Torn on if we should do Preparing Extensions??

[tiffanieh]

I've actually purchased all the extension books for my 5th grader and I was surprised at the vary degrees of reading difficulty within all the books. Some books I know he could read with no problem, while others, especially the formal way in which it is written, would be more challenging for him. I'm thinking he could read it, but would he comprehend? I don't know. I'm now kinda torn whether or not to have him do the extensions.

Then I thought I could read them, but I'll already be doing his storytime and Bigger storytime. Do you think it would be overkill? Or don't do them? Or just pick which levels I think he could read fairly well?

[LynnH]

I don't think I would do them if you think they would be a big stretch for him. They are meant for really strong readers and are optional. He will get a full curriculum by just doing the guide as scheduled.

[holdinon]

We did Preparing for 5th our first year with HOD for dd. I considered her a strong reader; however, some of the books were a stretch for her. I did not make her read the ones that she started if she wasn't grasping it within a few chapters. (She was not one to give up easily, so I knew when she said it was tough, it truly was). We just did the ones she could do fairly comfortably. Since then, she has read all of the ones we had shelved own her own. I think after going through all of Preparing, and especially during CtC, she moved to a new "place" where she had better comprehension of the more complicated writings.

We took a different approach when we added extensions for my other dd. She had been in Bigger with ds, and at first was good without the extensions. But due to finding out ds was dyslexic and changing track for him, Bigger ended up taking much longer than we had thought. This put dd into needing the extensions. She had a bit of trouble at first, but we eased into them by me reading the first chapter or two to get her "into" the story and get a good idea of what the story was about. Then she would read on her own. She comprehended much better after the preview than when she started reading from scratch. At first we only did the oral narrations (and not the written narration or notebooking page). I think we did it this was for the first two books. She transitioned quickly into doing all the reading, and then into completing the various assignments on her own.

Hope something in there helps you decide, but if you go without extensions, I wouldn't worry a bit. Preparing is plenty full for a 5th grader without them imo.

Angie

[StillJulie]

This last year, I read them to my 4th grade son. He LOVED Aesop's Fables, The Bronze Bow, Beorn the Proud, and Shakespeare Stealer. If you can, I'd try to include those either this year or some year down the road (possibly with DITHOR). He did also like Woolly Mammoth, Adam of the Road and Journey to America, but not quite as much as the others I already listed.


I also had a 6th grader in Res to Ref, which I also included my reading the extension readings to her; and a 2nd grader in Beyond; a K'er in Sonlight's PreK, and two more little girls who did LHTH sporadically.


It was a big time commitment for me this year, but it's also been our favorite year of homeschooling yet. Each of the children really loves and cherishes their time with me (and the feeling is mutual). They love the read alouds, and I really enjoyed reading great books that I'd never read before.




For next year, I have purchased the extension package for Rev to Rev and do plan to read those to my oldest. I also plan to read CtoC extensions with my fifth grader. Two are audio books, so that could cut down on my time, though I would like to listen to them with DS since I'm not familiar with either story. I plan to pick and choose from the Bigger extensions. I'll skip Pedro's Journal and Tolliver's Secret since my older boy read both of those during his Preparing year (one in the guide, the other for DITHOR). For my littlest school aged child, she'll be in LHFHG, I do plan to add in an extra reading each day, though I haven't picked out titles yet.


Sometimes I fit some of this reading in at night, sometimes while the kids are cleaning up from lunch... sometimes on a Sunday night... I'd sure prefer this to fill their spare time rather than watching tv or playing wii or something else like that.

[my3sons]

Lots of good thoughts here! I think I'd focus on him doing the daily plans of PHFHG to his utmost, as these include the skills he should be honing throughout the year. The extensions are wonderful, but in HOD they are meant for the student to read independently. If you are feeling like you need to read them because they are too much of a challenge for ds to read independently, then that challenge is therefore not necessary. However, since you already own the extensions, just putting the extension books in a basket in your ds's room and letting him read them at leisure throughout the year would be neat as well. This would naturally let him choose which books to read first (more than likely he would choose the easier ones), and perhaps by the end of the school year or so, he could have a goal to read them all. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[off2workigo]

Can you just do four extension books this year? As in...pick four, divide their readings up into even smaller doses (I just draw a line right in the book to indicate where a reading stops and where the next day should begin), and use only those? He'd get the "stretch" of attempting a good story, but without so many pages per day.

Or, don't start extensions until the middle of the year when he's had time to grow as a reader. Skip the first half. Add them in for the second half.

Note: A book that is too difficult for independent reading will be of no use other than to frustrate him. Open up a book (or preview it on a book selling website) and have him start reading a page in the middle. Put up a finger each time a word is difficult, stumbled over, or unknown. If there are five or more of these words on a page, the book is too difficult (will have too many gaps in understanding) for a child to read independently.

Alternately, you can input the title at Lexile.com and figure out the Lexile levels that pertain to your child. But, honestly, the five finger method works just as well.

-Rebecca