At what reading level/age/grade/other(?) did you add independent silent reading to your kid's schedule?

[luuknam]

Multiple choice, so if you did different things for different kids, you can check as many items as you want. Plus, you can check multiple items for just one kid as well. And, of course, you can post comments to elaborate on whatever complicated formula you came up with when deciding when to start independent silent reading.

[Ellie]

I didn't require my dc to read silently. I was uber-influenced by John Holt. :D

[angelovearth]

When they were in their 2nd year of reading.

[purpleowl]

I only have one who's able to read silently so far.  I don't require independent silent reading, because she pretty much just does it.  There are days when she does a lot of independent reading and days when she doesn't have any time for that, and lots of days in the middle, and I'm okay with that.  Based on her personality, I think that if I set an amount of required independent reading time each day, she would read exactly that, sometimes with a poor attitude, and then she wouldn't want to read at other times.  She reads a lot more without the set requirement, on the whole. 

[tm919]

Hmm, I never thought of requiring silent reading. My older daughter at one point started silently reading on her own... she went from reading aloud, to mumbling, to silent reading. I do sit with my younger daughter still for at least 1 book a day while she reads to me, so I know if she's guessing at words or whatever.

[purpleowl]

 

What could possibly be the reason to not tell them to go read a book? 

 

Oh, I wasn't reading it like that.  I definitely tell DD to go read a book - or, more specifically, go read the library books because we have to return them tomorrow, lol.

 

I interpreted the question as asking when you said "You will choose your own books to read for 30 minutes per day," which I don't do.  I do have particular books that I assign, but that's assigned reading, not independent reading (and I say "read chapter 8" and then we discuss it and sometimes I have her do some writing related to it).

[EKT]

My children both have to read aloud to me (from any book of their choice) each school day for 10-30 minutes. We have done this from the beginning (kindergarten) simply so I can monitor their progress and ability. That said, my oldest will start 3rd grade in the fall, and this will be the first year we will incorporate 20-30 minutes of silent independent reading into her school schedule. I will be giving her a reading log to use in conjunction with her beloved Mark My Time timer bookmark to track her reading for record-keeping purposes, but this independent reading is strictly pleasure reading. That is, my daughter will be allowed to read absolutely anything she wants at this time. 

 

Both my girls already read independently whenever they feel like it, which is often. For us, our plan to set aside independent reading time each school day is more about making space in our lives for pleasure reading (that is, treating it like a priority) and creating a robust reading habit than it is about me feeling like I need to force reading upon my children. (I don't feel I need to force it on them.) My big-picture goal here is to make pleasure reading the daily norm in our house, so I am starting us off by scheduling it in. 

 

 

 

[tm919]

Oh, I wasn't reading it like that.  I definitely tell DD to go read a book - or, more specifically, go read the library books because we have to return them tomorrow, lol.

 

I interpreted the question as asking when you said "You will choose your own books to read for 30 minutes per day," which I don't do.  I do have particular books that I assign, but that's assigned reading, not independent reading (and I say "read chapter 8" and then we discuss it and sometimes I have her do some writing related to it).

Oh I read it even differently, again. I thought it was that you required them to be silent when reading. I figured there must be a reason for it being silent (aside for it not bothering siblings)?

[Tanaqui]

I don't require them to read. I do require them to bring a book around with them when we go further away than the corner store. Mostly they read their books. Sometimes they do other things.

[kirstenhill]

 I don't feel like I've ever "made" my daughter read, but when she was already choosing to read independently at an easy chapter book level, we added it as kind of a check box on the schedule.  She probably would do it anyway.  At the beginning of this past year I added it for DS in 2nd grade. (Oh, whoops I guess he was only 7 then and I voted 8...oh well).  He was at maybe a harder "easy reader" or easier chapter book level at the time.  Reading some of both.  He wasn't choosing to read on his own so I was kind of "making" him do it.  He is doing it much more on his own now, but it will probably still be a checkbox of sorts in our school day this next year.

[FO4UR]

We have a quiet hour where they can read, draw, sleep, etc...starting from the start.  I did not vote according to what they choose to read at those times.

 

 

I don't require independent reading assignments until they can really read and understand and narrate AND have the emotional maturity to follow through.  That has been 4th/6th grades, 9/11yo.  At this point, they were reading adult level books.

