We've had a lot of fun the last few weeks with "The Reluctant Reader Solution" from KidScoop. Most of my children caught right on to reading with no problem. Hallie was reading before she was 4, Sam was 4, and Molly learned to read very quickly, being able to decode most words and read quite fluently within just about 6 months of coming home. Gideon, however, gets intimidated by any book thicker than 1/8 of an inch, and has trouble decoding words. (Early neglect, spotty school attendance and lack of support at home during his formative reading years contributed to the problem, as well as an emphasis on "sight words" rather than phonics at his school, which I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of.) Was he "reluctant" enough to make this program worthwhile, though? I thought it was worth a try.
This program consists of basically three parts:
1) Daily "Make Reading Fun" tips.
These emails are free from their website for 30 days, so feel free to head over there and sign up to give it a try. For the most part, these are creative reading activities to set your students to work with a newspaper. Many were reading ideas, but there were also a lot of math activities. Since we don't actually get the newspaper, I can't say we got a lot out of the ideas, but I did snag a couple of old ones from my mom's paper bin, just to try it out. Some of my favorites:
- Looking for contractions in the comics section, then writing the words that comprise them.
- Newspaper scavenger hunts, looking for a variety of things (both words and pictures) throughout the newspaper.
- Finding a "new" word in the newspaper, posting it on the wall and seeing how many times you can all use it in conversation throughout the day (with small prizes like a jellybean or sticker for each use.)
2) The Reluctant Reader Solution E-Book.
365 pages of activites (science, math, reading, writing, even P.E.), divided into subjects like:
- Baseball
- Valentine's Day
- Kitchen Creativitiy
- Gorillas
- Lousia May Alcott
Each subject has several pages of activities. There are word puzzles (like Mad Libs, crosswords, word searches, etc), art projects (like drawing lessons), cooking projects (like Solar S'mores), active games (like Valentine's Day Tag) and much more. At the end of each subject are website and book suggestions. There are even little jewels hidden within the pages like tips for cleaning your room, budgeting, managing your allowance, fire safety and how to blow a really big bubble with gum! The topics are certainly kid-friendly, while still being wonderfully educational.
3) The Reluctant Reader Solution Online Newspaper for Kids.
This is like a kids' magazine that you'd get in the mail once a month, but instead, it's online. The nice thing about that being you can print copies for more than one child. The newsletter comes out once a month, for a total of 12 issues a year. It's similar in content to the e-book, but in full-color, and with constantly new content.
I expected to get some reading practice that Gideon would hopefully not fight me on. Instead, I got something ALL of the children can use and enjoy. The topics are a fun way to shake up our school day when things are getting monotonous, the activities stretch their minds and develop reasoning skills, in addition to touching on a huge variety of academic subjects. The real trick (besides the fun topics, of course), is that many of the activities are so well disguised, the children don't even realize they are practicing their reading.
For instance, my children LOVED "Valentine's Day Tag." The person who was "it" runs around trying to tag someone, and when they do, they hand the person a slip of paper that has an activity they need to read and complete before the game continues. Fun things like "Stand on one foot while singing for 45 seconds" or "Pretend you are carrying an elephant for 60 seconds." They were active, giggling, pretending, telling time, AND practicing reading.
The variety of activities makes this produce useful for elementary school aged children of any grade. The pricetag of $97 includes more than a year's worth of activities, and it comes with a 365-day money-back guarantee.
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