Reading and Writing ideas for 7 yo needed

[momx2]

I have 2 ds -- 7 and 5 (K and 1)
This is my first year and I will fully admit to being plain nervous --

My 7 year old is reading on a 3/4th grade level (Henry and the clubhouse by Cleary is a fairly easy book) and right now I am not doing anything in the reading department because I don't know whats next. He gets upset when I help him with a hard word and he wants to just give up on the book. Most books at least appear to be above his level of understanding due to his age and life experience (or lack thereof). Books like Henry and the clubhouse. My ds 5 is going to be in the same boat very very soon except he hates the help even more! We try non-fiction books as much as possible but are there programs out there with helping to increase reading levels or should I continue to chill out? Also, some reassurance on writing -- are copywork and an occasional narration all that is needed at this stage? Thanks everyone!

[Kathy in MD]

It's completely scripted, so it's easy for you.

Also you may want to try timed fluency readings where the child reads the same passage out loud several times to improve reading accuracy.

[Novafan]

Following this thread. I have 2 boys, exactly the same ages of your boys (7 and 5) and we just got started HS'ing this month.

[Alana in Canada]

For a list of wholesome books to read, try Ambelside online. On the left side of this page they have the year--and then a link to "books."
http://www.amblesideonline.org/index2.shtml

Another great resource for book lists is here:
http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html

As for "correcting"--could that be a function of coming from ps so recently? I know my ds had huge problems with it--he felt like I was telling him he was stupid. I'm not, of course, but that's the message he got. Is it happening in other areas or just reading? I'd say let it go for now, but that's just me.

Neither of my children would find Cleary an "easy read" and they're 7 and 10, so I don't think you need to stress! (Well the ten year old might, the Cleary books just didn't appeal to him).

As for writing--can he narrate? Can he write his own narrations? Work on the latter if he can do the former. If not, try dictating simple sentences and then work up in complexity. Dictation is the crucial step between articulating what you want to say (to someone else) and then actually writing it. It takes a lot of thinking to write one's own narrations.

[skimerinkydo]

My ds has been resistant to writing and I found "Games for Writing" by Peggy Kaye useful as a supplement to make writing more fun for him.

[Trivium Academy]

Can you take them to the library and allow them to pick their own books to read? There are leveled readers available, from DK Publishing, Stepping Stones, many different genres. My dd7 is reading Black Beauty right now from Stepping Stones. She has also liked the Magic Treehouse books although we read them as they come up in history b/c that is why she likes them. If you have a Barnes & Noble or Books A Million around, take the boys and see what types of books they pick for themselves, that really helps!

[LNC]

My 8yo daughter read early and well also. We used this sight to choose appropriate books at her reading level.

http://www.classical-homeschooling.org/celoop/1000.html

We also used copywork and narration for writing. The WTM writing ideas work very well.

HTH!