[rimk3]

When my kids were non-napping, non-reading and we had quiet time, they looked at picture books, but I didn't require that as independent reading. They were asked to be quiet and restful, so that usually meant looking at books. It was kinda their default. I don't require silent independent reading because my kids choose to read on their own. I did, however, add "independent reading" on their checklist (first grade) because they had already been doing that and it gives them an easy start to their independent work. Gets the ball rolling with a pleasurable activity. 😀

[Maela]

The second half of this last school year, when j was reading at about a first grade level, I started requiring five minutes of independent reading every school day.  Most days this was something he wanted to do anyway.  On those days he didn't want to, I didn't feel bad still requiring it because it was only five minutes.  We're starting this new school year in two weeks.  He'll only be in K officially, but he's reading well.  I'm going to require 10 minutes a day.

 

 

M also started reading at an early age.  I never thought to require independent reading until she was older.  She's always loved reading SO much!  But I did require 20 minutes last year (2nd grade) and will require 30 minutes this year (3rd).  It's one of her favorite parts of the day, even if I am telling her which book to read.

[Mergath]

Dd spends half the day reading anyway, so requiring yet more reading would be overkill. On the rare day she takes a break from reading, I don't say anything. I know from my experience as an English major that nothing kills a love of reading like requiring it. ;)

[FO4UR]

Dd spends half the day reading anyway, so requiring yet more reading would be overkill. On the rare day she takes a break from reading, I don't say anything. I know from my experience as an English major that nothing kills a love of reading like requiring it. ;)

 

 

Yes. :iagree:

 

 

I wait until mine are hooked before daring to require.

[Tsuga]

No requirement. I would be tempted not to believe they were actually reading if I had to force them. We did reading aloud for DD1 at age 6.5 so she'd be up to grade level by first grade.

 

DD2 will get the same this summer, but only reading aloud, just to make sure there are no major problems and that we're learning all the time.

 

Silent reading--if you hate it that much, practice the piano or something for crying out loud. 

 

ETA: they are 8 and 6. The six year old is on grade level for reading. I really can't see ever forcing her to read silently, but if she's not getting homework done then she needs to do her homework aloud. Otherwise I can't keep track.

[Farrar]

I never required that it be "silent." Eventually it just is... But I required that they have alone reading time beginning around the time they were capable of reading a Magic Treehouse type book, around second grade.

[SeekingHim77]

I required my kids to read independently when they could read well enough for reading to be enjoyable. I didn't want to add more reading to their schedule when it was still a struggle for them. My son rarely read just for fun so I assigned him a chapter a day from an easy chapter book at first. In late elementary, I required 30 minutes of reading, in middle school 45, and in high school an hour a day. My daughter takes after me and loves to read so I don't have to require as much from her. I require her to read from a classic every day for 30 minutes.

[Chris in VA]

I never scheduled it. She read early, then around K or 1st (I've forgotten!), just started picking up chapter books and reading. For that young, I just read aloud anything I really wanted to cover as part of another subject (history, for example).

She's still a reader. Even though public school requires 3 books this summer, she's reading far more--but of her choices, not the extra books she could choose from on the high school list. (I'm actually thankful, because the high school English list consists of 5 choices, two of which are Life of Pi and Secret Life of Bees. Yuck. )

[RoundAbout]

Never.  I make him let my son stay up a bit later if he's looking at books or reading, so that is incentive enough. He loves to read so have never felt the need to be pushy about it.

[alisoncooks]

I don't require it.

DD reads (silently) for an hour every night -- her choice, for fun.

We also read for school (formal reading curriculum).

[luuknam]

Thanks everyone.

 

I mostly put the word 'silent' in there to help make it clear that I meant reading to themselves, as opposed to reading out loud to you or w/e. I think C started that in 1st grade when the school required 20 min of reading as homework, though I'm not sure - they also sent books home in K, but I think I had him read all of those out loud to me.

 

I started the poll because I was wondering if I should start giving B some silent reading time sometimes. He could still benefit from reading stuff out loud, but maybe we could alternate silent independent reading and reading out loud to me days. He's currently mostly reading level 3 readers.

