Common Reading Struggles

Common Reading Struggles

Questions via phone, email, and social media pour into Heart of Dakota every day. As a placement specialist and homeschool mom of 25 years, I love connecting with homeschool families! Together, we find answers to those questions, and we make some pretty amazing action plans. These talks have been such a blessing, that it occurred to me they might be to you as well… and that is where this “Let’s Talk” series came from. So, precious homeschool mom… pull up a chair, take a much deserved break, and “Let’s Talk” about… Common Reading Struggles!

The Paraphrased Question or Query

My 8 year-old is in Bigger Hearts for His Glory, and she is thriving! I’ve seen a lot of growth this past 6 months. Reading is challenging though. We started with The Reading Lesson, but we switched to Abeka when she began asking “why” letters made certain sounds. She made some progress, but then Abeka became too tense! So, we focused on reading Miss Rhonda’s Readers. She finished both sets, and she is halfway through the Emerging Reader’s Set 1 now.

There are just a few recurring things concerning to me. First, she still mixes up “B” and “D”. Unless it is a common word like “dog” or “big”, she hesitates. Second, she overthinks some words – especially those that break the rule or have more than one sound like “oo”. She tries it a few different ways, but it usually ends in frustration. Third, when she is reading she will sometimes replace a word with a different word. For instance… “Toad went to the store.” She will read it as “Toad went to a store”. I am not sure if she’s just reading too fast or guessing what the next word will be because “a” and “the” aren’t really similar.

Are these common reading struggles? Does she need an evaluation? Is another phonics program or review? Although she’s very overwhelmed by all the rules – I’m nervous that will just add to the frustration.

Common Reading Struggles Action Plan

Some phonics programs are rule-based and involve memorization of those rules to learn to read, and other phonics programs are not. The Reading Lesson does not focus on rule-based memorization, but Abeka does – which I know you discovered! Some children respond well to this, but many others are overwhelmed.

Either way, kiddos that learn to read eventually give up reciting the rules and just read, maybe only recalling a rule or two when stuck. (How many times do you recall a phonics “rule” when reading? I don’t, and I don’t think most independent readers/adults do!)

So, I completely understand the phonics path you’ve described. Children should complete at least one phonics program from start to finish, and often they need to complete two. So, I would either finish out The Reading Lesson, starting wherever you left off or a little earlier to build confidence. I’d also pull out your Miss Rhonda’s Readers books and have her read them as they come up as you finish out The Reading Lesson, making sure to teach the harder words listed first each time before she reads them.

Or, I would do Sound Bytes, which most students are able to complete in just four months, with 15 to 30 minutes of instruction per day. I think this might be all she needs! If returning to The Reading Lesson is a downer at all, I would definitely recommend Sound Bytes instead! I just want to be mindful of the cost of shipping, as you are located internationally!

Let’s Talk the Details – Common Reading Struggle… Confusing “b” and “d”

I do want to assure you that many students confuse “b” and “d”. There are little helps/sayings you can Google visuals for, such as these…  To help kids differentiate between b and d, use the “bed” trick (left hand makes b, right hand makes d), the “bat and ball” mnemonic (for b), or the “donut” analogy (d starts with a circle/donut). 

Let’s Talk the Details – Common Reading Struggle… Substituting Words

As far as her replacing words with another word in the example you gave “Toad went to the store” being read as “Toad went to a store” – that is actually quite a common reading struggle! As kiddos start to read more quickly, they may sub words such as this. We do it too as adults when we read quickly in our head!

As long as the sub makes sense, as it does in this case, just don’t interrupt her flow of reading. This substitution makes sense in context, so let her keep going with it. If it doesn’t make sense (i.e. Toad went to three store), then I’d help her correct her reading. Ask her, “Does ‘Toad went to three store?’ make sense?

Let’s Talk the Details – Evaluations? Action Plan Details?

As far as evaluations, I would only check her vision and hearing right now. Here is a blog post that talks about this and so me other tips that may be helpful as well…

Help for Struggling Emerging Readers 

Finally, I would let her have a “practice” time before reading her books aloud to you. Whether they are Miss Rhonda’s Readers chapter books or the Emerging Reader’s Set books, give her the book, tell her she’ll be reading “x” number of pages aloud to you, and give her time to look those pages, and the pictures, over for a few minutes or so. Let her kind of “practice” on her own a bit. This takes away the feeling of being put on the spot to read right away!  Be sure to follow the Daily Reading Schedule for the Emerging Readers, so she doesn’t read too many pages a day, and so she has to answer the oral questions to build her comprehension as she goes.

If she does Sound Bytes, she can either just do that, or she can reread any Miss Rhonda’s Readers books (she feels good at reading already) or any Emerging Reader’s Set books (she feels good at reading already) for fun practice!

I think that’s all she’ll need to be reading fantastically well soon! Reward her along the way, happy stickers or little treats or snacks, and lots of hugs and encouragement! She will get there!