How to encourage a reluctant reader?

[mom2boys030507]

I know my son is only 4.5 years old, however he is doing a great job with reading and is very proud when he does read. My issue is he gets frustrated with to many words on the page and longer stories. Any ideas to help with this.

[Busymomma1]

Hi,

I read your post and it reminded me of my DD. I taught her to read using 100 Easy Lessons and finished up at about 4 ys 9 mos. She would find it a little difficult to track from line to line in those longer stories. After we finished the book, I really just "let it go" for a while. She could do it, but it was a little frustrating. About 6 months later, we got some easy readers from the library (this was at age 5 and 3 months or so). These are the kind that have 1 line per page or picture. Well, without much help she quickly progressed from those to the basic Dr Seuss type to Franklin books to now reading longer chapter books ("In Grandma's Attic", "The Boxcar Children", etc). This progression literally took place from about last Xmas to this summer (about 6 - 8 months to go from easy readers to chapter books). And I really did nothing much but let her read after my initial instruction with 100 Easy Lessons.

She is now 6 yrs and about 2 months and reading at a 3rd to 4th grade level, I think. She really has figured out much of it herself.

My point? Sometimes I think you don't need to push too much at age 4. Perhaps just let him read simple stories, and when he's ready, he'll progress. I wonder if it might be a visual and developmental thing. Perhaps at 5 and 6, the longer stories will just be easier on the eyes, so to speak. I don't know that for a fact, but could be.

Also, I don't mean to imply that our story is typical, but it is our experience and you can take it as such.

Oh, and I've also heard advice to let them read stuff that is easy for them and enjoyable as much as they like, especially at this age. Then they'll really solidify their skills and become more fluent, too.

Hope this helps!

[Carrie]

Karen,

As far as his frustration with lengthy stories and sentences, is that within the reading program you're using, or just while he's trying to read easy reader type books? I would agree with Tricia, the previous poster, that being even 6 months older made a big difference in my boys' ability to read. 5 seems so much older than 4!

Also, when my boys were first beginning as readers, they enjoyed reading the "Bob Books" Level A. The other levels of the "Bob Books" took a bit to grow into as they were too hard at first.

The "Bob Books" are usually available at Sam's and also Barnes and Noble or Borders. They are just a little box of early readers, small in size, and black and white. My boys read them over and over.

Blessings,
Carrie

[mom2boys030507]

Tricia and Carrie thanks for your input. I was wondering if it was a maturity thing or not. We are doing Hooked on Phonics and he is having problems with some of thier readers and easy readers from the library. We are currently just going back and rereading all the books we have done. He wants to see if he can read 100 books so we have a hundreds chart that he puts a sticker on for each book. Great motivator for him, rewards are his thing and just putting a sticker on a chart is enough. We also have the Bob books and he loves reading those too. So I guess we will continue doing what we are doing and wait for things to click for him. I am sure he will get there.

He was holding our read a loud book the other day while I was getting Matthew ready to nurse and started trying to read it. When I was ready to read he said "Mommy you read, this is hard for me." but he had already read two sentences with help That was really neat for me to see.

[inHistiming]

I think it depends on each child. Some are ready at an early age, and others are "late bloomers". I have one of each. My oldest son, now 9, was reading very well in Kindergarten. He loved to read, had always had a high interest in letters and words, and had a great grasp on the pronunciation of words. He can read anything (seemingly!) and is not afraid to try a new word. My daughter, however, was never interested in reading. She did not care about learning her letters. She speaks fine, but did have a hard time pronouncing words. Well, it turns out that she has a vision problem. (So keep that in mind everyone if your child displays any of these things I've mentioned!) When she got to Kindergarten(in a private school) she did not recognize the letters and sounds as she should have, and we often struggled to get her to even try a word. She would give up very easily. She always said the words were too little-I always thought she was being a little lazy because there were more words on a page than she wanted to read. I thought this because she has been a little stong-willed over the years! When we finally discovered and corrected her vision problem, we had some work cut out for us. We began to homeschool her, and my son, at that time. We used Reading Made Easy along with the BLHFHG curriculum, and she made wonderful progress! By the end of her first grade year at home she was able to read short stories with some help. Now, she can read short chapter books. She still is not an avid reader. I don't know if that is due to her issues early on or if she would have been that way anyway. I know the key for us was to take it slowly. She was discouraged by long pages of text, so we've allowed her to pick out stories that she likes. She would read board books, Clifford stories, Biscuit stories, etc. As a matter of fact, she still prefers those shorter books. She enjoys the pictures and the accomplishment of simply reading a book, no matter how small. We are so proud of her progress! Yesterday, she came to her dad and I and said she just read The Enormous Turnip to her younger brother. That is a much more difficult book than she would usually choose, but it was her choice. We were very excited to hear it. I know that she may never love reading the way that her older brother and I do, but she can read, she enjoys it, and I see her improving every day. It's a constant progression, and each child has his or her own way of learning. It's finding what works best for you and your child that will make your homeschool a true success.

[my3sons]

We've used the BOB books too, and really liked them as an accompaniment to our phonics program. They are in black and white, very short and funny, and easy to read. We're using them the second time with our second son. I do the sticker chart thing too!