Homeschooling a son who would rather do anything besides read

[jenniferp8]

It seems to me that as long as your kid likes to read, homeschooling isn't all that bad. But what do you do when you have one that would rather do anything besides read? I have a ds 10 who will find plenty of other things to do (even wandering the house) to avoid sitting down and reading. I think he's just too active of a kid and is still getting fluent at reading well though he's come a very long way in the last year. (From about a K level to almost a 4th grade level). He is more than happy to listen to me read and remembers things very well when he hears them but I don't have tons of time to read all day to him (5 other children) and we don't have access to a library where I can get good books on tape.

 

He tried the local charter school (3rd grade) and has done very well there this year (his first year at any school) but for other reasons I'd love to have him home again but don't want to lose the momentum he's gotten there.

 

Any suggestions/ideas on how you homeschool your kids who don't enjoy reading on their own?

Thanks!

[simka2]

Edited: that was like the Twilight Zone! all of a sudden all the info I want was there! Hold on and let me reread.

 

:001_smile:

 

Does he like to draw? I have an ADHD son with dyslexic tendencies. He does not like to read on his own. I got him a sketchbook that he could draw summaries of his reading assignments into. He would read a certain number of pages and then divide a page of his sketchbook in half. On the bottom he would write a 2-3 sentence summary of his reading and then illustrate it on the top half.

 

Gradually, his reading did improve, but I am coming to terms with the fact that he is a unique individual that may need an art element to help him engage.

 

Has your son been tested for adhd? This made a huge difference for us. It helped me understand him better, and we were able to get him a medicine that helped him focus enough to build some time management skills.

Edited March 6, 2012 by simka2

[Happy Scientist]

I am sure this is way too obvious, but just in case, have you tried finding something that he will really enjoy reading? At first, forget about educational reading, and teach him to read for the joy of reading, or the joy of finding out things.

 

What does he REALLY like? Video games? You can get a guide to just about any game ever made, filled with tips, hints, and secret information.

 

Science experiments? Let him read the instructions and do the experiment himself.

 

Sports? Again, there are kids books on just about any sport ever invented.

 

If you can find the subject that he REALLY loves, and show him some of the marvelous information hidden in books, he may learn to love reading.

 

Also, think outside the book. Text based computer games take the work out of reading, and stimulate not just word recognition, but reading comprehension. You have to read the screen to play the game.

 

Does he like to cook? As a child, I love cooking, because I could make the food I like, exactly the way I liked it. Reading a simple cookie recipe is great practice, and there is a tasty reward at the end.

[mo2]

Well, after trying gazillions of ways to make reading "fun," I gave up. I simply required 15 minutes of reading a day. Then I upped it to 30. Now we're at 45. Soon I plan to go to an hour. And it is *required*----no toys, no outdoor time, no friends until the reading is done.

[Mandylubug]

I am sure this is way too obvious, but just in case, have you tried finding something that he will really enjoy reading? At first, forget about educational reading, and teach him to read for the joy of reading, or the joy of finding out things.

 

What does he REALLY like? Video games? You can get a guide to just about any game ever made, filled with tips, hints, and secret information.

 

Science experiments? Let him read the instructions and do the experiment himself.

 

Sports? Again, there are kids books on just about any sport ever invented.

 

If you can find the subject that he REALLY loves, and show him some of the marvelous information hidden in books, he may learn to love reading.

 

Also, think outside the book. Text based computer games take the work out of reading, and stimulate not just word recognition, but reading comprehension. You have to read the screen to play the game.

 

Does he like to cook? As a child, I love cooking, because I could make the food I like, exactly the way I liked it. Reading a simple cookie recipe is great practice, and there is a tasty reward at the end.

 

:iagree: my ADHD son does well with all of these suggestions. His mind becomes overwhelmed when glancing at an entire page of just words and does prefer some pictures. He can "narrate" by drawing his picture first then writing sentences to explain his picture. He is very much "need to know the end before the beginning" kind of kid.

 

He LOVES to cook and I let him read recipes; he loves horror/mystery books and I let him wander the library for an hour to find a book that he adores. Also, he is a Star Wars Maniac.. I let him get chapter books for Star Wars and one graphic novel per week.

