Lexile musings

For someone who dismisses wholeheartedly the idea of worrying about a child's reading level, I seem to have a somewhat bizarre fixation with lexile scores. Perhaps it's because I still find it a bit unbelievable that they are even a thing. Perhaps it's because my pretty free range children chose an extremely wide assortment of reading material on their own, everything from picture books to graphic novels to comic books to novels aimed at adults. If we actually ate cereal and had it in the house, they would read cereal boxes, too. (Which caused me to wonder what the lexile score of a cereal box is. Yes, I googled it. No, you can't find it.) 

Every so often, on a whim, I look up the lexile scores of books I have either read to them or a book they have read themselves. This is probably when my imposter syndrome tendencies take over and I need a little outside validation. When you are surrounded by people who make school so much more complicated than you do... more hours, more assignments, more subjects, more, more, more... your two or so hours at the table can seem a bit thin. The numbers I find make me take a deep breath and relax again. 

Of course, sometimes I find odd things when I do this, which calls into question (at least for me ) whatever I find. For instance, when I looked up Journey to the Center of the Earth, one lexile score site listed it as non-fiction. Right. Another listed it as appropriate for 2 - 4 graders. While I wouldn't hesitate to read it to those ages, I would do so with quite a few pauses to explain things as we went. I don't know if the site was discussing an abridged book or what. The book is most definitely aimed at adults, and that was Jules Verne's audience. 

I'm pondering all of this because of the book we're using for our geology study. It is a college textbook which I am really enjoying. (I know, I'm usually pretty anti-textbook, but a good one has it's place if used as a resource.) We read about the topic in one or two books aimed at children as an introduction, then move on to the textbook for a more substantial explanation. I have been really impressed at the writing style (as in, there is one) as well as the clear descriptions the textbook has. Even better, my children have been enjoying it as well. 

I chalk our ability to make use of this book to the fact that I have read to them from books considered well above their level for years. They might not understand every word, but they have always been able to get the gist of a story. In the meantime, they are developing their vocabulary, their familiarity with written English, and an understanding of sometimes extremely complex sentences. If I were to stick with books which were only at their 'level', they would not have the language comprehension that they do. What a loss that would be. 

Children are not standardized. The way any given child learns is not standardized. When we become too fixated on grading and sorting and evaluating, we forget that the ultimate goal is help a child learn and enjoy reading. So much of school could be taken care of with one goal: read good books to children until they can read to themselves, and then still read good books to children.