What age did your children do their school reading alone?

[Beatmeonthebottomwiththewomansweekly]

What age did you move to your primary children reading their school book alone / silently rather than aloud to you?

Did you or they sign their reading record?

We’re not at all ready yet and will fk with when it feels right, but can see that it will come so wondered when others have done.

I’ve noticed DD is much better as asking for explanations of words when I’m reading. I think that’s because I’ve been reading Harry Potter and the language is quite complex in places. But it’s a good way to increase the vocabulary without it all coming from their reading.

Mine read in bed by themselves every night for half an hour before going to sleep, they're 10 and 8, and youngest hasn't read aloud to us since Yr 3. Should probably get her too occasionally really. They're both avid readers though, and the school has always insisted on reading every evening (they do check daily!) until year 6 when the expectation is still there but it isn't checked. I think for most of them at their school, as they've read every night for the past however many years, they still do as it's become part of life for them. I remember as a young teen reading Harry Potter, and thinking Hermione was pronounced something like "Herman"/"Her-moy-n" until the films came out and I found out I'd been saying it wrong for years 🤣... This is why I should check in with youngest more regularly!

You were channeling your inner Viktor Krum @Gothamcity

Y5. That was the point at which both DSs were mature enough to ask me (or find a dictionary!) if they didn’t understand a word. That was also the year that the school officially talked about ‘reading to themself’ rather than ‘reading to someone’.

I've just started afresh with getting my yr 4 & 6 kids to read aloud to me every day. The yr 6 teacher asked for them to read for 20 minutes a minimum of 5 days a week, no mention of it being out loud or in the head so I'm going for 10 minutes to me, 10 to herself. She's dyslexic and I never know whether making her read out loud is a help or hindrance, but things like shadowed reading are supposed to be helpful I believe. Ds is very ahead in his reading and reads to himself mainly but I feel I need to up my game to make sure he's got the complicated words right.

Out of interest when people say "free reader" and off scheme, what does that mean? My school does accelerated reader (AR) which doesn't ever stop so I don't know how it equates.

For mine it means they can choose any book from the library rather than from a particular band. But I’ve seen threads on here that show it varies wildly as to when that happens.

In DD’s case it was year 2, after gold or purple or something around there. So things like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are now coming home instead. Which are actually now more enjoyable to listen to!

Thanks. I think it's just totally different to what my kids school does then so can't be compared. We don't have coloured book bands, they are coded by numbers that correspond to a reading age and carry on past 12yo. The kids do frequent tests that set their level.

My DS is in year 3 and I can’t imagine not listening to him read - it’s a lovely part of our bedtime routine - he reads to me and then I read to him. He really enjoys it as he likes doing voices and going big on the expression. I love hearing it and it means I can check his comprehension as well. It still seems to be expected by his school
and parents are asked to sign the reading diary. I’ll keep doing it as long as he will let me!

Edited to add - he also still gets reading books from school and is on level 13/grey if that means anything to anyone.

Free reader: our school does the oxforx owl scheme to the end. free reader is a reading age of 11upwards (dark red). Gold (reading age around 7) as mentioned above would not be a free reader. Grey i think us 9/10, so also not

We do Accelerated Reader which does have free reader…. It essentially means you’re off the coloured book bands. They don’t seem to go past year 1 here although if you are a bad reader I guess you continue on book bands until you reach the end of them. I don’t know much about other kids’ reading levels but book bands seem to filter out by year 2.

Then ‘free reader’ means you move onto AR, with a range of books you can get from the library (eg 3.2-7.4) and a computer quiz after you’ve finished each book, to test your comprehension. I always wonder how on earth there is a quiz for each book!??

This was such a great idea! Wish I had thought of that. Bit late now as they are 18 and 20! But I always did it at bedtime with them and they were tired by then.

My year 6 daughter reads aloud for 5 minutes every school morning while I potter about. It's a habit from reception and I'll keep it up until she moves to secondary. It's no big deal for either of us but I think it's beneficial.

Also - she's a competent reader and also reads to herself for 10 minutes at night. But she doesn't particularly enjoy it which is why I keep her at it - she wouldn't pick up a book to read out of choice.

For the duration of primary. My children are competent readers but it allowed us to check pronunciation and comprehension.
It also boosted their confidence for oracy skills too.

My 8 year old has been reading independently for about a year, I ask to read to her or her read to me and she says no! She does bring a reading book home every week.
My 6 year old (year 2 but the youngest in the year) likes being read to and reading time, she also “reads” in her head in bed.