The reading thing is a complete non-issue at the moment. It isn't very unusual for an autonomously educated eight-year-old to be unable to read, nor is it at all worrying. Peter Gray suggests that outside of a school environment, the age at which a child learns to read really doesn't matter. His article is based on anecdotes but still may be interesting to those who are unfamiliar with autonomous education. Unlike school-educated children who learn to read later than their peers, home educated children don't have to miss out on learning because reading doesn't have to be the principle method of education. Moreover, they aren't being compared to their age peers on a daily basis or being made to attempt something they may not be ready to do yet. This means their self-esteem doesn't suffer and they don't come to believe they are "too thick" to learn to read - they just think that they haven't learned to read yet but that they will later.
Raven, I was also a fluent reader from a very early age and found it hard to accept that my children were not keen on reading in their early years. It seemed to me that they would be missing out on that rich world I love. But I don't think that anymore. They have been able to hear a great many stories by listening to audiobooks or being read to. Jim Trelease obseves that most children's listening comprehension is very far ahead of their reading comprehension. By reading to them and talking to them, rather than expecting them to access information and stories primarily by reading for themselves, we give them access to much more sophisticated and thought-provoking material than they otherwise might get. (Perhaps children like you and me who were extremely good readers from a young age are an exception to this rule, but I am sure Trelease's theory applies to most children.) He recommends reading to children right through their teens.
My older child only became a fluent reader at nine and has had her nose stuck in a book ever since. The younger one is six and has no interest in reading yet. In watching my children spend a substantial proportion of their childhood as non-readers, I have been surprised to notice that this actually had some benefits for them. I've reached the following conclusions by comparing myself to both of them when they couldn't read, and noticing changes in my older dd since she learned to read.
Nonreaders are good observers. My knowledge of the world is more secondhand. I read about things and think about them in an abstract way; nonreaders watch and listen. I am nervous in an unfamiliar area without a map; my younger daughter cannot use a map so she looks at her surroundings and can retrace her steps.
Nonreaders have time for active and creative pursuits. In the same way that many people automatically switch on the TV the moment they are slightly bored, I reach for a book, and so now does my older dd. She used to listen while drawing or doing gymnastics. Now she just sits and reads. She gets less exercise and doesn't do as many new things. Like anything else, an interest in books takes us away from other things we might be experiencing.
Nonreaders are engaged with the world and people around them. When I'm in a supermarket queue, or waiting at the dentist, or hanging around at my children's sports sessions, I very often have my nose in a book. I was even attacked at a bus stop once when I was so absorbed in my book I was completely oblivious to someone coming up behind me. As nonreaders, my kids talk(ed) to people more.
Nonreaders have good memories. They have to rely on memory much more. My older daughter used to know hundreds of poems and was able to learn songs very quickly. Since she learned to read, she knows she can look things up and she doesn't focus much on remembering what she hears. Since she moved into a choir which emphasises the use of musical scores, she takes longer to learn new songs. Some excellent musicians say that learning to read music interferes with musical development: it's very hard to look and listen at the same time, and they say that children often seem to lose their "ear for music" to a certain extent when they start reading music regularly.
It's undoubtedly challenging for an adult to be a nonreader in our society. But for a child of eight who doesn't go to school, being a nonreader is not a problem and even has some benefits.