Oral Reading
Each child, as part of mastering reading, reads aloud to me from graduated readers. I believe the art of story telling is an important one, also, and reading aloud helps develop this. We use:
Pathway Readers — this is a large set of graded readers with beautiful stories involving a simpler way of life (than we have in the big city, anyway!). Each story emphasizes a positive moral value like hard work, kindness, truthfulness, etc. The children have learned a lot about what it is like for kids who grow up in more rural areas.
First Days (grade 1 pre-primer)
Days Go By (grade 1 primer)
More Days Go By (grade 1 reader)
Busy Times (grade 2)
More Busy Times (grade 2)
Climbing Higher (grade 2)
New Friends (grade 3)
More New Friends (grade 3)
Building Our Lives (grade 4)
Living Together (grade 5)
Step By Step (grade 6)
Seeking True Values (grade 7)
Our Heritage (grade 8)
Nature Readers — this is a lovely set of readers from Christian Liberty Press that engages children simply by the detailed descriptions of some wonderful creations that are simply fascinating. I have learned a lot just by listening to the children read these books.
Book 1: wasps, spiders, butterflies, bees, locusts, moths, flies, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, owls, beavers, squirrels, ducks, hens, fish, birds, ants, fleas, bugs, stick insects, lady bugs, inchworms, fireflies, earthworms, snails, dragonflies
Book 2: crabs, wasps, bees, spiders, shellfish
Book 3: ants, worms, flies, beetles, barnacles, jellyfish, starfish, dragonflies
Book 4: poison ivy, birds, wasps, moths, bees, ladybugs, aphids, lacewings, mosquitoes, dragonflies, damselflies, toads, bats, beavers, turtles, snakes, stars
Book 5: blood, stomach, teeth, breathing, brain, nerves, your senses, bones, muscles, animals, hand, animal tools, wings, animal coverings, animal thinking, sleep, hygiene
Our family has a tradition of oral reading that extends beyond school. We have enjoyed many wonderful books together (we’ve especially enjoyed reading series of books this way)–I usually do the reading aloud. We do this at almost every family dinner when we’re all together, several times a week. We used to listen to books on tape a lot – still do it occasionally, but now we also love stories on ipod, when traveling especially. Favorites include Adventures in Odyssey, Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Pilgrim’s Progress, and Christiana’s Journey.
