Shocked by son's reading

[Aria2015]

My son is nearly 8. We have been told that he is quite behind with reading (1-2 years behind). We read daily, but he’s a reluctant reader. He complains the books are boring and babyish (I see his point!). Getting him to read with any enthusiasm is almost impossible.

We read daily to him. Chapter books for an older child (10+) to keep him interested in books. He loves us reading to him.

Randomly tonight I challenged him to attempt to read a page of the chapter book. To my astonishment he flew through a chapter with relative ease!! I could not believe this was the same child who had ‘struggled’ to read a book aimed at 6/7 year olds in a monotone and bored voice earlier in the day.

How is it possible he can read a significantly harder book easier than his school books? He wants to continue his reading practice with the chapter book and not read the ‘easy’ books. I’m really confused and unsure what to do. Shall I just let him read the harder books? He seems so enthusiastic for it in comparison to the school reading books.

It feels like a lightbulb moment for him. I don’t want to mess it up!

@OrlandointheWilderness it's a David Williams book - Ice Monster. He loved Roald Dahl and heard it was similar style!

Another 2 chapters down today. Not so much enthusiasm today, but no resistance either and he was able to show loads of understanding of what he read after.

@WutheredOut actually my mum suggested this today. To leave him alone to read a chapter and see how it goes. Will try in the next couple of days...

My Dd was same in yr 2 teacher said was vey behind with reading I bought some Harry Potter books for her for Xmas then literally overnight in yr3 has reading age of 2yrs above hers. Hoping sane happens with her times tables now 😂

@hiredandsqueak we've done the summer reading challenge before, but with us reading the the stories. I will mention it to him. He seems determined to read our current chapter book though and if he sticks with that, we may not get lots of books under our belts. I'm treading lightly and being led by him.

He was a bit tired today but still did two chapters. We have a few things to work on, but he's still doing better than when he was reading the much easier books. We're both more engaged. I found the school books dull too so it was extra effort to appear interested. I'm actually enjoying the chapter book!

One tip I'll give you, my parents did it for me. Was to leave a pencil around my books and any word I came across that I didn't understand or couldn't put together, I'd underline and they'd go through the word/s the next day with me.

Personally I don't like the school books, my dc don't like the school books. I know they have a reason but they are dull as dishwater. I want my children to grow up reading for pleasure not purpose. We do our duty with the books then move them aside for ones that spark interest and enjoyment.

@BlowMyBubbles that's a great idea! Especially if he reads alone. Thanks for the tip!

@BlowMyBubbles The Oxford Reading Tree takes significant responsibility for the fact that I did not have another child. Once was enough, twice was numbing, thrice was unthinkable.

When my older son was in years 1 & 2 his school repeatedly misassessed his reading and reported reading levels that were wrong by up to 5 years. They sent home early banded books with a few words per page when he was fluently reading chapter books at home. The books sent home by school were symptomatic of the fact that the teachers could not competently assess and had completely misunderstood his academic needs. A second child at the same school was said by staff to have reading difficulties and possible dyslexia. The supposed "difficulties" evaporated when the parent moved school and the child received more competent instruction in her new school.

The reading books that schools send home are often the canary in the coalmine - the first sign to parents that something is seriously wrong with a school's provision.

It sounds like OP's child was suffering from: "readicide: The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools."

People can be very sniffy about David Walliams, but his books got my reluctant reader off Horrid Henry level on onwards.

He could do the whole library reading challenge with DW books if that's what gets him going.

At a similar stage my DD really enjoyed the short 'Stich Head' series by Guy Bass.

Ah yes

I was placed in remedial reading because Peter and Jane was so pointless
aged about 8?

My mother was a teacher so they believe her when she explained I had read a chapter book aimed at a 10 year old and could happily answer questions on it

@EctopicSpleen love the term readicide! I think that sums it up perfectly!

The school books are stuffed in a draw now and we're on a mission to only read what we enjoy this summer! I'm hoping the results will speak for themself when he goes back in September! 🤞🏻

This was DD. She refused to read the school books because they were boring but was reading anything and everything in the house. The teacher said she probably wasn't understanding what she was reading, but she obviously was.

