7 year old unable to read

[Longsleepneeded]

I wonder if I could get some perspective/advice please. My friend homeschools her ds7 and he can't read yet. She has expressed surprise at how well my 7 year old can read and says she doesn't know how to teach her ds to read. He is very bright, full of questions and interested in lots of things. They went to several homeschooling groups before lock down. Is it usual to be a late reader and has anyone any advice on the best way to teach him please?

I'm of the belief the most children by around seven can read in some capacity, as appears to be the views of many. If he is a bright child, with no learning difficulties, then it stands to reason that he would be further ahead with reading in a normal school environment. Whether or not the parent has to follow a curriculum, it seems a shame that he's behind where he could be due to being home schooled.

@Hodan85

I'm of the belief the most children by around seven can read in some capacity, as appears to be the views of many. If he is a bright child, with no learning difficulties, then it stands to reason that he would be further ahead with reading in a normal school environment. Whether or not the parent has to follow a curriculum, it seems a shame that he's behind where he could be due to being home schooled.

(I know it's a zombie thread, but the subject is of interest, though the OP is probably long gone...)

Why do you think it's a shame, @Hodan85? I agree with the home ed parents who say that learning is a journey, not a race. So long as the child does acquire literacy before reaching adulthood, why does it matter when that happens?

I don't hold with the idea of being "ahead" or "behind" with academics any more than with babies learning to walk. It's only a competition if you make it one. Doing so doesn't serve children's needs well.

It's quite true that children at school who can't read well by late primary age do perform worse in the long run, statistically. But there's no evidence this is true of home educated kids. Unlike schoolchildren, they can escape the demoralising daily message that reading is too hard for them and that they are underperforming - a message which is likely to be self-fulfilling. Also, home ed kids who aren't early readers don't flounder in other subjects, because they can access the material in ways other than reading. As you'll see from my messages upthread, neither of my home ed kids was an early reader. Neither has found this to be a disadvantage in their education.

Even if you feel that it's very important for children to sit GCSEs aged exactly 16 (I don't), a seven year old has many years ahead of them in which to get to the necessary standard. What's the rush?

@Saracen I guess it comes down to difference of opinion on large part. I'm comfortable with traditional schooling, so in my mind the child being further behind with reading due to being home schooled seems a negative to me; you've said yourself that children who read better by later in primary school do better in the longer term and I suspect the lack of evidence of it being the case for home schooling is that its difficult to track - I'd image the trend follows through with home schooled children too. The main concern for me is that the mother expressed an inability to teach the child to read; it sounds like the child is likely ready, but the parent is not equipped to help them learn. I'm sure the quality of home teaching varies hugely, which for me is a concern in itself.

See, it seems to me that school is highly reliant on children reading and writing simply because the adult-to-child ratio is so poor. Teachers can't have lengthy individual conversations with children so they can learn via discussion, and they can't easily determine whether particular children understand what they've been taught unless children churn out paperwork which the teacher can check fairly quickly. I don't blame schools for that; it's fairly inevitable that in a mass instruction system kids have to conform or fail.

And because reading and writing are such important tools for instruction and assessment at school, there is huge worry at school when kids can't do it. That in turn hits the self-esteem of schoolchildren who aren't at the standard required by school.

But that is all just an artefact of the school system. None of it is intrinsic to education, or relevant outside the school system. As I said, standard exams such as GCSEs do require a good standard of reading and writing, but it would be silly to worry about those yet for a seven year old.

This is why you can't generalise from schooling to education. Home education looks very different. It has its challenges, but those challenges are not the same as school. In particular, early reading and writing just doesn't matter in the way it does at school.

I honestly think she’s doing a child a massive disservice here. Children deserve an education and the question is does your friend have the ability to provide that? It would seem not but what you do about it god only knows.

Not having the first idea about teaching him to read is a bit of a worry, especially when there are so many resources available.

How on Earth is she going to be able to homeschool if she can't manage one of the basics?

@Hodan85

I'm of the belief the most children by around seven can read in some capacity, as appears to be the views of many. If he is a bright child, with no learning difficulties, then it stands to reason that he would be further ahead with reading in a normal school environment. Whether or not the parent has to follow a curriculum, it seems a shame that he's behind where he could be due to being home schooled.

Behind where he could be? What does that mean? I am sure most schooled children could be learning more, write more neatly, jump higher etc.

She sounds like the last person who should be homeschooling, if she's out of her depth at the very basics. Aren't homeschooled kids checked up on in any way?

