I know I should be a nice middle class parent and enjoy listening to my dd read to me, but...

[Enid]

it has become a flash point at the end of the day.

She has a reading book every day from school (she is 6, in year 1), she is supposed to read it to me and I listen and write comments in her reading book.

The last few weeks have been a real struggle for me as far as her reading goes - obviously I am knackered with small baby and 3 year old, BUT

a) she has started to hate reading and fusses and moans whenever we have to sit and do it
b) she just stares out of the window if she doesnt know a word, then if I tell her what it is she throws a fit
c)she reads REALLY SLOWLY and it took us 50 mins to read 16 pages this evening
d) she reads in a baby lispy voice that drives me mad and I just can't keep my mouth shut about it

I know I should be calmer and more positive but my comment in her reading book tonight was 'Like pulling teeth'.

How on earth can we get back on track with this?

how long do you think it SHOULD take to read 16 pages (roughly 20 words a page)

maybe will set timer for 20 mins

then no hassle but has a definite end

atm it is taking upwards of 40 mins (the staring)

haven't read it all but have you tried you reading a page then her reading a page (so the story flows a bit better)?

Also, I think 16 pages is a lot. Dd is in yr 1 and unless she is really enjoying the book, we only do about 4-8 pages (depending on how tired she is - those are pages full of text so I don't know how that compares).

ok here i am!!! pay me lots of money and i will fish out my ort books and turn your children into reading stars!!! well my children are all g and t

Hmmm, how long is a piece of string - honestly, every child is different, but if a reading book is at the right level for them, they should be reading most of it fluently, with about 10% of the text being words they need do decode ie work out.

16 pages in one go is too much though anyway - no wonder it drove both of ya nuts

the book has 24 pages

maybe should stop getting so hung up on her finishing it

am comparing her with her peers who race through them - bad, I know

yes puff she only needs help with about 10% of words I would say

Is it too easy for her? Just a boring exercise?

Ginn ain't good generally for children who are struggling with reading.

I think the suggestion of talking to teacher and reading something else at home is a good idea too (do anything to dump the Ginn if you can ).

we aim for 15 mins (but do more if she is enjoying it)

DS was reading to me yesterday morning. Not a school book, one of those M&S first readers. DD got so jealous of the attention he was getting and trying to disrupt etc that she bit the book. And we were only doing one page! I got really cross and sent her out of the room which resulted in her in floods of tears.

I think 20 mins is a long time -- 10 mins might be less daunting, even if it means she's not getting through her quota.

Could you try using a tape recorder so she can record herself -- it worked for ds for a while, and he used to go off and record by himself and then come and play it back to me. It gives them a bit more autonomy and some proper feedback! At least it might inspire her to make extra effort and avoid the silly voices.

Also get decent books -- the ORT ones at Level 4 or whatever it is are quite good, the ones with the magic key stories. DK do some factual books that might appeal. Libraries often have big stocks of various reading scheme books. We have been known to actively boycott school books if they've been too dull.

I hope they stop having to read aloud at some point in primary school. The horror of having to do this with two children is starting to dawn on me!

Have to say I'm really dreading this. Dd won't start reading till she's 6 (that's when kids start school here and I decided to wait and let her learn with the rest of the class). I did make a few attempts on my own though and found it so exasperating. Don't think I have a natural talent for teaching LOs to read.

She sounds "completely" bored then by the scheme - she has good taste IMO!

I was going to suggest 10 minutes too. Dd has sometimes been given a ludicrous (IMHO) amount to do in one night, so I have just said in the reading record that she read well but I'm afraid we didn't have time to finish. The teachers never seem to mind, I think they sometimes haven't realised quite how much they've given them.

I started having problemns with ds in Year1. He hates reading out loud and was sooooooo bored with the books.

First we started sharing the reading - he read a page and then I read a page.

One day he moaned so much about not wanting to read that I let him choose a book from his bookcase instead - he chose a harder book and read a couple of chapters no problem. I wrote in his school book what had happend and he came home with a book from a new, more interesting series next time.

We still continued to have problems so I started letting him read to himself and then I ask questions about the story and go through looking for "harder" words to check that he knows them. I mentioned this to his teacher and she said this was fine as they are listened to twice a week in school.

Enid - DD2 loathed any Ginn books but loved ORT. I mentioned it in her reading book and they gave her some ORT to read instead. I did say that I found them incredibly dull and very PC and that I almost couldn't bear to listen to them either which might have helped.
Does she have to finish the books - DD2 can take as long as she likes? If she reads something else to me at home I just comment on that instead. Don't really think it makes much difference although they might not be too pleased at "read the cornflakes box really well. Excellent expression but had difficulty with Nutritional content".

Dh found a way of making reading more interesting last night. He found the Junior magazine Reception key words fridge magnets and tried to make the longest story he could using all the words - here is his effort
(I am pg with no.3 so it sort of makes sense).

mum and dad play
see look at this
he was up
my you are big
go in me she said
we like it
I am going to come
yes
they came
Junior is on the way

He didn't quite manage to use all 45 words, but good effort I thought, I couldn't let ds read it though.
Mumsnet challenge to use all 45 words and make a short story

when dd1 wasn't keen we found it worked better to do it at weekends not on school evenings when she was usually tired

dd1's reading got virtually no attention when dd3 was born (dd1 was 4). I felt very guilty that her academic performance was being ruined by us having a new baby. I kept saying to myself that giving her a sister was ultimately better than teaching her to read. not sure if that's true....

step away from the books - and go down the chippy

Oh Enid.
I know this is no help but DS1 (6, in yr 2) is similar.
On Sunday night he said he couldn’t read his new book just then because “the pages were too long”. sigh....It takes us ages too, so painful sometimes.
Is this a mad idea - can you try doing it in the morning? I know you have it to do in the am with the new baby, but maybe you could just find 5 mins and read 2-3 pages. You might find she’s a lot more ready to do it at 8.30am than 5.30pm.

(so I agree with Cod actually
lol at yr DS3 Cod
Also scummy and roisin good posts, may try some of this with DS1, just letting him take the lead for a while (tho I fear we may then not read) or maybe a sticker....

keeping mum rofl at dh's vulgar story from reception class keywords

rofl KeepingMum - reminds me of the Wendy Cope poem where daddy ends up shooting the milkman...

\link{http://www.geocities.com/bjlandry_00/Otherwriters/copereading.html\here}

PMSL at KeepingMum, that's what those infernal magnets were designed for!