McGuffey's Eclectic Reader

I started using McGuffey's Second Eclectic Reader with Sparkle last fall. This old fashioned reader by William H. McGuffey was originally printed in the late 1800's and is now out of copyright. It is part of a series of readers that were widely used to teach reading in the schools of its time. Each book in the series is progressively more difficult. I decided that the Second Reader best matched Sparkle's reading level. Most of the lessons are stories about children, families, and animals; although there are some poems. I like it because the selections are fairly short, the reading level is about right, it's free, and there are lots of lessons.

Because the book is now out of copyright, I was able to download a copy from Project Gutenberg. Then I reformatted it to look more like a normal book. (This is where the technical writer in me came out.) I kept the pictures, but I stripped out all the diacritical marks, the numbers along each paragraph, and the word lists. Then I made the font really big and added lots of white space to make it easier for Sparkle's eyes. Even when she can read the words, Sparkle still gets intimidated by dense text.

I also made sure that each lesson started at the top of a new page, and most lessons are a two page spread. Finally, I printed it so that each page would be half of a normal sheet of paper. I bound the book with dental floss, glue, and tape using a method that I found on the internet.

Sparkle usually spends several days on each lesson. The first day she just reads the lesson and we discuss any unfamiliar words. The second day she reads the lesson again, and then I ask her comprehension questions (who, what, where, when, etc.). Then, the third day she reads the lesson again and I coach her to summarize the lesson. I write her summary for her and then she draws a picture based on the lesson.