Is reading really as beneficial as everyone says?

[Emilyisherenow]

Ds is 9, year 5.

He finds English difficult and has been a bit behind throughout primary school.

I'm reading chapter books with him for 10 minutes to half an hour. I'm trying to go for some of the classic, more well written books. We do a page each.

He doesn't really enjoy reading but he accepts that it's important and does seem to enjoy the time together.

Will it definitely be helping and making a difference?

Yes yes yes. I'm a primary teacher.

Of course it is

What about horrible histories? My ds loved them at your ds age.

My 9yo is into Darren Shan series of books. And Beast Quest!

I was horrified by them, he got them accidentally. Hey ho.

What you are doing is brilliant and is working so don't feel you need to change it. My rule was if I'm reading it I'm choosing it and always went for better quality, I think it's perfectly fine and stretches them a bit and they loved the books I chose. We read to them until early teens. If they read ahead to find out what happened next that was OK. They were also allowed to read whatever they wanted themselves, it all builds endurance even if it's complete trash. We also had subscriptions to the Beano, the Week Junior and Whizz, Pop, Bang.

I read a lot and so they see it as a normal activity. They all know I'll rarely say no to buying them books so we have a house full of all kinds of reading options. I talk about what I read and ask them about what they are reading. And we have regular electronic device free time.

That’s a ridiculous thing to say, my 7 year old loved stig of the dump. Would you also rule out all of the Enid blyton books for being over 60 years old?

It is in the sense that you can’t really do any other subject without being able to read.

Doesn’t have to be fiction though. Reading for enjoyment isn’t virtuous, it’s not a personality flaw to not enjoy sitting down to read a book. But reading helps education overall. So as long as he can read and process language that’s good.

No, it's even more beneficial than everyone says. As a teacher, I can tell which children read, or have been read to, regularly. The difference is stark, particularly in their vocabulary and stamina for both reading and completing work at school.

Sometimes I think all the reading I did with DD2 was a waste of time. (Eventual passes her FS English age nearly 20). Then I think how much worse her Englush would have been.

However I do think that all the reading and other things we did at home contributed to her dyslexia/dyspraxia being missed. I raised things and school kept saying 'but she's not as bad as some of the others'. I was probably doing way more at home with her than the other parents though....

Try the treehouse books, dog man books and david Walliams books are also popular with this age group. All quite different in style. I would say that a page a night seems.a but odd as you can't really get into the story and flow.

My gosh we're not reading a page a night. It would take a year to finish a book!!

We read a page each. As in I read to him then he reads to me. We tend to 1-3 chapters per night. We read for between 10 minutes to half an hour.

I'll keep pushing on with the reading.

I know some people are saying that the classics are boring but I'm finding that some of the stories are beautifully written and not too difficult/long. Dick King Smyth, the Beaver Towers collection.

Like I say he's got all of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Tom Gates, Ronald Dahl. We've got a few David Walliams too. We started Mr Stink but he wasn't getting it and the jokes were going over his head.

Lots of great suggestions in the thread though so thank you.

Definitely going to check out some of these books.

I think it makes the world of difference academically and that time together, those moment where you laugh about the book or talk about a character become lovely memories.
I really advocate for reading to and with your children as much as possible.

Find a book that's funny or on a theme he likes more important than the classics.

Its not really about you like surely?

Whats his interests/hobbies/as a person? etc i'd start there.

My DD loved anything by Michael Morpurgo... i tried her on Dahl, as i loved these as a kid, she wasn't interested... i don't particularly like MM !!

Yes it is

my eldest was an avid reader and not only did he have a great vocabulary but by the time he got to high school exams he absolutely breezed through English without much effort. An English teacher told me it’s really because his early years reading meant it came so much more naturally to him.

My youngest has never been a reader (he has ASD and struggled with focus) and while he’s done OK in exams he’s not at the same level as his brother and he finds it more work

I think you push on and keep trying things much as you have been doing. And for me i didn’t take them places and encourage them to choose so much as I looked into what’s around and found different books and pushed them into it with evening reading much like you’re doing, and the odd audible book is a good option too. Famous five audiobook on kindle got my son into the famous five and then he read all the ones he could put his hands on. Wolf girl series was a surprise win, and I had a couple of hardy boys around the house for months before he actually tried one and suddenly wanted to read them all. Treehouse books, all the hot dog and ninja kid and captain underpants and real pigeons are all semi graphic series, very easy reading that he would choose himself but it is all reading. Astérix, Tintin. Hes 9 now, got Harry Potter for Christmas - I bought the illustrated one to pique his interest as he’s never been interested in it, and a few weeks later he picked that up and devoured it.

Reading lots leads to doing better at school.

OR

Being the kind of child who finds reading easy and enjoys reading lots equates to a child who has the skills to do well in school.

?

Correlation is not causation.

Though I suspect reading more leafs to doing better in school than you would if you read less. Just as doing more sport probably leads to being better at sport than if you did less.

Reading lots leads to doing better at school

If you start school and have never seen a book and don't know how to hold it or that we move through the book from left to right or know the pictures tell you as much if not more than the words then yes, you are behind when you start school. Why do you think schools dish out books with no words to the kids on reception, it's not just to annoy MN, it teaches the kids who haven't been read to how to read a book.

And I'm really surprised that @Emilyisherenow getting a hard time for reading Stig of the Dump to her DS. The 1960s and 70s was a golden period for children's books and Stig of the Dump is a great book. Kids love it. And when I was a child in the70s and 80s I loved books from Alice in Wonderland (written in the 1860s) to The Worst Witch (written in the 1970s). Great literature (particularly great children's literature) transcends time. If a child is being read a book that includes words they don't know that means they can ask about it and find out what it means. Or, as DD1 discovered when I read her the Narnia books, they can find out their Mum doesn't know obsolete military terms either, think about the context and guess at the meaning, look it up together, and discover not knowing the odd word can actually add to the pleasure of reading.

One of the best things you can do for passive reading experience is having subtitles on for all TV all the time.

Horrible histories and it's spin offs might go down well as they feel a bit taboo to read which I found exciting as a kid. They are not one continuous story but broken up into lots of small bits of info which makes them very digestible.

Goosebumps books are also quite popular with young boys, if you like books where you can talk about the plot try the choose your own adventure goosebumps ones and you can talk over what decisions to make and what you think might happen.

Animorphs is also popular with kids that age - kids who can turn into different animals and use their powers to fight off an alien invasion

Fighting fantasy or other similar game books might work too - it's still reading but you have a character sheet and roll dice to see what happens next.

Artemis fowl might interest him too, if it's a bit above his head maybe start with the fowl twins spin off that's a little bit more juvenile and a bit more focused on humour, and then once he's into the world and a bit older try the main books again.

Lastly - there are quite a lot of text heavy video games out there, and all reading is good reading. It doesn't need to be from a book. Audio books will help too so don't discount those either.

Book ideas

www.booksfortopics.com/booklists/recommended-reads/year-5/

Does he like comics? DS loves the Beano and there's lots of terribly middle class cultural capital in the Beano wrapped up in a slightly naughty package. Be prepared for lots of jokes though, although I drive my DDs mad by being able to work out the punchlines (DS loves it).