Mothering Forum banner

Reading vs. language arts

938 views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  LilyGrace 
#1 ·
My son is going into 2nd grade level work in most areas, but I'm stuck trying to figure out one thing and would love feedback. DS is a good reader- can decode up to 5th grade level or so and comprehension is already almost 3rd grade level and he just finished first. My question is this...when I pulled him out of first grade, we never continued on with the phonics work and language arts curriculum they were doing- with the exception of punctuation and capitalization. Everything else just seemed like busy work that he just "got" already. Looking at 2nd grade phonics type of curriculum-it looks like exercises that he would just breeze right through---like sorting out "ead" endings from "eed" endings. He can look at something and know the answers, but he doesn't carry it over into spelling, etc.
If I look at 3rd grade level work, it seems too advanced because it focuses more on the writing process, tenses, etc. He just isn't there yet with his writing.

So, what I am wondering is...how important is that basis of the linear phonics instruction. If he can already decode really well, does he "need" that reinforcement that to him is just busywork that he knows?
 
#2 ·
Seems to be just busy work, imo. If they get it, why keep them working on it?

We've moved back and forth through writing curriculums/language arts and grown to love one of our resources: Writing Strands. We did away with it for a year because The Kid wasn't ready for the type of work it was but he's enjoying it now. I like it because it's not like other things we looked at. There's no worksheets or isolated verb usage..just writing interspersed with reading and discussion. Level 2 starts with them writing basic sentences (i.e. There is a pen.) and progressing from there. Level 1 doesn't have them write but plays with language to get them ready for it.

Our issue with it previously wasn't that it was too hard. It was that I had a child who spoke in lots of body language and sound effects so getting him to put that down on paper was, well, difficult.
He would get discouraged. We took time off to use to Writing Tales which is more scripted (rewriting a story, working on parts of speech..) and spent lots of time looking for 'colorful' writing. A year later we've restarted with book 3 and he's enjoying the heck out of it.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top