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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Does it matter if DC have already read schools set texts?

94 replies

LynetteScavo · 11/12/2011 19:06

DS1 (Y8) is an avid reader, and pretty much reads anything I throw at him.

I've realised that he has already read most of the books they are covering/going to cover in English. Does it matter?

Should I try to avoid books which will be covered in class to make him work a bit harder? He does the bare minimum and ends up with decent grades as it is, but I don't think that can continue for ever.

Or is it a good thing that he's already read the books?

OP posts:

seeker · 11/12/2011 19:11

Well, he can't unread them!

No it doesn't matter, easing for pleasure is very different to reading for Eng Lit.

exoticfruits · 11/12/2011 19:14

I would think that it would be helpful.

Original poster

LynetteScavo · 11/12/2011 19:30

That's OK then!

I (and DH) were book-shy teenagers, so have no idea if it's a good thing or not.

Will keep throwing recommended books at him.

OP posts:

amerryscot · 11/12/2011 19:33

I think it is very helpful to have already read these books

Ilovegeorgeclooney · 11/12/2011 20:57

I think, as an English teacher, that it is helpful as long as he does not give the end away!

Original poster

LynetteScavo · 11/12/2011 21:53

Ah, he did mutter something about already knowing the end with "Holes" .

OP posts:

lollopybear · 12/12/2011 12:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SecretSantaSquirrels · 12/12/2011 15:31

DS2 (aged 13) is the same. He just devours books and we struggle to keep him supplied with suitable stuff.
He had read Holes long before they did it in school. Now they are doing Naughts and Crosses and he read the whole series a couple of years ago.
He doesn't seem to mind actually as he sees reading at home as pleasure and literature at school as different.
I think I will pass DS1's copy of Mice and Men on to him as they seem to do that for every GCSE

seeker · 12/12/2011 16:08

How can you possibly be struggling to supply him with books? Just and him to the library and let him choose!

roisin · 12/12/2011 16:14

We always steered ds1 away from things that are predictable set texts - Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, etc., so that he didn't steal the teacher's thunder.

But at the start of yr10 the first thing the teacher did was to say "these are the titles we'll be studying in lit later in the year. It would be great if you can all buy a copy of each and read them at least twice before we start."

exoticfruits · 12/12/2011 16:32

The library is a wonderful resource-I am sure he could go himself and be able to take out more books than he could possibly read in a week!
In ours he could have at least 48 in a month!

Bucharest · 12/12/2011 16:36

It makes it easier surely?

Just a small thing- I'd be letting him choose his own books by now though!

Original poster

LynetteScavo · 12/12/2011 18:25

Bucharest he does choose his own books as well. He always has one from the school library, but sometimes he'll take books off me which tend to be things which are easy to read or classics. The books he chooses from the town library tend to be doorstops of dubious content. Anything with a hideous cover seems to appeal to him. Then I worry what he's reading about last thing at night.

OP posts:

SecretSantaSquirrels · 13/12/2011 11:14

Seeker -It's not that he doesn't have plenty to read, we use the library all the time.
DS has pretty much exhausted the nearest small branch library.
I find that he has outgrown the children's section and the "young adult" is very dominated by fantasy /vampire and teen romance (which he isn't interested in).
I've had lots of good suggestions from MN on other threads though.

seeker · 13/12/2011 12:46

Aren't 13 year olds on adult books? Or am I wrong?

SecretSantaSquirrels · 13/12/2011 15:33

I'm sure many 13 year olds read adult fiction or classics .DS2 does read some , he's recently read Tim Severin's pirate series and he likes Lindsey Davis but he is more comfortable with undemanding stuff.
I'm happy with that because he reads for pleasure and not because he has to. He has all his life to read more challenging stuff.
I'm just glad he enjoys reading unlike DS1 who read the dreaded Harry Potter when he was far too young to understand it and has never read a piece of fiction by choice since he was 8.

Original poster

LynetteScavo · 13/12/2011 21:58

Seeker, that is the problem, they are. And not all adult books are suitable for a 13 year olds, IMO.

Obviously I would have disagreed with this statement when I was 13 and argued books are very educational (oh indeed they were!).

OP posts:

seeker · 14/12/2011 11:29

Interesting. I can't think of anything that I wouldn't have wanted my 13 year old to have a go at. Well, nothing available from the average public library anyway!

exoticfruits · 14/12/2011 11:46

I am very glad that when I was 13yrs I just had a free choice of books.

amerryscot · 14/12/2011 13:54

Is there a competition in permissive parenting?

I certainly wouldn't want my younger teens reading books with lots of sex scenes. It's quite hard to find a thriller without these, ime, even if they are not central to the plot.

exoticfruits · 14/12/2011 16:16

It instantly makes them desirable amerryscot. I am surprised at the number of parents who think they can control what the DC reads with the DC meekly saying 'yes mother, of course mother'. I had a very sheltered upbringing but we had books that went around the class in a disguised cover!

I think that you can leave them to sort out what interests them in a library. I just had a ticket and went in by myself. I can't say that I had a liberal mother, but at least she didn't vet reading books.

seeker · 14/12/2011 16:42

What do you think will happen if your 13 year old reads a sex scene? Whwt lee do you censor?

amerryscot · 14/12/2011 17:26

It's not a case of censoring, but one of steering one's children into the right direction.

As the trendy phrase goes, it is not a race to the bottom.

exoticfruits · 14/12/2011 17:28

I am all for encouraging good literature, but I'm not too sure how they know it is good if they don't read some bad!

seeker · 14/12/2011 17:30

Good luck with that. . I'd prefer to rely on the sound judgement, moral framework and critical faculties I've spent the previous 13 Years instilling.

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