reading schemes

[jamiesmum2001]

Can anyone advise me whether I can withdraw my son from his primary schools reading scheme. He is not brilliant or exceptional (except to us!) but loves reading. He has been reading books since he was able to hold them,he is just 9 and has read all the Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnier, Famous Fives etc. At home, he will also read the paper and anything else he can, however the school will not budge on his place in the reading scheme. He has recently been given a book that took 62 pages to get from "a dog" to "a blue dog sat in a car". They say that because he won't discuss the book he doesn't understand what hes reading. He can discuss the plots, characters etc in home books ok.He was so upset at this that he has said he won't read anymore as there is no point. what do you think?

You can't withdraw him from what he does in school but of course you have the option of not reading the scheme books at home.
I can't for the life of me think which reading scheme you are talking about.

I think you need to meet with the teacher to find out what is happening here. If he is being asked to read simple books, then there is undoubtedly a reason for it - the teacher will not be doing this on a whim. Reading in schools is about more than just being able to read the words adequately, it also involves showing that you understand them, that you can pick out information about the characters and plot, predict possible ways the story might go, that kind of thing. They may be asking him to do this kind of thing, and if they think there is a problem with his understanding of what he is reading then they may well stick with simpler books for now.

You can't withdraw him from the reading scheme - you don't get to pick & choose which parts of school he takes part in - but you can work with the school to understand what their aim is in his reading at the moment, so that you can talk through the differences between his apparent reading in class and what he manages at home, and the teacher can explain what the reasons are for the current work.

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A 9 year old is being given a book 'a blue dog sat in a car'??????

A book about a blue dog that has 64 pages

This is bad. There's a point to reading schemes when you're LEARNING to read and when children are still enjoying and being challenged by them, great. If your child is an independent reader he should be allowed to read independently. I'd definitely go in.