"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."

Frederick Douglass

We have really been struggling to find a way to motivate SC to learn to read.  She does great with CVC words, and the amount of sight words she has goes well into a typical third grade list, but when we sit down to read together, she tends to just shrug her shoulders if the word seems new.  She will typically make a guess based on the picture on the page and the first letter of the word, but rarely guesses correctly.  Then, when encouraged to sound things out, she won't look at the word itself, and then adds other letters in, and finally, shrugs.  

In the fall we are going to give All about Reading Level 1 a try, and hopefully being able to manipulate the letter/blend tiles, as well as officially learning the phonograms and blends (instead of just figuring it out through BOB books) will give her more confidence when we read things other than BOB books.

However, in the meantime, I saw a post about reading challenge charts from Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations and decided we would give it a try.  We have a stockpile of $5 and $10 toys that SC has expressed interest in earning, but we never really came up with a great plan for her to earn them.    We have decided that she will earn 1 point per book read, unless it is the BOB books, and then she has to read 3, or if it is a chapter book, and then she will get 1 point per chapter.  Then, after earning 15 points, she can earn $5 or chose a $5 toy from the stockpile.  After earning 30 points, she can earn $10 or chose a $10 toy (or some combination of $5 and $5 toys).  Finally, after earning 45 points, she can earn $20 or chose a $20 toy (or, again, a combination).  She has to either read the book aloud to AC or I, or at least read it next to us so we can make sure she is reading and not just looking at pictures (as well as be able to offer help if she needs it).

Yesterday she actually went and got a book on her own to read, which was a first.  She has also been rolling through BOB books, which I think is a good thing.  Once we run out of BOB books, she will have to read other books.  I should mention that it seems like I don't like the BOB books very much, and that isn't true.  I think they are great introductory books and they gently introduce letter sounds, blends and sight words in a non-scary way.  However, SC has developed this "safe" mentality when it comes to the BOB books and that is all she thinks she can read.  So, we shall see if this summer reading challenge helps get her comfortable, and maybe we will speed through All about Reading Level 1 in the fall (and I am okay with that) and quickly move to Level 2.

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