To rebel against reading diary

[Stirling84]

I think I am being unreasonable - but I've cracked.

DS is meant to record pages read. He reads every night but rarely logs more than one session a week. So we have about ten pages of nearly empty grids and 'sad face' comments from teacher.

sigh

The world has indeed gorn mad. What value can there possibly be in turning imaginative intellectual exploration into such a humdrum chore? A note of chapters read done once a week should be enough, and will have more value as it allows the child to reflect on what they have read.

Another thing I particularly hate is that my DGC are bringing books home that their parents read when they were at the same school. (Same editions too...)

ds1 is supposed to get his reading diary signed regularly too. I have managed to do that 3 times this term so far - this morning (when I had a 7.30am train to catch - a rare occurrence - so running around trying to get sorted and out in a hurry, leaving dh to sort out the dc) he presented it to me, said he needed it all signed up to date today otherwise there would be trouble and he'd filled everything in (bizarrely missing out lots of things he has read) - needing signatures in 29 boxes.

MNetters like a fool I just did it. (and boy does your signature go funny when you do lots in a hurry!). And it wasn't until I collapsed onto the train that I stopped for long enough to think WTF and why on earth did I do that then and not make him wait until tomorrow doh!

My son will be going into school tomorrow to demand the next Harry Potter book as he finished Order this evening. I suspect they might have a job though, as I don't think they have Half-Blood and Deathly Hallows in school. His TA has managed to keep him supplied with material this far, and they share a deep love of all things Potter. I may have to let him take my copies in

They've started using the guided reading scheme in school though, so you read the book, tap a code into the tablet or laptop and complete a comprehension test. Keeps track of some of what they're reading anyway. I still think reading records are pointless though, and punishments for non-completion is bonkers. What kind of school punishes a child for something that is often outside of their control?

I remember this. I wrote a reply to the sad faces in the end saying " x is a keen reader, it is part of his normal life. Logging exactly what and how often he has read seems unnecessary and irritating." They stopped.

I think we had minutes when I was a kid, pages were irrelevant as the teacher would work on it with those who were struggling. They just wanted to see we were all practicing.

Summer book reports from a list of dull books is what killed my love of reading. That and high school literature. I cannot express how much I hated The Scarlet Letter.

I still read occasionally, but on my terms. I prefer instructional books that show me a new skill or technique.

DD reads in bed. I go up and say night night etc and take book downstairs (otherwise she would read to end). Check where she is up to and write read to p123 initials and date. Put book in bag. She is 9. Seems to pass muster.

We don't do reading diaries. Each of my children read every night, aloud to me, to each other, or to themselves far too late into the night.
Like nocakes, I've explained this politely to the teachers and explained that we will not be participating in this particular piece of joyless Ofsted-pleasing nonsense. Teachers seem to think this is fair enough.

Can't he take the reading diary with him when he takes his book out of his bag when he reads?
I can't understand why you won't just write in his diary?
Stick a pen between the two pages for each week, open the book, start writing as he is reading. It won't take you any longer.

It's probably already been said but I haven't read all the posts...

1. You could keep track of the pages. It would be pretty simple as you'd only need to write down the page number when you make him turn off his light. You'd know what he started at by checking from the previous night.

1. Give him a separate note pad and pencil to keep next to his bed to keep track of what page he's up to. Then you can transfer that information into his reading book. Consider this a chore and something he needs to do.

If he's an excellent reader the school might give you some leeway with what needs to be done but they have goals too I'm sure.

Get him to write it on a post it before bed? Then he can update his diary in the morn / at school

I don't supervise reading at all.

Once we're through with walking home nicely, straightening our room nicely, running through some times tables cheerfully, eating dinner sensibly, putting our plate in the dishwasher helpfully, doing music practice diligently, brushing our teeth for 3 minutes - we've both had a bellyful of little rules and improving-habits.

Hovering over his reading will actively inhibit him developing his own relationship with books.

Can you fill it in daily instead. Write read for more then an hour. Signed mum.

Or 'seen with a book in his hand - possibly for 45 minutes, Mum'

DS reads 4 times a week. We've lost and abandoned our reading record book. Now being nagged.

It's a particular sort of middle class arrogance, isn't it? I see it in myself. "Oh, my child doesn't need to do this mundane task...."

Reading regularly is a huge indicator for future academic success. Teachers are doing everything they can to encourage kids to do it. It is incredibly useful for teachers to know who is and who isn't. Creating a culture in a class where jotting down what you've read in a book is just something you do and is not a big deal. Your child reads lots- 30 seconds recording it 3 times a week isn't going to turn him into a book refuser. But for another child being able to show the teacher and be praised for having read might well make a big difference in whether they develop the habit.

"Read X for 45 minutes" Signed Mum. Takes no more time and gives teacher more information.

Yes, I think the fact it takes practically zero time and effort and is useful for the teacher and has been requested by the school is actually neither here nor there. The OP just prefers to refuse and that's that.

I think you're right Bertrand

I don't mind logging per se.

'observed reading - signed Mum' was rejected by DS - unclear whether he was just unhappy that I was overwriting the table headings or if the teacher said that was not acceptable.

I have been bugging him last few weeks about recording it - but it has been frustrating him - and him writing 'XXX book - completed' got a 'read more frequently' comment.

One of the biggest bonuses of my DC growing older was getting rid of bollocks like this.

One of my DCs primary school had the most ridiculous rule where we were meant to write in their records the time of day they read, three things that had happened in the book and a word they didn't know...every day. This DC had, and still has, a huge love of reading and i wouldn't risk killing that with pointless box ticking exercises like this. I can understand noting any issues etc when they are learning to read, but this was just overkill for 10 year olds.

What was even more infuriating is that these books were only checked intermittently. DH wrote " can read! " every night for two weeks and it was never checked once.

We now have a mix of home schooling/secondary schools for the DC and it's wonderful

Stirling- just tell him that it's one of the things that's non negotiable like cleaning his teeth. Not worth making any sort of big deal about. There are good reasons for doing it- and doing it is so much easier than not doing it.

get some small post it notes - a bit like a tab, every day when he finishes reading he can put a new tab in the book - in the morning - or at the end of the week use the tabs to fill in the diary.

That's just not how he reads.

Off the back of my letter yesterday he got his 'reader' happy face - and got a new Jeremy Strong book - which he'd finished by the time we got home. He then annoyed his brother's music practice by reading out Roald Dahl 'Revolting Rhymes' in rhythm with the music. He read a comic while I was serving dinner, by which point his brother had also read most of the Jeremy Strong - and they spent dinner passing the book back and forth cracking up at the silliest jokes. He went to bed at 7.30pm and stayed there for an hour awake without fuss - presumably occupied by one of the half a dozen books he has stashed there - or maybe working on his own 'comic book'.

Where does the bookmark go?

Think how many gazillion times you could have signed his reading log by now instead of ruminating over how it doesn't fit his style!

What the fuck has it got with being middle-class?!

Don't you think poor people have opinions on reading diaries?

Bang out of order.

Saucy I'm poorer than poor, and as already detailed here don't do reading diaries either :o

My son is 8, goes to an estate primary. They're as fine with it as the previous school which was in a a slightly less deprived area and had on average fewer children with entitlement to FSM.

It has bugger all to do with class Bertrand, and everything to do with how my (or the OP's) child reads. He does it independently, has done for years. He has never read to me with any regularity. He doesn't like it. He will happily talk about the book, just don't interfere while he is consuming it.