How much does your 6-7 year old read?

[Coldcafeeveryday]

I'm just wondering what is a normal amount for a 6-7year old to read? Do they read independently? My DD has just turned 7 years old soon and is in her 3rd year of school. I let her read before bed by herself for 15-30 mins (depending on how quickly we do bedtime and how tired she is). I'm wondering if I should be encouraging more? The reason I ask is that I'm not sure exactly how much I should be helping her at home. My parents never encouraged learning at home unless I was struggling with homework. How much to people do with their kids at home? Do you practise maths?

Can’t you read with her? It’s something we do together at bed time, then you can check she’s actually reading. But other than that, she reads every day so that’s obviously good

I read with her a little during the day but maybe not often enough. The reason I don't read with her before bed is that she struggles to calm down/switch off (I have thought she might have ADHD or something but the school disagree) and I've found reading independently helps her to do this. If I am there it keeps her excitable and she then finds it harder to go to sleep. Sometimes we will read together a little before her bath or after school but it can be difficult with her younger brother around and all the things that need to get done around the house ie dinner, clean up, prepping for bath etc.

I think she's reading relatively well and when I go up for lights out she will tell me whats happened in the story so even if she is not getting everything perfect, she's understanding the plot. She did however say to me the other day, "Mummy, I think the teacher in my book is called Vulva." LOL! It was Vivian! But that could be a memory problem too, vulvas on the brain. Haha!

At 6 we read together every night, but it wasn't much of an activity of choice in the day, she was more active and into hands-on things. I'd say she picked up more independent reading aged 7, and by 8 she was a real bookworm.

I'd agree that it's good to continue reading together rather than leaving them to read alone, and to read to them, not just letting them do the reading, as that allows them to listen to more complex stories and you can explain new words as you go along, and they can hear how you pronounce more difficult words, and discuss the plot and characters.

We don't do any additional workbooks at home but we spend most weekends doing enriching trips out as we are in London and go to museums and activity days all the time.

I think your schedule is great. My children are younger but I remember going to bed to read at that age, and then my parents would tuck me in/turn lights off. It's the only way I could wind down (I did have ADHD) and go to sleep.
I enjoyed it and it sounds like she does too, I'd avoid 'checking' too obviously as you might accidentally make it a chore/expectation and put her off.

At 6-7, I don’t think either of mine would have read for fun. That’s still very little. We did reading for school because we had to, but only sometimes. They would do things before bed (build Lego, play quietly, look at pictures in books but not necessarily read, listen to an audiobook). Now that they are older, they read for pleasure without prompting.

At 6-7 years DS read I'd say 10 mins a day after school and never for fun. We did numbots (the maths app school uses) for 10 mins a day too. Homework was always a struggle at that age as they are so tired from school.

He's 9 now and reads for up to an hour or 2 a day for fun as well as half hour to an hour of a different maths app a week. He does has maths and english workbooks that he completed at home for fun too (not school ones but ones you can get from BM). He likes maths and reading though so isn't a chore for him and we are a screen free (bar his maths app) house during the week so I think that helps.

I think your schedule is great.

We are also screen free (well tablets, we watch TV whenever) but we haven't been using the maths app that the school have recommended which I'm not sure is a mistake. It seems really badly made and it's difficult to operate but maybe I need to let her practise on that. We actually don't own a tablet so she would need to do it on a phone instead. I picked up some exercise books from lidl but she hated doing them during the summer and I didnt want to make learning a chore so I put them aside.

We do a lot of gallery/museum trips too but try to do it in a learner led way by asking questions about what they notice, what do they think, why do they think it's like that etc

DD can't calm down with lego, crafts, colouring before bed, it just riles her up and then she gets very upset when she has to stop for bedtime routine. Reading independently is the only thing that has helped us.

I have 7 year old twins and we didn’t start reading to them until they were 6 and learning to read themselves.

They are off the scale hyper a bedtime so could never focus on a book. Now prescribed melatonin which is a lifesaver!

They love reading with us now at bedtime but prefer chapter books.

I have an 11 year old who we read to every night since he was born. He now reads himself before bed.

That is so interesting to hear! Do you have any other things that helped you settle as a child? We stumbled across letting her read by herself just as a chance idea and it has honestly been a game changer. DD also really struggles with transitions which is another issue.

I bought a night light thay attaches to DDs book and she lies in bed without any other lights on. That and the idea of getting to stay up late helps her to calm down. Every other thing just ramps her up and then it would always be a meltdown before we even got to the bath.

Prior to melatonin, my girls would have a two hour meltdown from bedtime. So they’d always be up two hours later than they should be 😩

I read to and with my DC every night until they were about 10. It is a special time together. Once they were reading well, we would share a chapter with my DC doing the first 3 pages (less if very tired) and me finishing the chapter reading to them. We would discuss what is happening, what characters might be feeling or thinking and what they might do next. This is really important for their comprehension skills. We'd also talk about new vocabulary. Both DC were average readers until about year 4 when they both became above average. I wouldn't feel letting a 7 year old read alone independently would be sufficient to help their reading progression. They can do their Mathletics or TT Rockstars on the ipad without support.

I have 6 year old DS. As part of our bedtime routine the DC have been read to every day since the day they were born.

DS now reads to us first. Usually his reading book from school but we also encourage other things. Then we read a story to him. He may also read some of this too. But it’s everyday.

for me it’s important for them to hear reading for intonation and tone pitch pace etc. it’s important for me to hear him read as how do I know he is reading and understanding.

I couldn't imagine two of them feeding off eachother, you must have the patience of a saint. I just thought that's what kids were like and then I had DC2 who slept, was very chill and could sit down when tired. I think I'm only starting to realise the differences and realising that I need a different approach with DD.

She understands the plot line though? She is reading age appropriate novels, not just picture books. Initially the idea was to help her calm down for sleep but also to spark an enjoyment with reading which I think is happening. How long would you spend reading with your DC every day?

Would he not tell you about the story after he's read by himself?

I do appreciate the advice about reading together. How long would you spend each day reading to him?

My Y2 mostly independently before bed, she doesn’t want to listen to us read anymore but we listen to her read her school books and discuss them so I know that she can read and comprehend storylines independently.

We also use the Doodle Maths app, I don’t push its use but she also doesn’t use ipads for anything else apart from that. I like it because it isn’t gamified like a lot of the other apps. We also have maths resources available like hundred squares and mathlink cubes to practice maths.

The other things we do are trips that link with the curriculum I.e exhibition about materials for science or London visit to see monuments about the great fire of London. Only once or twice a term paired with other activities so it’s not high pressure but helps to give depth to their learning.

There is no rigid rule of time to be invested for home education so whatever suits your child can be good enough. You can try to give them a few math questions to solve everyday and this way it will come in practice and the child will be able to learn through everyday home tasks.