Voracious reader now turned reluctant -- help!

[fastforward]

I suppose my title is a bit of a stretch because technically, she will still will read, it's just that she no longer reads everything in sight. Let me explain.

 

My 8 year old was a voracious reader when she was a bit younger, but suddenly the amount of reading she does has decreased. She has always preferred reading non-fiction over fiction, such as choosing to read the Let's Read and Find Out Science books over and over for years instead of the Little House series. We have never used a curriculum for reading for her because she always just "got it" easily and my DH and I could determine her comprehension through casual discussions. When I recently asked her about her new reading habits, she told me that she doesn't like to read anything that is assigned, and I'm guessing that she has come to the conclusion that anything I leave around that she doesn't like (basically, this means fiction) is assigned. :glare: (There is one notable exception to the fiction rule, btw, and it's Harry Potter. The child will hole up in the bathroom for hours re-reading the HP books that we have allowed her to have.)

 

How can I get this child back into reading books that I see so many parents mentioning that their children enjoy?

[Mrs Mungo]

SWB talks about this exact problem in her lectures (available on the peace hill press site). She basically says that you need to do some re-training in phonics. She believes that these types of kids (who caught on easily) did not get the information they need for higher-level phonics. She offers a few suggestions in the lecture.

[Margo out of lurking]

How can I get this child back into reading books that I see so many parents mentioning that their children enjoy?

 

I would say that your child is only 8. I would not assign any independent reading to my 8yodc. I would be reading aloud, or I would have shared reading, with dc and me taking turns reading a page or chapter out loud to each other.

 

Is it possible she's concerned that you will no longer read to her if she's reading by herself? Would she prefer to pick out books on her own at the library? Is she testing you? If my 8yo child completed all school work and was otherwise entertaining herself in appropriate ways (meaning not via a screen), I'd back off of the topic entirely. I'd only bring it up if it doesn't resolve over the next 3-4 months.

[Pippen]

My oldest (now 17) was like this. He was a very voracious reader until about 2nd or 3rd grade and then he backed off. He still read now and then and enjoyed books that I or ps teachers read aloud, but he no longer holed up in his room and read and reread piles of books.

 

From that grade on I'd only see a big hunger for reading when he found something HE really loved--Star Wars books, Harry Potter, etc. In the end with him I felt like he was really finding himself and developing his own tastes in literature and while I would have loved it if he would have continued as when he was younger, it really was okay. In fact, his tastes in books (fantasy/science fiction) were so different than mine (non-fiction) that I had to start reading books he suggested in order to have some common ground and I wound up discovering that I enjoyed some books in his favored genre a great deal. I also started looking for books that were more along his lines for us to read together. I read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings out loud to him and when I felt he was old enough, we read HP at the same time (and later again out loud to the family).

 

I hope this helps. I was alarmed at first but all that was happening was he was becoming his own person. At 17 there's still the "You have to read this one!" exchanges happening between us and I doubt if that would have happened had I not decided to respect who he was as a reader and try to meet on some common ground. FWIW, about 90% of the time if he's choosing something for himself, it's fantasy/science fiction but my 12yo daughter will almost always go with historic fiction.

Edited December 27, 2010 by Pippen

[Capt_Uhura]

My son went through phases of voraciously reading and then a few months of not so much. I wouldn't worry about it unless it continues for several months. But I would definitely start having her read aloud to you. As someone mentioned, SWB talks about the 4th-5th grade slump, which is a reading level, not a grade level. Kids who learn to read naturally, sometimes can have issues transitioning to higher level books b/c they can't decode words they haven't heard or seen before and have trouble w/ multi-syllable words. By having her read aloud to you (you can take turns on a book you're reading together) you can determine how many words she is not pronouncing correctly and may not be understanding.

 

But if she doesn't like reading anything assigned, it could just be behaviour issue. She is finding some area in which she feel she can take control.

[plansrme]

I am just thinking that if she needs glasses, reading might have become physically less comfortable for her.

 

My 10 yo was never what I would call a voracious reader, but she did read more after we figured out that she is very nearsighted in one eye and got her glasses.

 

Terri

[Haiku]

 

How can I get this child back into reading books that I see so many parents mentioning that their children enjoy?

