Thursday, August 16, 2007

The Bob Books Marathon

Since this January (when Jack decided he wanted to learn how to read), Sir Bugga-Lot has been working through 5 sets of Bob Books. Every school day, he would look forward to the moment that he would open the colorful cover of his latest book and begin plowing. It has been a more difficult goal than he anticipated, but he has rarely given up on his day to day assignments. The last set of Bob Books have been significantly harder with more meaty pages, and complicated words. But he has persevered. Eight months later, still at the wee age of five, we closed the last book on the last set. What an accomplishment!!! One of which he is very proud of because he decided to take this challenge on himself.


Jack was very interested to know what reading journey he would be embarking on next. And I was honestly searching for an idea myself, one that preferably moved toward a more Charlotte Mason style, when I remembered a set of Nature Readers that I had purchased a few terms ago. They were originally intended for Grace, but the required reading she has from the Burgess Book of Animals has kept her busy enough. After inspecting the first of four Nature Readers, I decided to go with it.

It will continue to be a challenge for Sir Bugga-Lot, mostly due to the addition of quite a large number of intimidating sight words. So, two nights ago, I sat down and created a Word Game Board for Jack to use while we tackle his first chapter on Wasps.


He is quizzed on 10 sight words a day, and for each word correct, he receives one penny. On the first day we tried this method, the board was a tad overwhelming, and he struggled with confidence despite earning six cents. But by that evening, he was already asking when he was going to get to do the game board again. With a sigh of relief, I am glad this tool has helped him to look beyond moving into a higher caliber reader. And I have to admit, it is nice to actually read about something more meaningful like wasps making nests, than the trivial (BUT OH SO WONDERFUL) Bob Books.

3 comments:

K. Reyes said...

Love that board! GREAT idea. I have a feeling that much of my homeschooling these boys of mine will revolve around a reward system!! Kudos to you on your creativity!

Family W said...

We never did the Bob books. If they were around when my boys were learning to read well I didn't know about them. We love the nature readers too, and we're collecting old first editions of the Burgess books. My boys are 11 and 12 and they STILL love those books! I really like the board idea. You're so creative!

Mama Knucker Hatch said...

Thanks ladies. :)

One week into the system and he still loves it. We had 100% recognition of the words today, and the game is translating very well into recognizing the same words in his reading. So far so good!