 

I think the key is to find something that he just HAS to read in its presence.. and I have found he is gradually reading more and more books for me for longer periods of time :) He actually "shushed" me last week while reading a Jr. Novelization of Pirates of the Carribean...

[jenniferp8]

I don't think he's ADHD, just active. He has no problem doing an entire math assignment in one sitting though. He tends to start books and then gets caught up by the next book that looks good and starts it and never gets around to finishing any of them. He's just not been hooked enough by anything that he HAS to finish it and find out what happens I guess. And right now, anything with a lot of pages or words on a page is overwhelming from the start. So maybe it will just take some time and more exposure and more reading by me... If I read, he wants to hear more and can sit through it... "ANOTHER CHAPTER, PLEEEAAASSSEEEE!!"

[Mandylubug]

I don't think he's ADHD, just active. He has no problem doing an entire math assignment in one sitting though. He tends to start books and then gets caught up by the next book that looks good and starts it and never gets around to finishing any of them. He's just not been hooked enough by anything that he HAS to finish it and find out what happens I guess. And right now, anything with a lot of pages or words on a page is overwhelming from the start. So maybe it will just take some time and more exposure and more reading by me... If I read, he wants to hear more and can sit through it... "ANOTHER CHAPTER, PLEEEAAASSSEEEE!!"

 

ahhh, mine will do that if he has multiple books. I allow one chapter book, one graphic novel and books for history/science each week from our library. All the books stay in the "book cabinet" and during "free read" he has to read his chapter book. All other times other than assigned reading time; he can read/look at his graphic novel. Maybe limit his reading choices and perhaps read one chapter for every two he reads? We also do a read aloud book as a family. We are currently reading the series A Series of Unfortunate Events

[kwg]

Librovox has free recordings of many educational/classics. They are not always as good as professionals but my ds tolerates them.

[Wildwood]

I'm just barely getting started on this book that a friend recommended.

It might be helpful for you?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Whisperer-Awakening-Inner-Reader/dp/0470372273/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331062285&sr=8-1

[boscopup]

Well, what types of books are you giving him to read? Are they at his current reading level? If so, there's your problem. It's hard work to read at grade level. Reading is enjoyable 1-2 grade levels below their current reading level. You need to give him things that are EASY to read. The problem here... things that are easy to read might be too babyish to him because of his age. You might try to find some 3rd grade history and science readers and see if he'll be at all interested in those. If not, enjoyable reading may have to wait until his reading level has increased more (and I'm sure it will! :D). Assign a short amount of time each day at his current reading level (maybe 15-20 minutes and work up from there), then when he's reading at a high enough level to have some interesting books at a lower level, give him lots of those, even if they're twaddle (Star Wars: The Clone Wars books got my DS1 hooked on reading a lot... that and history books!). And remember that it's not uncommon for boys to enjoy nonfiction more than fiction, so if he turns his nose up to a good fiction book, try nonfiction. My son is starting to like some humorous fiction books, but the classics like Charlotte's Web are a no-go. :tongue_smilie:

[jenniferp8]

Well, what types of books are you giving him to read? Are they at his current reading level? If so, there's your problem. It's hard work to read at grade level.

 

I haven't been assigning him anything specific to read. They have all been things he's picked on his own.

[EMS83]

Maybe get a digital voice recorder and spend the evenings for a week or so recording yourself reading books that you want him to hear? And then give him the book and the recorder and encourage him to try and follow along.

[my2boysteacher]

booksshouldbefree.com.

 

Great audio books, all free. My son was the same way until last year when we discovered he had a vision problem. Nothing an optometrist could pick up, but we had him checked by a developmental opthamologist. He went through vision therapy and it has made a world of difference. He still has it in his head that he doesn't like to read, but he is starting to realize how much easier it is for him now, and is resisiting much less.

Also, I just started assigning books to him that correlate with what we are studying in science or history. He is also very active, and I think there are kids like these who just would prefer not to ever pick up a book. How could such a child come from me? :confused::lol:

[Paula in MS]

I am in the same boat with my dd who is also 10. What I have discovered is this. Things that are easy to read are boring. Second and third grade level books are easy, but who wants to read Fairy Books and Magic Tree house at 10. She wants to read fantasy literature that is at a 4th-6th grade level, but it is above her. We have begun reading books together, and this has really helped. When I read a page, she follows along. When she reads a page, I help her sound out difficult words. She really enjoys this, but it is time consuming for the parent. :D Even if you could do this 20 minutes a day, it would help. My dd has made a lot of progress in just a month.

