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One early elementary goal we have is to help our kids enjoy reading and have early success reading independently. One of the main tools I have used is All About Reading. {You can read my first review here.}
This week my daughter will finish All About Reading Level 1. (She doesn’t know it, but Level 2 is on its way!) In the past couple of months her reading has really taken off! There was a short time period though when she hit a wall. During that time whenever we pulled out our reading she would get frustrated with the work because she wasn’t getting it. She would be able to sound individual sounds in a word but she could not put it together. So she could sound out m-a-p but when she tried to blend the sounds together she would often reverse the word (say PAM instead of MAP) or say a totally unrelated word. No matter how much we practiced, she wasn’t getting it. I could see that she was starting to think that she couldn’t read. So I put the curriculum away for 2 months. I realized she wasn’t quite ready for that concept so instead of forcing the issue, we waited. And while we waited we read books together.
Then I started noticing that she was reading environmental print around the town. So I pulled out the curriculum again. And she was ready to continue. In fact she flew the next several lessons! Her confidence began to soar with her reading to the point that she called herself a “bookworm.”
So how do you know when to persevere and push through, when to pause–and when to get a new curriculum all together?
Push-Through when:
- You know your child can do the work but just doesn’t want to work diligently. (It’s a character issue not a content issue.)
- You know your child is challenged by the concept but has the skills to do the work. If you have a child who is a bit of a perfectionist, they might be afraid to make mistakes. When they don’t know an answer immediately, they shut down and think they can’t do it. Challenge them to push-through and celebrate with them when they do.
- You might not have been using the curriculum consistently. Get on a schedule and see if improvement occurs after teaching the curriculum on a regular basis.
Pause when:
- You know that your child is not ready. They might need a little more time to mature before moving on to advance concepts.
- Your child is extremely stressed out with the subject. Put the curriculum down and find other ways to practice such as using games and read-alouds. If needed, talk to a reading specialist, speech specialist, or tutor for additional help.
- You know you started the curriculum earlier than intended and your child has hit a road-block.
Consider a new curriculum when:
- The format is not working for your child. Is the curriculum geared toward a specific learning-style? Is it the same learning style your child needs?
- The format is not working for you. Seasons change and circumstances change. What you had planned a year ago just might not work now. For example, I used a math curriculum that took me over an hour to teach each day for 1 child. It worked great when I only had 1-2 to teach. As soon as I added a third, I knew I could not be teaching 3 different math levels for a total of 3 hours a day! We had to switch to something that was more flexible with my time.
So this week we wait for the arrival of our new level! My little learner is a proud reader! I know that All About Reading’s multi-sensory approach and well-laid out curriculum will continue to be the backbone of our reading program at home. Know that if your student is having problems, switching curriculum isn’t necessarily a cure-all. Look closely at the clues your child is giving you to help you determine which steps you need to take to help them be successful.
Do you have anything you would add to the when to push-through, pause, or change curriculum lists? Please leave a comment!
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