[quote Hodan85]@Saracen I guess it comes down to difference of opinion on large part. I'm comfortable with traditional schooling, so in my mind the child being further behind with reading due to being home schooled seems a negative to me; you've said yourself that children who read better by later in primary school do better in the longer term and I suspect the lack of evidence of it being the case for home schooling is that its difficult to track - I'd image the trend follows through with home schooled children too. The main concern for me is that the mother expressed an inability to teach the child to read; it sounds like the child is likely ready, but the parent is not equipped to help them learn. I'm sure the quality of home teaching varies hugely, which for me is a concern in itself.[/quote]
Sigh....the quality of school teaching also varies hugely. Have you done any research into home ed, or are you just making assumptions?

You know there are seven year old children in other countries that are more advanced than your average British seven year old. Are you concerned about that?

@Saracen To be honest, I'm particularly knowledgeable on home ed and I don't particularly care that much either way, I was just giving a requested opinion based on my own feelings about the subject, that's what the OP requested.

My view is that I wouldn't try and fix my boiler, as I'm not an engineer, however if they did a poor job, I'd get onto the firm to correct the issue or improve their service. The same can be applied to schooling; the quality may vary, but I'd rather someone qualified teach my children and then I have an input if I felt the quality of teaching wasn't good enough. I should add, I'd not realised with was a zombie post initially.

Anyone else think it's amusing that so many people have posted on a zombie thread about reading skills?

@user1495884211

Anyone else think it's amusing that so many people have posted on a zombie thread about reading skills?

The warning disappears after the first poster has resurrected it... 🤷🏻‍♀️ Why do people do that?

I know this is a zombie, but I'm surprised at how many people who clearly know nothing about home ed and don't care have come on it to give their opinions... if a parent home educates why would they keep to the timetable of schools that says a child must learn to read by whatever age? Seven isn't even outlandishly old to not be reading, even in school, in some places. So silly to think there's only one context children can learn in and the only people who can teach them are the ones who've gone to uni to be shown a particular way of doing it. So much ignorance here about how home ed works too - people who have no idea how it's done but seem very sure that everyone who does it is doing it wrong.

@Callybrate

I know this is a zombie, but I'm surprised at how many people who clearly know nothing about home ed and don't care have come on it to give their opinions... if a parent home educates why would they keep to the timetable of schools that says a child must learn to read by whatever age? Seven isn't even outlandishly old to not be reading, even in school, in some places. So silly to think there's only one context children can learn in and the only people who can teach them are the ones who've gone to uni to be shown a particular way of doing it. So much ignorance here about how home ed works too - people who have no idea how it's done but seem very sure that everyone who does it is doing it wrong.

I agree 100%. it's also alarming how many call it home school. Home ed is totally different. What is a zombie thread?

Recommend she get her child watching something simple like Alphablocks to learn simple sounds

It's normal not to be reading at this stage in the world of home education. They pick it up incredibly fast when they do decide. Makes you wonder why we bother.

However. Mum should be delivering some sort of efficient education that achieves what she sets out to achieve. It doesn't sound like she's making decisions based on the child's needs and aptitudes. She does have responsibilities to discharge here and she does remarkably nonchalant about them.

I'd like to know if she has a plan to prepare herself to support the child learning to read. It could be tuition, a learning programme, anything as long as it works and she does it. I would not report but I would find out more.

Hi OP I Know this is an old thread but I’d be interested to hear the latest 😊

At 7 it is still totally fine for him to not be a reader yet. If she follows a waldorf style for instance then no formal learning or introduction of letters will happen until they are at least 6/7. If she is actively ‘knocking on that door’ with the blending of sounds and he knows his letters and the sounds they make then they will get it when they are developmentally ready to 🤷‍♀️ you don’t want to force them or it will just be a source of frustration for both mum and child and could lead to a hatred of reading and that’s not what you want to instil. If he is learning lots of other things at home and is bright like you say, then it shouldn’t even be on the radar that he doesn’t read yet.

The thread is from 2021. I assume the child can read by now!

Not unheard of for ten year olds not to be reading

You can teach him phonics. Starting from the most commonly used sounds. I created some videos parents can use at home to teach their kids: https://m.youtube.com/@MultiVerseEnglish

If you follow this video, for example: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8O7m-eoJq6M

You can give your seven year old a pencil and piece of paper and follow the video, pausing when it tells you to and following the instructions.

You could also get some levelled readers. Oxford Reading Tree are excellent: https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/oxford-reading-tree-levels/