the question of rashi

so yehuda posted that really nice looking chumash, which got me thinking about rashi. (since there is none in that chumash). i think chana would enjoy using that chumash, not least because there are so many shorashim translated at the bottom of the page (no dictionary! it's right there! can you imagine?). then i started thinking about how to do rashi.

the way i did rashi with sarah is 1. teach rashi letters. 2. choose rashis that are extremely pshat oriented on pesukim we are doing. 3. have her read them and translate them in a separate learning session on the same day.

i was not sure if this was the best way to go. personally, i am a big proponent of pshat being clear in the student's mind. and drash is separate (if at all, for a young child). even though the rashis were pshat related, i do think sometimes there was still confusion.

i'm wondering now if perhaps rashi would be best as a completely separate study? the problem, though, is that we would have to read the pasuk first, and chana would hate that. a benefit of the rashis i chose with sarah is that they did expand the understanding of the pshat of the pesukim she was doing.

i also have to remember that reading rashi (without nekudos) and translating rashi are 2 separate skills. sarah's skills at rashi ended up being average/mediocre, and if possible i'd really like to shore up chana's rashi skills. i'm just not sure how to go about it. rewards don't seem to be particularly motivating for her.

a side note, she has thus far resisted learning the rashi letters (as she has resisted learning division and multiplication w/ carrying with more than one row on the bottom, all three of which i think she will pick up quite quickly). she says she'll do it this summer.