My oldest daughter is 8 and just started 3rd grade. While she has not really been behind in reading, neither has she picked it up easily and taken off with it. It's been difficult for me to feel any sort of success in homeschooling unless I reach that goal of getting her to read. I've also made the mistake on occasion of comparing her abilities to other children. I've struggled with how much to be involved in the process since she's gotten the phonics down. Well, this year I've decided to stay out of her reading time. On occasion I ask her if she is understanding her book or if she needs help. She has been frustrated with a book and I let her move on to another (we lost it for a while) with the plan to read it outloud to all of them. The language is a bit more difficult. Today she decided to pick up a Boxcar Children book that we have. In fact we have many as I have found alot at garage sales and ebay. She asked after the first chapter if she can read two chapters today. She has only been reading for 20 minutes or about 2 chapters of a book. After about 15 minutes she came out of her room and asked if she could keep reading. She read over 90 pages in her book finishing about 2/3 of it. I was ecstatic. She loved her book! Yahoo!
Then, after lunch she went outside with her sisters and played boxcar children with our shed. They found all kids of stuff to do outside and played for about 2 1/2 hours. Now this is the best part. If you are familiar with the Boxcar Children you will know that the siblings are very sweet and kind to each other. She exhibited this same care and concern for her little sister while they were playing. She has a tendancy to tease her sisters too much and we have been reading a lot in the bible about that kind of behavior. The book she is reading is helping to illustrate how to treat her sisters.
This is just a great homeschool moment!
Susan | 
