinking-skills.html
I bought Pre-K and K Sonlight cores. I love it because it is rich in knowledge and yet not overwhelming for young kids. On top of that, I use Horizon Math. I also supplement other books as and when necessary and use the Internet for multimedia. One thing, we hardly do any craft because I am lazy and my son is not really interested in it. :)
There are many curriculum out there but at such a young age, you can always just mix and match and look at the booklist of these homeschool curriculums and get books that you think will benefit your kids. I must say, some books being part of the core I purchased were redundant either because my son is not into it or it's targeted at Americans which we are not. :)
At first I was really overwhelm with the amount of preparation work before teaching ( I am lazy) then as I work with the material, I realized that I do not have to do every single thing like lap booking, mini books, crafts ...etc Just do what is really necessary to help retain information in your child. If your child understands and remembers... do not need to do extra activities like lap booking ....
Teaching a child is no easy feat. Some children are easy to teach and some need a lot of motivation. I have taught all kinds of students and found that being patient and understanding their learning style are very important. Never force or belittle a child. Every little success should be rewarded with praises to help motivate the child and give them a sense of achievement. Over time, challenge them to do better. Never rush a child into learning something.
Hope what I said make sense to you... :)
Thank you for the detailed response. I love it! Also I will save money on books with your suggestion. It was getting to be so very expensive buying all the "right books and all the right manipulatives." I'm in the USA and I was able to locate more C.T. books, so let me know if you are interested. It appears that your son is gifted in the arts and has excellent spatial reasoning skills. Compared to Reese's playmates ( or other scholars his age) is he way above the curve in reading and math or is this the norm for children in your area? I am concerned that we are not providing our children with enough learning opportunites here in the states and would like make a change. You can email me if you wish at projectread@hotmail.com
Keep up the blog...it is so inspirational.
Educationally yours,
Curious Parent
Curious Parent,
In Malaysia English is the second language after Bahasa Malaysia. In government school, every thing is taught in Bahasa except the English Language.
Children here have to learn at least two languages and for some 3 languages. For Reese, English is the only language he knows and we are trying to teach him some Chinese our mother tongue.
Reese is definitely way beyond his peers for both reading and math and the test I used to test his reading level were based on American standard.
To give you an idea, Children at age 7(formal schooling) in Malaysia learns extremely simple English and probably equivalent to Kindy and 1st Grade (American standard). Reese is turning 5 end of next month and he is already reading at 3rd grade level. :)
I can tell you opportunities for learning in Malaysia is far worse than US. :) Will email you one of these days and 'chat'. It's always fun to get to know like minded people! Cheers!
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