Reading journal - losing the will...

[Ragusa]

DS is a young 5, in reception. He seems quite able to me and seems to be doing well with phonics. We have a reading journal we're sipposed to fill in and I'm going to be very honest here and say I find this pointless, joy-sucking and irritating. AIBU to just not fill it in?!We do read by the way, and do practice writing etc. Not necessarily every day as DS is sometimes too tired, but regularly.

Cat: I just save the writing up and DS2 does it at the weekend. He usually reads a chapter of something a night (he insists on this even when the chapters are long), so we just go back through and he writes a sentence for every chapter. I write down and initial what he's read each morning at breakfast, and he fills in the comments box.

It's only purpose at this point is so that he can get the stamps in his bookmark and get the next certificate (although I notice that the scheme doesn't have enough certificates in it, so those who actually do real every day exhaust them by Easter every year). His teacher knows that he reads all the time. And she said at parents' night that he shares his enthusiasm for reading with the other children by recommending books, reading to them, and so on.

I don't think anyone at school actually reads his diary; they just stamp the entries alongside his bookmark. The teacher just puts a sticker in when he does guided reading at school. It really isn't a meaningful two way communication process though.

Also I sympathise with the attitude that he structured sort of learning happens at school, and life outside of school is perhaps better kept as a separate thing in many ways.

Some people don't really like the idea of those boundaries being more fluid. It's one thing answering questions your child asks, taking them on nature walks, reading a book you enjoy together.

But when the educating you do outside of school is monitored and specific, as in, please read THIS book every night and write it down, I understand why parents might feel that's too prescriptive. We always leave the school book to be read at school, and he reads home books at home. It gives him a break.

What I find really difficult to understand is, school is asking parents to do something, but some parents decides it's not worth doing it. PP (teachers, TAs, and helpers?) suggested just a initial would be enough, which takes few seconds. Doesn't that stance give children wrong message? You don't need to do what school asks you if you think it's pointless? I just see it as a part of homework which my ds needs to complete daily. So when he is secondary age, and has lots of homework to do, he will do it(hopefully!), because he learned it from early age that home work is something he needs to do if he like it or not.

Parents don't get homework.

We've got 3 DC and 1 is disabled ... DH listens to kids read at bedtime and I settle Disabled DS.
Then we forget to write in the book, because it's 7:30 and we need to cook, clean and prepare things for next day. Yes it does take 1 minute but my tummy comes first!

It doesn't just take seconds though. You have to locate the book bag, locate a pen, find the page and then write something.

It might not seem like much but actually remembering to do this in the first place is a real effort when life is complicated already.

When you have a toddler climbing all over you, no one wants the same thing for supper, no one can find any clothes, or be bothered to put the dirty ones in the washing - and then you realise you've run out of milk, or nappies, as well, or that it's swimming tomorrow and they need a suitable snack which you don't have in the house so you have to leave NOW and go in the shop...if there's a free parking space, that is.

So when life is actually pretty chaotic, it's just not that easy to do. Or important.

Our lives are a lot more organised than they were even a year ago. Things happen, it all goes upside down for a while and then it settles again, and then, when the dust has cleared, you might find you can remember to write in the book every day - and to buy milk, and so on, too. Sometimes.

Sometimesithinkimbonkers, I know some people cannot/forget to do it for various reasons. I don't mean to say everybody should do it. I just thought if you can, but decided not to, because you don't agree with it, I just wondered if it is a right stance as a parent, seems like disregarding teachers and school in front of children.

Yes, I think families with chaotic lifestyles often struggle with these things.

Sorry, I am not English, so I have to admit, the way I think may be quite different from normal English parents. Just ignore me!

Irvine, I take your point. We do take other homework far more seriously here, I can't speak for others but anything written we will do, together if necessary, same for projects and so on.

There are certain things about school that I do reject, openly, such as rewards for attendance, or making them wear grey socks and tuck in their polo shirts (a physical impossibility and quite ridiculous) though we try and stay on side to avoid punishment.

I like my children to know that while we respect the things that matter, in my opinion, and are polite and punctual, we won't necessarily agree with everything we're told to do, and it's Okay to question that.

