Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

This topic has 5 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 10 months ago by my3boys.

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

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June 25, 2010 at 1:21 pm
heatherma
Participant
My best friend’s 8 yr old son is loving reading. But only sci-fi and comic books. If she reads aloud he is not paying any attention (she asks him what can he remember). She has also tried Ripley’s Believe it or not and Chronicles of Narnia as ex. but to no avail. Now perhaps this is just a power struggle? What would be some good advice to getting him reading a few more living books in with his own selection, perhaps inventors biographies or something? She is afraid that forcing other selections could make him dislike reading (if I don’t care for a book I won’t finish it either). I saw on another post to read the first chapter and then decide, read 30 min. out of Mom’s selections a day… Others? I will pass this on in an email to my friend. Thank you.
June 25, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Alana Adams
Participant
You mentioned The Chronicles of Narnia… Focus on the Family Radio Theatre produced the entire Narnia series. They are excellent. We listen to them regularly. They are dramatized, however, not an unabridged reading. My boys love to listen to the story on cd, and then read the book. Perhaps they could help spark the interest of your friend’s son.
Hope this helps!
Alana
June 25, 2010 at 4:10 pm
krommama
Member
In addition to the other great ideas, my son and I takes turns reading out loud. We either alternate reading paragraphs or pages. We do this with books that seem a little thick in “old language.” We are reading Treasure Island now, and before that, we read Oliver Twist.
June 25, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Tristan
Participant
Another possibility is to require a book then let him choose a book. If he really wants to read the next sci-fi book he has to read mom’s pick first.
June 25, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Melody F.
Member
This post made me smile, because it seems like just yesterday my son was this age, and he too loved comic books. I had to be careful about them, because not all comic books have child friendly graphics! When my son was 8, I was just thankful that he had finally learned to read :-). One thing I can tell you from experience is that it does get better, I mean with their choice of reading material. My son loves to read now, (he’s 12) and he reads all kinds of literature, classics included. Tell your friend to continue to read out loud to her son, but allow him to play with legos or action figures or little cars or something. It will seem as though he isn’t paying attention, but read a brief section and then ask him to tell what he remembers, and I bet he will be able to with no problem. It used to drive me crazy when I would read aloud to my son, because I thought he wasn’t listening, but actually he knew everything we were reading. For some reason, it helped him to have something for his hands to do while I was reading.
You might suggest that your friend try reading books like Stuart Little, Jack’s Insects (available from the SCM site), Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, Burgess Animal Book, Burgess Bird Book for children, or any book that has to do with adventure. The Flight of the Union is a good book he might enjoy. Also there are lots of picture books that are wonderful (they aren’t just for preschoolers, some of these books have great stories) and they are short enough that they could be read to help improve his attention span (Snowflake Bentley, Truman’s Aunt Farm, Mailing May are some really good books he might enjoy). He’s still really young, so I wouldn’t push anything at this point, but rather just keep trying until she finds something that kind of sparks an interest. The goal is to improve his attention span and expose him to great works of literature. Slow and steady is a good idea, as it won’t make him cringe when it’s time to read! Keep trying little by little, and it will get better. I wouldn’t force him to continue with a book that he doesn’t find appealing, because it will just frustrate both mother and child. These are just some thoughts off the top of my head. The most important thing to remember is to have patience! That’s the hardest part. He will grow and mature, and his interest and attention will improve.
June 25, 2010 at 6:59 pm
my3boys
Participant
I agree with Melody. I approach my soon-to-be 8yo differently than I did my now 11 1/2 yo. My oldest went to ps for 2 1/2 years, where as my 8yo has never been:) So, when I brought my then almost 8yo home I really didn’t know what I was doing and added undue pressure on him. I have cried over those days and have asked the Lord and him for forgiveness, they have both forgiven me:) I wish I had understood what I understand now…I would’ve been more patient and understood the value of reading to him and incorporating oral narration for comprehension, but we were using textbooks at the time and I felt pressure to keep up with the ps system.
That same boy, that I tortured with my impatience, has turned into an avid reader (not into novels, yet, but he’ll get there, even if I read them to him:), always ready for the next book, and enjoys our read aloud time for history/science/Bible. I allow him to read independent books we have pre-selected and I read our history to him, that’s his preference (I may assign in the future).
Now, my 8yo would rather read to himself or outloud to me for history/science because he loves to read and finds he retains more if he reads. I still encourage oral narrations or I try to encourage him to let me read aloud and him narrate. He’s has found that he loves poetry and is better than I am at reading it, at least I think he is.
Patience, as Melody pointed out, is what I wish I had understood 4 years ago. But, God has extended his mercy and grace to me and my oldest is where I’d hoped he would be, but I still wish I hadn’t put either of us through that first couple of years, yuck!! Live and learn, I guess.