Anything to watch for when kids pick hard books to free read

[Shimmer]

My 6yo finished 100 EZ last May and is half way through the Emerging Readers set. She is doing pretty well. Making little mistakes with skipping over small words, but answers the questions pretty well. I think she has been doing great.

I've just been really surprised that she seems to think she can read anything. Last week at the library she picked out a A to Z mystery (mainly because it had a horse on the cover). It has 10 chapters and 80+ pages. I figured she'd just want us to read it to her, but she spends a lot of time reading it on her own. I just can't imagine that she can read well enough to get it all. Today she picked out another one and read it through twice before dinner! I haven't had her read any of it aloud to me to see how much of this she is really getting. I'm just so surprised. I would have thought she'd not continue whenever it got too hard and get frustrated. But she seems to really like them.

Anyway, I wanted to see if there was anything I needed to watch out for with her reading books that should be beyond her skill level. She doesn't ask me about words that she doesn't know and is quite independent about it. I know she has trouble reading "ph" as a "f" and there has to be plenty of words she doesn't understand yet. I don't want her to develop bad habits so any advice appreciated. She is my oldest so this learning to read business is all new to me. If this is normal, then that's fine. I don't really want to discourage her, but want to make sure she continues to enjoy reading.

[Tree House Academy]

This same thing happened with my now 7 year old who is a voracious reader. With him, I allow him to read whatever he likes (approved by me, of course) and I figure that if he needs help, he will ask. He never does. I think reading is a lot like writing. When my kids "free write," I dont' edit it for grammar or spelling, paragraph unity or flow,... like I would school work. I think as long as you continue the practiced "reading aloud" during school time, she will come along on her own. My ds reads wonderfully aloud and just as wonderfully to himself. Sometime you may try reading a good sypnosis on the book she is reading and ask her to tell you about it. I was shocked when my ds started telling me historical facts from the MTH books!

[mrsrandolph]

I am a little pickier about this. In their "free reading" I still want them to be comprehending what they are reading. So, I would steer her toward books you know she can read independently. That doesn't mean there can't be challenges there. She can use context clues to figure those words out.

Stop her and ask her what the book is about. Have her narrate a bit to see if she can truly comprehend that level. Just my opinion : )

[my3sons]

I like to stock their rooms with books I first approve of, but second, with different reading levels. One thing I disliked in ps was how the Accelerated Reader program slotted dc into thinking they had to read a very small margin of books with a very select reading level. Dc would go to the library and just look for the right "numbers" on the spines. I actually had dc tell me they couldn't read a book they were very interested in because it was either "too hard" or "too easy", and they'd never even given it a try. I try to have a variety of levels available for them to read to avoid this kind of dilemma. Certainly the majority of books you'd find in their rooms probably fall within a range that is similar, but there are easier and harder books as well. I love that my older ds will go to his younger brother's room and pick a book he remembers reading way back, and I can hear him laughing as he reads it over again. In any given week, my oldest ds may read "Moby Dick", a Chuck Black book, and "McBroom's Wonderful One Acre Farm" - all very different reading levels, but yet all very enjoyable for him to read. Likewise, my middle ds may borrow his older brother's Chuck Black book, borrow his little brother's Mother Goose or Amelia Bedelia books, and read a Pet Vet book within a week. I look at my shelf and see such a range of reading levels - and that keeps it interesting for me! So, rather than worrying so much about reading level, I tend to worry more about content and the maturity factor. When it comes to teaching reading through DITHOR, however, I keep the levels tighter. HTH - but this has been a great thread and there are many good things to consider here!

In Christ,
Julie