I am homeschooling my 3 boys ages 10,8, 6, all with summer/ early fall birthdays, and for all of them I opted to count the fall they were 5 as the beginning of kindergarten, so my now 8 1/2 year old should be in the middle of 3rd grade. He reads fairly well, but gets very frustrated if he can't figure out a word immediately, starts whining, "I don't know!" and quits trying. He is supposed to try to sound it out, then write it down, and then ask for help if he still hasn't figured it out. I have reminded him of the process over and over but he does the same thing 95% of the time. He can answer basic facts at the end of the story but has trouble interpreting motivations of characters and such. He says he hates reading, and when he has choice reading time, where I let him read whatever he chooses, but he has to read for 20 minutes, he chooses very early beginning readers without any plot. He loves science, but not reading about science. I really want to give my kids a well-rounded education, and I don't want to quit doing history and science with him, but wonder if I should take a break from those subjects in order to focus more on reading comprehension. Or should I just call him a 2nd grader and plan on him being in school an extra year? My main reason for not labelling him a 2nd grader is that his brother who is 23 months older is doing great with 5th grade+ level work, and his younger brother who is a little over 2 years younger seems to be on track for 1st grade, and I don't want to make my middle son feel bad by being only one grade ahead of his little brother. Oooooor since I'm homeschooling do I just continue to call him a 3rd grader but work with him on his own pace. My husband is insistent that since our kids are homeschooled, they should all be at or above grade level and doesn't really get that kids are not all alike, and that may not be within the abilities of this child at this time. He is always trying to get him to read books that he is just not ready for....... So many dynamics......I'd love to hear all opinions on this.