DS will no longer read aloud to me

[petersham]

DS is 6 and an avid reader. Reading is his favorite activity (well, after Lego) and he usually disappears off to his bookcase several times a day. I became aware that he could read 'in his head' around a year ago. However, I explained to him that it was still important for him to read aloud to me as he was still quite young and I needed to track his progress. Around six months ago, he gradually turned down the volume and it became obvious that my participation in his reading was almost intrusive. Recently, he has literally started tugging the book away from me to another corner of the room and reading in his mind (I know that he is actually reading as he does track it with his finger and whisper it quite loudly). However, he does deliberately skip pages now and again and I do worry that this will impact upon his ability to progress as he is missing out on comprehension/ discussing the subtext etc.

How can I persuade him to share books with me as we used to? Just to clarify I am not pushy, I am probably feeling a bit sentimental as we have shared so many books together (more so than with the other DCs) and it was amazing to watch his passion for reading develop. He loved sharing them with me too. However, he is six, not sixteen, support at school is just not the same and besides I'm not done yet!

I don't really understand why you have a need to track your ds' progress. If he is an avid reader already, then surely all is well and he can be left to zoom along on his own if that is what he wants? If you feel sentimental about sharing books with him, would he let you read to him?

Or (what I do with my 12yo) choose between reading aloud or some other activity? My dd knows I don't particularly enjoy certain household jobs and as part of her responsibility to help out around the house, she sometimes has to choose between tidying up while I read to her, or reading to me to entertain me while I tidy up! Plus when we are in the middle of a very good book the house gets extra tidy. The only downside is that it takes self-control to ensure that neither of us sneaks off with the book and reads ahead of the other between sessions!

my ds also 6 and loves reading. However, since reading in his head more his reading out loud a bit rushed and sometimes garbled. Also he will learn to pronounce some new words wrong in his head eg deny.
So, when he has school books I do insist he reads a few pages most nights to me.

Can't you write little stories for him with messages in, like there's some pocket money in the little house in the garden that the pixies live in?

And if he can't read the message either his reading isn't as good as it might have been, or he's lost his interest in pocket money.

Not all writing has to be in books.

bribe him!