Op.... My amazing hone reader used tk read with pauses to "decode" at school and hesitation because that's what she thought they wanted to hear 😂😂🤣.

Pointing tentatively at words with her finger.

She was flying through chapter books at home!

Definitely go with it.

In rhe end I had to sign her books trim school as read without her reading them because she was flying through really good books at home.

@EctopicSpleen

Good summary and yet sad when we see the stats of how many dx leave school unable too read.

Another issue is their dogged determination to stick to phonics even if some dc don't get it.

Amazing how ridged and stupid school can be on what's very bloody simple.
Both times either dc I've had to step in and save them for opposite reasons from the stupid reason scheme which yes... Was turning them off.

Great stuff 👍

Definitely let him read the books he likes. Schools hold children back sometimes by their insistence on doing things their way - which isn't right for every child.
He might do well with non-fiction books too, have you tried letting him look at library books on things he's interested in?

Just seen an ad for this - would it be to his liking? https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C39GVJJJ?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_SZR2NPS9QVKJ79J3FPTN

They have to do the byourlady phonics. Guvmint said so.

@JFDIYOLO thanks for this, I'll look at some reviews with him and see if he fancies trying it!

This is such an interesting thread. “This is Jet. This is Jazz.” The reading scheme in my local primary school was, to me, bad in every respect. It was probably being used thanks to Gove’s interference. Hopefully maths teaching is less affected as Gove wanted children to learn their sixteen times table, presumably because he thought it would be useful for them to know how many ounces in a pound.

@Grmumpy the effects on maths teaching have been even worse, at least for those towards both ends of the ability spectrum. The current doctrine/fad is that differentiation is bad and one-size-fits-all provision is good. Everyone works towards the same "learning goal", regardless of prior attainment. What this inevitably means is that the weakest students are hopelessly out of their depth, and the brightest students are bored rigid. If you are in the middle 60% you probably don't notice a problem because the teaching-to-the-middle is designed with you in mind. This goes by the name of "maths mastery" - a term coined by the Ark academy chain and educational endowment fund around 2013.
Mastery already had a different defined meaning in education, and referred to a distinct school of teaching methods due to Benjamin Bloom and others (which generally has a far better track record), but Ark/EEF were too ignorant to even realise this.
One-size-fits-all labelled as "mastery" is currently being peddled by various government mouthpieces. If they called it tomfoolery or batshitery it would be more accurate and people would be less likely to fall for it.
There is an article by Mark McCourt, one of the chief exponents of the other ("Bloomian") mastery tradition in the IK which highlights some of the varieties of nonsense this has led to in UK schools:
https://markmccourt.blogspot.com/2016/09/masteryfail.html

DS is 9 and he falls asleep reading every single night.

Hated school books (and I can't blame him.).

What worked for us when he was younger:

Routinely visiting the library, teaching him to read synopsis and choosing books.

Getting him a cast off Kindle (not connected to WiFi)

Listening to Minecraft audiobooks in long car journeys.

Never ever ever ever censoring one of his choices. Let him read what he wants.

For ages, he only read vacuous Meme books or Minecraft chronicles. All fine with us.

Name change, but I'm the original OP. I just wanted to update you that my son’s reading continues to improve and he's finally caught up!! His teacher has said he has exceeded expectations with his progress. We never went back to the school books and have just been led by him and what he wants to read. I wouldn't say he ‘loves’ reading, but there is nowhere near the pushback I used to get and his improved reading has had a positive knock-on effect on his other subjects too (which makes sense) so he's become more confident and as a result, his interest and attention has increased so it's all a big win-win!

Thank you to everyone who gave advice and support on this thread. I hope it helps someone else too!

That’s wonderful news, OP! I read this thread at the time and was silently cheering him on.

And try graphic novels for kids. So many DC’s ( mainly boys) I've worked with have found their love of reading through graphic novels.