 

Let it go for a while. I generally love to read but even I go through times where I'm not feeling like reading much. If you make it an issue, it will be an issue. If you simply fail to mention it, she will probably cycle into more reading again.

 

Tara

[rafiki]

.

[fastforward]

SWB talks about this exact problem in her lectures (available on the peace hill press site). She basically says that you need to do some re-training in phonics. She believes that these types of kids (who caught on easily) did not get the information they need for higher-level phonics. She offers a few suggestions in the lecture.

 

I haven't listened to that lecture. Thanks for the recommendation. Interestingly enough, my 8 year old has been especially interested in her younger sister's phonics lessons lately. Even though she did have some phonics lessons, she claims she didn't learn the same things her sister is learning. She used Horizons and younger DD is using CLE, so it is much different, fwiw.

 

From that grade on I'd only see a big hunger for reading when he found something HE really loved--Star Wars books, Harry Potter, etc. In the end with him I felt like he was really finding himself and developing his own tastes in literature and while I would have loved it if he would have continued as when he was younger, it really was okay. In fact, his tastes in books (fantasy/science fiction) were so different than mine (non-fiction) that I had to start reading books he suggested in order to have some common ground and I wound up discovering that I enjoyed some books in his favored genre a great deal. I also started looking for books that were more along his lines for us to read together. I read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings out loud to him and when I felt he was old enough, we read HP at the same time (and later again out loud to the family).

 

I hope this helps. I was alarmed at first but all that was happening was he was becoming his own person. At 17 there's still the "You have to read this one!" exchanges happening between us and I doubt if that would have happened had I not decided to respect who he was as a reader and try to meet on some common ground.

 

Yes, it is a help, thank you very much! My daughter sounds very much like how you describe your son, especially what their reading tastes are. Maybe we will try reading The Hobbit together, as it's something that I've never read either.

[fastforward]

Try assigning daily reading time vs a specific book. Have her help you keep her supplied in books, let her pick some out from the library, tell you what author's sequals to look for, maybe a trip to a used book store or thrift shop. Maybe she's just entering a different phase and needs more of a variety to find what grabs her attention?

 

I think she might be entering a different phase of discovering what she likes vs. what I would like her to read vs. what her friends are reading, if that makes sense. She has a good friend who is even more of a voracious reader -- this friend introduced her to Harry Potter several months ago, and it sparked a serious love of the series between both girls. However, her friend has moved on to other books, and when I mentioned to my DD that I could pick up a Percy Jackson book for her so that she and her friend could discuss it, DD seemed annoyed and uninterested in getting the book. She wants to continue rereading HP until the books fall apart, it seems! Combined with her "I don't like reading what is assigned to me" makes me wonder if this is a matter of discovering what *she* likes, not just reading what her friends or I pick out.

[regentrude]

I found that DD read most when she had just learned to read - at age 6 and 7 she devoured everything printed in sight. I was constantly getting books from library and garage sales. Once the novelty had worn off, she still read, but went through stretches of little reading - until she discovered a new favorite.

I do not think you need to be concernbed about this -as long as she CAN read and there are still things she enjoys reading for fun. Maybe she needs to discover a new favorite book? I would take her to the library regularly and have her select books - you can stipulate that she has to pick a certain number, but she gets to choose which. You could also assign a certain reading TIME (say, 30 minutes a day), but again, leave it up to her to select her books.

If she likes HP, have you tried similar fiction? For my son, a great introduction to any kind of book was to get the audio book from the library. he was reluctant to start reading something unfamiliar, particularly thick books - but the audio book got him interested and then he usually wanted to read the whole series.

[Dobela]

I would also look at vocabulary. I was an early natural reader and about that age I hit a slump. It wasn't the phonics for me but rather the vocabulary. I was such a voracious reader that I had literally read everything possible in one library section in our school. But when I moved up to the next one I found the books difficult to follow because I simply didn't have the understanding of the vocabulary. I could read the 'big words' fine, but I had no clue what they meant. Sometimes there were so many new words in a section that I could no longer use context to find meaning. Fortunately for me I had a wonderful teacher who discovered this and began working on word meanings and dictionary usage with me. Once I could understand what I was reading, and knew how to use a dictionary when I didn't, I was back to my voracious reading once again.