I typed up a long post earlier and it disappeared, so I'm going to try a condensed version. I thought I should give a reading update on my son. Unfortunately, there's not much positive to report. A year ago, when Christian was going into 4th grade and still struggling with reading, I got some great advice from Anna1111 about giving him phonics training. It seemed to start out ok, but something has been going wrong that is hindering progress and I have not been able to pinpoint it. I was doing everything I thought I was supposed to, but still Christian was making so many mistakes in his reading with seemingly no rhyme or reason. One day, he could say a word and the next day he would get it wrong, constantly having to go back and re-reed. I read that if you suspect they are guessing a word, to tell them not to guess, but to sound it out. I would do that and he would quickly say the right word, so we would move on. But the lessons said not to move on until he was able to easily read the words and he could not do that and was complaining that he had to keep reading the same page over and over. I was so frustrated wondering why phonics worked for every kid but mine. This was supposed to be the year he learned to read and discovered he loved books, making both of our lives easier.
Going into a new year, I was about to throw in the towel and was wondering what business I have in homeschooling my kids (i'm still kind of wondering that, btw). But I think I was finally able to pinpoint the problem and it seems so simple that I feel stupid for not seeing it sooner. I think his problem is that, despite doing eye exercises, blending and phonics, he is not able to look at a word (at least most words) and not see the whole word. He has word guessing so ingrained in his head, that even though he knows the letter sounds and is learning phonics, he's not capable of seeing the individual letters in a word. At least not for the most part. He even told me that he can't help guessing and still remembers in Kindergarten and first grade, sitting there and the teacher showing the words on the flashcards. He will see the word "like" and still say "look". He needs phonics, but he needs to be cured of his word guessing before we can progress. I really did not know it could be this bad. I just thought we needed to keep trying and keep trying and it would get better. But it's not. I tested his reading level and Saphira's reading level and they are both at about the same level. Saphira is slightly above grade level and Christian is well below grade level. He really has not made much progress.
Well thankfully, once I pinpointed his problem, I looked online and realized that there are some determined word guessers that you can't just tell to stop guessing, you have to get drastic and force them. This hadn't even occurred to me. And there are several methods that break them of the habit with great results. I found these sites:
http://www.thephonicspage.org/http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic ... -guessing/I feel hopeful again. I thought phonics was my last resort. But this really is my last resort. If this doesn't work I don't know what else to do. But I feel confident that this is his problem and will work. It has to. I just started the video phonics lessons with him that are specifically for whole word guessers. It forces them to sound out each letter. I have started writing words on the dry erase board, letter by letter, having him say each sound as I write it instead of having him read the word as a whole, I am writing words in all uppercase so it changes the shape of the word and he can't guess it. I am doing a card game that makes him sound out the letters. I am giving him lots of nonsense words and there are also nonsense words in the phonics videos. These are all things they say will cure this habit. I really think progress will go much quicker after this. He is very smart and bright, so that makes it extra frustrating. The phonics videos take about a month and they say most people improve 1-2 grade levels afterwards, some more. Some people do the videos 2-3 times and they improve a grade level each time. I am hoping to kick start things and get him a quick boost, though I know he will need more than just this. He loves writing on the dry erase board, though, so I am having him spell words from the lists in the "Why Johnny can't read book and using those exercises as well to help. The phonics book I was using was great, but the pages were so busy and I just need to get back to the basics to get him up to speed and no playing around. He can't go another year of not reading and I really need to see significant improvement in the next 3-4 months. He is also so defiant, so his attitude against everything school related makes things so hard. I think a lot of it is due to the history of trouble with reading, but also part of it is his personality.
Anyways, I really hope I can update again in a few months with much more positive news. Anna really got me started in the right direction with phonics, but I wish I saw sooner that he is one of the minority that has deeper rooted issues with reading and needs a little extra.
That is great that you have discovered the problem and can now tackle it.