HELP with reading.

read to the kids constantly, and follow the words along with your finger so they can see as you read. read everyday

thats ultimately going to be most effective in my opinion as well. that and getting them to sing song and move their bodies. The reading part of the brain is actually linked to the same parts as body movement which is why the singing and dancing part is good. also physical activity stimulates brain movement in developing children, read a book and run around or do something active then read another book, then sing a song.

you said yourself your mom did the same with you and your a great reader.

also- i'd limit their TV and video games to a reasonable amount slowly. like slowly taking the "screen time" down to about 2 hours a day if possible. get those kids' bodies moving some how.

The roomie can't do much. Too scared of getting welfare called on her. It's happened before. I think she might have given some more incentive though. There's a certain set of skills the kid wants to learn really badly, and we both told him that reading is a must first. You should have seen those little scheming eyes bug out. . .

Originally Posted by Squirrel

The roomie can't do much. Too scared of getting welfare called on her. It's happened before. I think she might have given some more incentive though. There's a certain set of skills the kid wants to learn really badly, and we both told him that reading is a must first. You should have seen those little scheming eyes bug out. . .

She's afraid of getting welfare called on her for doing what exactly? Isn't raising children without caring about their schooling concidered "neglect?"

I'm sorry, I have no sympathy for your roomate. And it's a damn shame these kids are being raised by someone who doesn't seem to care enough. You sound like your mothering them more than the birth mother.

I agree with dilli. If the parent doesn't care enough, the kids won't either. I have two kids with reading disabilities and I've gone through hell with teachers and different programs at various schools. Some programs worked, some didn't but I never gave up because reading is too valuable and such a necessity in adulthood.

Do these kids have grandparents or any other relatives that can help tutor or anything?

I'm sorry, I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with something that might help. But illiteracy is just not something I'm used to.

There is a book, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I got a copy out at the library & renewed it twice before breaking down & buying it. It was a good, simple & FAST method to instill... if I remember right, it only took something like 5 minutes per day to practice. We "cheated" with my son, because he wanted to read so badly and did 5 lessons all at once every day. Even that didn't take more than 20 minutes a day to finish.

The problem I see is that their mom is near-illiterate too. How can you teach something that you barely grasp yourself? Honestly, at this point if there were someone else... a grandparent, aunt or uncle, or even yourself who was willing to spend the time with them I think it would be better. But I'd also insist that your roommate get a better grasp of reading too, if for no other reason than to keep up with her kids! Trust me, I'm doing the same thing myself right now... I have to brush up on algebra techniques, so I'll be able to teach my son them in 2 years time. And I already know that when the time comes, we will have to hire a tutor to teach him anything beyond algebra.

Good luck... I can't imagine having to deal with a school that doesn't teach properly. If it were my kids, I would be in that office raising eyebrows every day it took to get something done about this.
love,
mom

He's only eight? He might not be ready to learn to read yet. I know several kids in our homeschool group who just weren't able to read until they were ten or eleven. These were very bright, intelligent children who could talk to adults about things like quantum mechanics, but just could not read. But in public schools, this is a problem because in order to "teach" the way schools teach, kids have to be able to read. If he's that into video games, I'd get him some reading program video games. Reader Rabbit is the only one that comes to mind, but there are hundreds available, for all age groups. I think I saw a Spongebob reading game at Target. Teach to his strengths, don't point out his weaknesses, the school is already doing a good enough job of telling him what he isn't good at doing! Give him lots of praise for the things he does do well.

Do the kids know their alphabet? I know when I was learning to read, I had a big poster in my room with the alphabet on the wall and my mom would quiz me every. single. morning. Then again, I was 2 or 3 at the time so I don't know how effective that would be for an 8 year old.

Songs and games help a lot. Find out what kind of learner they are. Chances are, the older one is probably a kinetic learner which is why school is completely failing him. My mom teaches 3 and 4 year olds to read in preschool and what she does is lots of hands on activities with making words out of play doh, coloring, drawing, acting out, and songs and dances. A variety of different approaches seems to work pretty well and it's also not boring.

Another thing that is important is to try to get them to read without just memorizing. My brother had my parents fooled for 2 years thinking he could read but really he had just memorized most of our books.

