Reading and Writing curriculum?

[SimplyMomma]

My 3rd graders weakness is Reading and Writing. I need advice on the best curriculum for these subjects? He's currently in public school, I'll be pulling him out in a couple of weeks and I want to be ready.

[Theodore]

Did he get taught phonics or sight reading? If it was phonics (I hope so), then all he needs is practice. Give him something fun to read, like comic books, and have him read you a page every now and then so you can point out mistakes. As he gets better and graduates to more advanced reading material, he will build good writing patterns in his head without even doing any writing. You can also find him a few penpals, or a moderated discussion group online that focuses on some subject he enjoys. Whatever you do, don't make reading and writing into a chore, though - there will be plenty enough of that in high school and college, and for right now you should be focusing on getting him to enjoy learning. If you have him do a book report - and this should be fairly rare - have it be on a book he wouldn't normally read for fun. Focus more on persuasive or research essays on subjects he enjoys.

If you really want to make sure he's keeping up, there are all sorts of practice tests available for state standardized tests. Just compare the questions in those with his competency level, and work on whatever he's weak on. But don't worry about that for the first month or two at least, get him reading on his own first.