I hope they have a fairly balanced view. Certainly my eldest is always commended by his teachers for being polite and trying hard. He is careful not to break any rules and has not had a detention so far (Y8). He also works very hard on his homework, and I don't have to remind him most of the time. He sees it as worthwhile and important and he wants to do it, for himself, so he does.

Crossed posts - I didn't mean to ignore you, I was trying to think what to write! Aready deleted one post as it wasn't very good...

When kids do homework someone actually reads it and they get feedback. As far as I can work out, they only have reading diaries because it is school (ofsted?) policy to have reading diaries.

At my ds's school, reading diary work quite well. They only tick daily, but once or twice half term, they have a session(1-1 reading?) with ds and TA checks reading diary properly, giving him appropriate advice, like try to read different genre, or try to write some comment about the book, etc. If it gets no response, I can understand people feel they are wasting time.

Ds's does daily reading and had daily book change. TA writes in comments daily and I follow her lead eg words recognised by sight, struggled with, read well, etc. DS likes that I write comments and I think it encourages him when ta and I point out what he had done well. It's also nice to his reading journey.

Hennifer, I'm not talking about children who are confident readers, I'm talking about children who are really really struggling and who's education is being hampered as a result of their lack of reading.

It has a massive impact on progress and and schools simply can't do it alone.

I spend hours in school every week listening to other people's children read. It's really unhelpful when parents don't write in to say the child has read page X - X. The child either reads several then says "oh I read this at home." Or they say they've finished the book and then I have to ask them to tell me the story briefly to check (TA request) missing reading time.

This is your child's education. It's a team effort.

Apolos that haven't RTFT. But I have often regretted not being more rigorous about getting DS to read, aloud, every day (stick with me, I know this is about reading log . To this day (he's 13), his punctuation skills are dodgy, and I'm sure it's because he didn't read aloud as often as he shoudl have done, and thus internalise from an early age where commas and full stops belong.

I know that the question was about the reading log. But I think for me, the daily filling in the log would have propped up the daily reading aloud, and vice versa - a systematic good habit, a boring one, but good nonetheless.

I agree it's a shame if people can't manage to read at home with their children when those children are finding it very hard to master.

But as I said, circumstances are very varied even among what you might perceive to be 'educated' parents.

And I kind of understand the sentiment expressed by a PP, that if the school can't teach her child to read, full stop, then why is she being expected to pick up the bill, as it were? Surely the point of school is to teach children, among other things, to read?

I just write "Frances read tonight" five times, in the five boxes, on a Friday morning before it is handed in. I doubt they're interested in anything more.

I think a lot of parents assume that their children will be reading to teachers in school a lot more than they actually are. I go into YR to listen to children read - I work my way through a list of children who either need more help or who are never listened to at home. I'm shocked by how little the teacher or TA listen to the children read (assuming that they write it in the book, seems a bit hypocritical if they don't) - in some books 99% of the comments are written by me. In a way the children whose parents don't bother listening to them read are getting a better deal than those who do because they get one-to-one phonics practice etc. for 15-20 mins each with me. But in a lot of schools obviously that doesn't happen.

I think schools expect to teach children the skills but it is up to the parents to practise them. The curriculum is so packed that there is no time (rightly or wrongly) for the school to do the practising bit.

MrsSteptoe, that's a really interesting perspective - not crap mum at all!

My DS1 is a free reader and I have this conversation frequently with him - he doesn't want to read aloud but then mispronounces words because no one has corrected him!

I can't stress enough the importance of reading!!!!!

Hennifer, that is the attitude of a lot of parents unfortunately and it's lazy parenting!

It's crap to expect teachers to do it all, we simply can't, but many parents seem to think education stops at the school gate at 3pm.

These are often the same parents who throw a blue fit that their kids have made no progress .

We can't win!

I'm coming to think DS school are just crap at reading.

There is no teamwork between home and school. We get sent home completely separate books, not even phonics books from year 1 regardless of whether they need them or not. No progression, just choose what you like from the home book box. No idea what they're supposed to be working on.

We spent half a term of reading diary telling the teacher DS wasn't really interested in reading "This is a horse," another half telling her what he was actually reading, no response to either type of comment, I think it was about there that we tailed off with the reading diary.