What really worries me is that you said that the mother is afraid of having the kids taken away by wellfare. I know my school system will send the social worker if kids can't read at all by the end of 1st or beginning of 2nd grade to discuss options and also to make sure that enough work is being done at home on top of school work. Then again, I'm in a pretty good school system and obviously the school system there is horrendous. But anyway, it seems to me that she'd be more at risk by doing nothing than by trying to get more help. If classes are overcrowded, the teachers may have no idea that there's anything seriously wrong.

I am actually writing an article on dyslexia this month and am in the process of teaching my two-three year old to read. We are using teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. However, it isn't recommended for children who already have been taught but still can't read. I would question whether or not the kids are learning disabled first. Often kids who are very bright have trouble with reading. And, it runs in families, so if mom can't read and both kids can't read that would be a red flag.
Do the kids recite the alphabet?
Do they know left from right?
How are their fine motor skills? If these areas are poor check for learning disabilities. With no child left behind they can get tested by the school system for free. but if the school system is trying to cut overhead sometimes they underexaggerate problems so beware.
Then maybe work on phonics, pick a book they will be interested in that is fairly simple- I taught my 4 year old sister to read using the Boxcar children series. Start reading aloud. Pair that with a system like 100 easy lessons and have the kids read the words they know. Or pick out phonemes for them to learn (sounds or sound groups either letters a, b, r... and so on or sounds like ch, th, and wh" have them read the words they can and work on sounding out with them.
The mom should get reading help herself. Try the local freemason chapter, churches, and literacy volunteers. A lot of Literacy volunteers chapters will work with kids too, especially if the mom can't read. They are free and staffed by volunteers who are trained in reading methodology.
Try inventing reading games that are physical ( a sort of modified Orton-Gillingham- multisensory method of teaching reading.) but make them as fun and current as you can. Cooking is cool, you recopy a simple recipe- have them read it while you both make whatever it is. That combines the kinesthetic-cooking, with the visual- reading, oral-reciting, and sensory-taste.
Check that the kids speech is okay. Do they skip words, mix up words, or skip whole phonemes when reading or talking. Do they have trouble remembering names or faces? These are also signs of dyslexia.
Let me know how its going.
Hadley

Originally Posted by homeschoolmama

There is a book, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I

I was going to suggest that book. In fact I have an unused copy of it I believe, as my youngest has a different learning style.

I know we all sound like parrots, but READ TO THEM!! inspiring a love of literature and words is the first step to reading, at 8 I wouldn't stress. Al didn't really "get" reading on his own until about 9 1/2, now he reads all the time, just let it happen.
Blessings

If you've never taught reading before I'd suggest the book, "The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading" If you can't afford it though the course is basically this. Teach your kid the alphabet sounds not names. Teach him to sound out words. Then as you practic that, teach him something new everyday like, double letters help each other ex. ss, ll;consonant blends ex. st, tr, pl, gr;consonant diagraphs ex. ch, sh, th; common word syllables ex. -ing, -ly, -ed; picking long words apart un-inter-est-ed;compound words ex. sunset, tophat; then go on to vowel rules long vowels with silent e's ex. mane, cape, rope,(at this stage it helps to show the difference ex. man, mane; cap, cape; dot, dote); You can also teach different types of vowel rules ex. oo, ou, ow, ai, ey, ay. By the time you've done all that the kid will be on his way to reading. Then it's just a matter of reading with him often and teaching anything you notice he doesn't know as you go. It helps to teach sight words as well like labeling everything as someone suggested. That way when they sound out a word they already know by sight it clicks. Usually you feel like the kid isn't "getting" it for a while. Then one fine day it clicks and he's reading everything in sight. Ummm, why are you teaching your roommates kids?

i honestly didnt know illiteracy still existed in america till i read this thread... pretty interesting. my mom had taught me how to read waaayy before i can even remember... maybe 3 years old. unfortunately i dont remember how she did it... but it put me at a HUGE advantage early on in school. up till grade 4 i was in extremely advanced classes... but eventually everyone caught up and i was just an average student. what i do remember though is reading those goosebumps books. i dont know if theyre still around, but i had hundreds of those things till i was like 9... without those i would probably be a crappy reader. maybe your sons would like those goosebumps books by RL Stein.. check em out.