I hope this doesn't sound really arrogant or anything, because that's the last thing I want to be, but I am looking for a way around the problem and thought I'd try here.
We've just changed primary schools, ds is in Y3 and is a very good reader - I don't know how as we haven't done much of it but he just knows how and is pretty much able to read anything, quickly and with appropriate emphasis etc. I have an older ds who is nowhere near as quick so I'm not showing off.
We've got through his book last week in one go, that's a 50 page book, and he read it out loud to me. I wrote in his book and thought that was fine, we'd do it at the weekend as I have a bit more time then.
I got a bit of a terse note in his reading record saying that I am supposed to sign it every night pretty much, but we don't have time to read together every night - I'm a single parent with three boys and one is a toddler and you know how that can be. Ds2 is also very tired at night and I don't want to force it at this point as that will just create resentment. I enjoy doing it with him once a week, but every night is going to be difficult.
Is there a way round this or am I going to get a big red mark in his homework folder every time we can't do it (and a reputation as a bad mum) - I like and support the school but he can already read fluently, and I don't think he needs to be reading to me every night. I have to prioritise - there are other things he needs help with too.
How should I approach this and is there in fact something I'm missing about why this matters so much?
Thank you if you made it this far.
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Can any teachers/TAs advise re reading record please?
PatterofaMinion · 02/02/2015 10:09
Thank you, I'm not actually sure whether they want him to read aloud or not, so maybe I should ask.
It's really not the reading so much as the faff of having to get the book out of his bag, at which point it may well get lost or taken by the baby, and find a working pen, and write something. Thankfully he's allowed to read something from home, instead of the book from school (some of them are quite good but others, not so much) but I really hate reading myself after being forced to do it at primary school and I don't think it's a good idea to make them do it all the time.
He's interested in reading me things when they are meaningful to him, but I can't stand the idea of putting him off.
Maybe we ought to revert to HE 
not the HE isn't nice but he likes school.
I'd echo what everyone else says.
Mine (year 3 and 6) don't bother with the reading book from school, we read other things.
For dd2 (year 6) the teacher consistantly checks the reading diary on Monday, so she takes it out of her bag on Monday night, and if I'm feeling good then I fill it out every night, or on the less organised weeks it might be filling it out on Sunday with a little poetic licence when I can't remember what she's read. She's never without her nose in a book if she can avoid it, so I've no worries about doing that.
Ds (year 3) they do check more randomly, so I fill it out every night. Sometimes he reads a magazine, sometimes it could be a script he's doing in drama, or it can be a couple of chapters from a book at bedtime. He does have perhaps a more interesting taste than the reading books at school, so a lot of what he reads are factual books. Woe betide the teacher who decides to ask him about those unless they've got the rest of the day to listen to him. 
If they're fairly fluent then you can have them reading while you're doing other things. When you need more attention then I found the best time was in the car waiting for their siblings. There's nothing more interesting to do then, and they're a captive for you.
How long did it take him to read you that 50 page book?
I think what you may be 'missing' is that school would prefer you to hear him read for 10 minutes 5x/week, than for 50 minutes in a one-off.
Of course your DS might prefer to finish the book in one sitting; he still can; but you stop 'listening' and get on with whatever else needs doing. Then you write in his record and if you don't get a new book, you get him to read something else the next day.
It sounds to me that your problem is not getting your DS to read every day. But finding the time a) to listen to him for 10 minutes and b) to write into the reading record.
For a) as previous posters have said, get him to read to you while you're cooking; for b) do it every night on your way to bed.
Of course, you do these things in order to keep school happy; you are right that his progress in reading does not depend on how diligently you do the reading record. So if you don't mind what school thinks, you needn't worry about the record.
Regarding the reading out loud thing,I believe it is thought to benefit even strong readers to read out loud to someone regularly. And things like this, in general children make better progress from little and often, than from big chunks of time put into it irregularly. So there is good reason - not to make school happy, but to help your DS reading progress - to listen to him every day in short bursts, rather than once a week for a longer time.
And if you do manage to do that, why not ALSO keep school happy by recording it daily. 
I asked dd1's teacher if she really wanted me to list everything - dd1's a voracious reader, it's often a book a night / early morning if they're something like Mr Gum or Enid Blyton. She said that it was fine to just do a list every few weeks, to give her a sense of what dd1 is reading, and that dd1 should just bring a book from her own shelves into school for guided reading.
The TA, on the other hand, seems to want to keep giving dd1 scheme books which are out of date, dull, much too easy and dd1 hates.
I'm going with the teacher's advice.
Absolutely no way could a child be a free reader in yr1 at my daughters school and I'd be worried if they could.
They have target cards which, for example, involve comprehension, reading between the lines, ability to talk about authors choice of words, similar books and that isn't even the top end of the scale.
Being able to read involves much more than reading words off a page.
It's been proven that not only should your child read aloud to you, but you should read aloud to your child for as long as they will let you so they can pick up the nuance of how words are pronounced etc.
I will be reading to mine till they physically kick me out of their bedrooms when they are about 12 .
I say that as a mother of a very good reader.
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Thank you for all the considered replies, and ideas and suggestions.
I will put a pen in his book bag (brilliant idea) though he will probably get wise to this and start to use it himself for things, at which point it will no longer be findable...
I wish I was more organised and I wish I had that sort of elusive upper hand in my household that some of you appear to have mastered 
!
I think I had better talk to his teacher actually. She is genuinely lovely and I don't think she would mind an awful lot of we just did a weekend session. It's the TA that put the note in.
It took him about 35 mins to read it, but a lot of that was being distracted by other things and getting a bit tired.
He chooses his own book to read, and the stage he wants, which I think is stage 13 at the moment - they put him on 11 on the first day and asked him if it was Ok and he said it was too easy 
I agree that reading is important but I think if children want to do it then they will in any case, and if they don't, it's generally a bit counterproductive to enforce it. So it has to be carefully handled.
Aware of recent changes to the govt's requirements on this too, which I am sure doesn't make it easy for teachers to be flexible.
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