[Momma4Boys]

I am in the same boat with my dd who is also 10. What I have discovered is this. Things that are easy to read are boring. Second and third grade level books are easy, but who wants to read Fairy Books and Magic Tree house at 10. She wants to read fantasy literature that is at a 4th-6th grade level, but it is above her. We have begun reading books together, and this has really helped. When I read a page, she follows along. When she reads a page, I help her sound out difficult words. She really enjoys this, but it is time consuming for the parent. :D Even if you could do this 20 minutes a day, it would help. My dd has made a lot of progress in just a month.

 

:iagree: My son (age 10 also...seeing a trend here) sounds exactly like your dc. I think I am going to implement her suggestions above.

 

Another thing I am going to try was suggested by my mom (a ps teacher) - trying to read non-fiction books. She thinks maybe the fiction books are too abstract for him and he can't correlate the information into his life...that made sense too. Worth a shot :D

 

:bigear:

[Ellie]

Loving to read and being homeschooled are not related to each other. As long as he will read what is required to do his Official School Stuff, that's all you need. And if he will allow you to read aloud to him, you can still get those good classic books in his brain. :-)

[coffeegal]

I have a far-sighted son who refuses to wear his glasses unless absolutely necessary. :glare: Needless to say, reading isn't his favorite past time. He loves comics and graphic novels. I let him read those to his heart's content for his personal reading. For school, I require him to read what I assign. I've found TOG's method of a few pages out of this book and a few pages out of that book works well for him. He'll read 5-10 pages in 3 or 4 books for a total of 20 pages, but fight me if he's required to read 20 pages in 1 book. :001_huh: I've chosen to concentrate on ensuring his academic reading ability is there, even if he never chooses to spend a Saturday curled up reading a book.

[m0mmaBuck]

My 10 yo son does not like to read. Nope. Not his thing. He doesn't have issues with reading or comprehension or vision or ADHD. He just doesn't enjoy it. He would NEVER read for recreation. However, he reads what I assign him. So typically in the course of a school day he reads a 5-10 page mini-autobiography about someone related to our history lesson or 5-10 pages related to our science lesson, 1-2 chapters from a book he chose, and 1-2 chapters from whatever lit or historical book we are doing. It's just part of school. End of story.

 

As an aside, I have NEVER seen my 19 yo son read voluntarily and my husband reads for a purpose only (such as instruction manuals, articles for work, specific sections or chapters in books that apply to something he is interested in). I, on the other hand, love to read but have to limit my recreational reading as I tend to ignore everyone and everything around me when I am involved in a book.

[Momma4Boys]

My 10 yo son does not like to read. Nope. Not his thing. He doesn't have issues with reading or comprehension or vision or ADHD. He just doesn't enjoy it. He would NEVER read for recreation. However, he reads what I assign him. So typically in the course of a school day he reads a 5-10 page mini-autobiography about someone related to our history lesson or 5-10 pages related to our science lesson, 1-2 chapters from a book he chose, and 1-2 chapters from whatever lit or historical book we are doing. It's just part of school. End of story.

 

As an aside, I have NEVER seen my 19 yo son read voluntarily and my husband reads for a purpose only (such as instruction manuals, articles for work, specific sections or chapters in books that apply to something he is interested in). I, on the other hand, love to read but have to limit my recreational reading as I tend to ignore everyone and everything around me when I am involved in a book.

 

You know, this is a really good point...I will "lose" an entire day because I am sucked into a book but I have never, in 15 years of marriage, seen my dh pick up a book to read for pleasure. And my dh is a very intelligent and highly functioning adult...I think I need to take a :chillpill: and not sweat it if my ds is not a prolific reader...

 

THANKS!!!!!!

[CatholicMom]

I am sure this is way too obvious, but just in case, have you tried finding something that he will really enjoy reading? At first, forget about educational reading, and teach him to read for the joy of reading, or the joy of finding out things.

 

What does he REALLY like? Video games? You can get a guide to just about any game ever made, filled with tips, hints, and secret information.

 

Science experiments? Let him read the instructions and do the experiment himself.

 

Sports? Again, there are kids books on just about any sport ever invented.

