Doesn't like to read….

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • May 8, 2013 at 3:35 am
    apsews
    Member

    My ds that is 11 declares he doesn’t like to read. I just started homeschooling him last month and I am hoping this is going to change. So do I force him to read? Do I just require him to read what is on the schedule and leave him alone about reading other books or do I insist that he read what I want him to read?

    May 8, 2013 at 4:12 am
    HiddenJewel
    Participant

    I’ve never seen forcing to work with my kids in any area especially at that age. Encouragement, yes. But forcing, I would be really hesitant to do that. Finding material that engages him so he wants to read would be a great way to approach it.

    May 8, 2013 at 10:40 am
    nebby
    Participant

    Given the timing and that he just came out of school, I might be inclined not to require anything till September. Kids, esp older ones, transitioning from school often need time to “de-school.” Basically, to get it all out of their systems and to realize that homeschooling can be different and doesn’t have to be as hard, stressful, whatever as school was.

    After a possible break like that, I woudl require some reading. It is hard to do a CM education wihtout it. But you can also do other things like you read to him or use audiobooks. Is it reading specificaly he hates? Is he okay with listening to stories?

    Nebby

    http://www.lettersfromnebby.wordpress.com

    May 8, 2013 at 12:46 pm
    Tristan
    Participant

    I think a break could be good but then require some reading. Even if he were in public school there would be some required reading, so he really wouldn’t get out of it either way.

    For required reading, tie it into subjects he needs to do anyway, like a history related story, killing two birds with one stone.

    There are lots of ways to require reading, we generally split between two:

    – Read a certain number of chapters each school day (this makes it easy to divide a book out and know we’ll finish it in X number of days because it has X number of chapters)

    – Read for a certain amount of time each day from the assigned book. This is what my children are doing at the moment. They read their ‘literature book’ for 30 minutes each day. If they want to read it more than that they are welcome to, but if not, I know they are making steady progress. My 5yo reads for 10 minutes each day (he taught himself to read at age 3, so he actually reads much longer than 10 minutes, but I only require him to do the 10).

    Find things that are interesting to them!! My 8yo son is a slow, struggling reader, but he loves science and so he is really enjoying reading The Magic School Bus Chapter books. Just this morning he was exclaiming over something he learned about bones being alive and growing back together when they break. My 11 yo reads anything and everything, my 7yo is enjoying historical fiction most. Find something they can enjoy.

    And to somewhat contradict myself, instead of choosing a book to go with history or other school work, it may work best in the beginning to find a literature book he’ll just enjoy and get drawn into. I’ve even read aloud the first chapter or two of a book before and when the kids were hooked on the story handed it over and said “Go read the rest yourself”. It works pretty often.

    May 8, 2013 at 2:40 pm
    Tanya
    Participant

    I know that some people have had success using audio books from librivox, etc.  This might help capture his attention.

    Also, maybe finding out why he doesn’t like to read:  Is it hard on his eyes?  Does he struggle with the vocabulary?  Or maybe coming from school, all the reading has been boring and not very inviting for him?

    I agree with the others – give him a little break from it and then slowly ease him into it and he might appreciate it more.  He may never love it (some people just don’t) but he might not be as opposed to it.

    May 8, 2013 at 3:35 pm
    apsews
    Member

    Thank you for all the advice. We are definitely taking a break. We will probably start back in August(that’s when PS starts back)but I haven’t decided for sure when yet. I am just working on getting things to start next year.

    He does say that reading is boring, hopefully it is just the fact that he has always read boring stuff. He loves to watch movies so maybe he will like the audiobooks also. Would watching educational movies be a good idea? For example, some of the ones that they have made into movies from book? Maybe the ones that have been suggested here?

    I actually had a happy moment the other day. I had made him read the Orville and Wilbur Wright book as a history assignment(we had to get in 11 days to finish up the requirement for the year)and he seemed to half way enjoy it. After he was finished, a few days later a commercial came on on tv that mentioned the Wright brothers and he got all excited over it,lol. That sounds silly but it gave me hope,lol.

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • The topic ‘Doesn't like to read….’ is closed to new replies.