[HomeAgain]

We give extra time at bedtime for independent reading, but goodness, I don't know when it goes silent! It seems to be a slow progression from looking at books, to reading stories aloud to one's self, to eventually going totally silent. And I will say that when mine reads to himself, he tends to choose books just under his comfort level. We call it the "cozy" level, when you can sink into a book without having to think about mechanics or phonics at all. :)

[rebbyribs]

We have quiet time as part of our day as the littlest goes down for nap.  The kids who can read silently do so.  The 3yo has the options of napping, looking at books, or drawing.

[...................]

We do not use video games or computer games or any broadcast TV.  In fact when they were younger we had even less video programming going on than we do now (and now we do about 2 hours per week including weekends, mostly educational but some fun edutainment like cooking shows.)

 

Becasue of that, and because I read TO THEM their entire lives for hours and hours and hours per day and because they also were not in a lot of activities they developed a love for reading on their own, and I never had to tell them to read.  In fact it's quite the opposite!  sometimes I have to tell them to get their nose out of a book.  lol

[Momto4inSoCal]

I started assigning books last year (3rd and 4th) to my girls. Before that I would just let them read what they wanted when they wanted. I started assigning books to add classic literature, on their own they would usually choose modern books. I let them choose from a list and they read 20 pages a day. If I wasn't pushing the classics I don't know that I would require reading time because they are pretty good about reading as it is. My concern is that they are reading at least some quality books as opposed to all the Emily Windsnap, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Ever After High type that they want to read.

[thessa516]

As soon as the kids quit taking naps, nap time became silent reading time, aka Mommy's rest time... lol! 

[eternallytired]

About the time my kids were reading decently on their own (first grade level or so), DH and I realized that they didn't need as much sleep as they had been getting.  Following a tip I read somewhere, I told them that they could either go to bed at the normal time or read in bed and stay up a little later.  We started with 15 minutes because reading was still work; now ODS is given an hour to read each evening, and DD gets 30-45 minutes (she needs more sleep).  I'm not sure whether to call this "required reading" or not, since I sorta-but-not-really force them to read for this time (they're not allowed to do anything else but sleep)...but it sure has saved DH and I, since we can sit down and chat in peace for a bit while they're reading, rather than losing our evening time together.  And we like to read before bed, too, so the kids feel cool being like us!

[amo_mea_filiis.]

My ds has to read for 15 minutes daily this year. He's not one to pick up a book, but will occasionally continue on his own. He also reads one McGuffey's out loud daily.

 

My dd has always been a reader. I often have to tell her to put a book down.

[RootAnn]

I still have my olders read aloud to me in various subjects because we (including me) have a tough time sometimes with words we don't see often. We work on 'attack skills' to figure out how they are pronounced. Sometimes, that means I have to go to the internet to have them pronounce something for us because I say it one way & DD#2's audiobook-fed brain thinks it is another way (ex. solarium). 

 

I assign reading to go along with history, for example, when they can read them on their own. Each kid has been different - anywhere from 7-10, so far. Usually, they have been choosing to read on their own for fun already.

[vaquitita]

Nm

Edited December 12, 2015 by vaquitita

[againstthegrain]

I never require independent reading, they have assigned readings. Their assigned readings become silent when they are able to read, retain, narrate and understand the text maturity wise. Usually at 4th grade reading level I start assigning silent readings for school. They are reading on their own silently long before this point - but I don't require it. 

[Desert Strawberry]

I'm less sure of my answer after reading the options. 

Sagg went from no reading at all to novels in weeks. He's just like that. He skipped everything between BOB books and Redwall.for him, independent reading started when he could read serious books, about fourth grade, age 9.

Aries has been reading alone forever. Phonics readers, picture books, early readers, now chapter books. I didn't really think of it as signed independent reading, but I guess that's what it is. He was first grade, age 6 or so when we started this. 

[OneStepAtATime]

I have upon occasion issued required reading but both of my kids are dyslexic.  They don't really get excited about assigned reading, or reading of any kind for the most part.  I try to provide reading material they can tackle and they pick things up if they have interest.  DS loves audio books, though.  DD, not so much.  

 

As a kid, I never had assigned reading outside of just reading a book every semester or so for school and doing a book report or a project.  I think that would have killed my love of reading.  I read voraciously since that was my private thing to do on my own.  My choice on books, too, within reason of course.  Mom and Dad never ever pressed me to have to read silently.  They just did it themselves quite a bit and the TV was only on at certain times.  Computer games didn't even exist until I was in High School since we didn't have a home computer until then.  If my friends weren't available to play with outside, reading was my next option.