 

If you can find the subject that he REALLY loves, and show him some of the marvelous information hidden in books, he may learn to love reading.

 

Also, think outside the book. Text based computer games take the work out of reading, and stimulate not just word recognition, but reading comprehension. You have to read the screen to play the game.

 

Does he like to cook? As a child, I love cooking, because I could make the food I like, exactly the way I liked it. Reading a simple cookie recipe is great practice, and there is a tasty reward at the end.

 

:iagree:

 

One of my sons really honed his reading skills by playing Viva Pinata! He also loves reading video game inserts (nerd alert).

 

My oldest son (almost 9) JUST finally got hooked on a series that he loves to read: Magic Tree House books. Since he has wanted to find out "what happens next" he has willingly read for a much longer period of time and his reading skills have improved drastically in 2 weeks. I am thrilled that he realized he CAN love to read on his own if he find a book of interest. (I also didn't make it known that the Magic Tree House books were a part of "school" because school isn't fun, ya know :tongue_smilie:.)

 

That said, you can definitely homeschool without having the child read a lot at this age. I would try to keep reading to a minimum for "school" and try to motivate him to love reading books he is really interested in (video games! Cook books! Space books! Comic books! Mystery novels! Lego magazine! NBA star bio!). And don't be afraid to pick out books FOR him that you think he'd love. Sometimes letting them pick out their own books doesn't get you nearly as far. But YOU know his interests and can capitalize on them.

Edited March 7, 2012 by TaraJo29

[....]

Any suggestions/ideas on how you homeschool your kids who don't enjoy reading on their own?

Thanks!

 

We started off with a school-at-home approach several years ago and my son would cry when it was time for schoolwork. I started reading books about how boys learn, etc - Boys Adrift was one of them and changed how we homeschool.

 

Some boys need to be able to move around to read/study. I think it was Boys Adrift that talked about an all-boys private school and their test scores. The boys weren't required to sit during class. They were allowed to walk around the classroom while they read. The boys' test scores went up. We have a big yoga ball that he sits on when he does schoolwork.

 

Also, I let my son choose what he wants to read (at this stage). This was one of the ways I got my son over the learning-to-read mountain. :glare: I just sighed in despair and looked the other way when Captain Underpants was checked out from the library. There are some books out there that might be appealing to dudes. My son liked The Dragon's Hoard, The Minstrel in the Tower, Viking Adventure, Sign of the Beaver, Indian in the Cupboard, etc. We're actually reading Black Ships Before Troy and my son loves that book. There's all kinds of fighting, combat, arrows flying everywhere, shields made from 7 ox hides...

 

Another thing we do...a big chunk of our homeschool is hands-on. My son loves stuff like Snap Circuits, Physics Workshop, etc. He's been doing some carpentry. He had a couple of bookcases and he helped build a wooden frame for our garden.

 

I'm also noticing that he likes no-nonsense-type curricula. He uses Galore Park English. He seems to like textbooks.

 

HTH!

[Guest LovesGoodLuckCharlie]

My son was very stubborn about reading too, but I've just recently found him some baseball books. He is eating those up.

[ElizabethB]

I would keep working on higher level phonics and also have him start reading through the 1879 McGuffey readers, you can try them out for free online at Gutenberg to see how they will work and figure out where to start, start slightly below frustration level to build up confidence. They are good for building up both vocabulary and reading skills. I like how the work on the difficult words before the reading passages. You need the pdfs, not just the text files, there are diacritical markings to help figure out the difficult words. If they work out well, Amazon usually sells the set fairly reasonably. You want the 1879 version that is blue and orange, not the 1828 brown Mott Media series.

 

To keep working on phonics skills, I would work through my phonics lessons or the things on my how to tutor page, or a program specifically designed for an older remedial student like Back on the Right Track Reading or We All Can Read, 3rd Grade to Adult.

[Pen]

Reading here is also a problem--dyslexia-ish sort. However, it went from being something detested to favorite subject in the past year as he got better at it. I encourage getting hooked on series books at this point, and then letting those lead off on rabbit trails for more information. 90-120 minutes per day reading is required, including what is done out loud, and to himself.

 

That said, reading is still under where he needs to be to advance in other subjects, so I try to get subjects other than reading to where less reading is needed--for example:

MUS because it allows math do be done well without extensive reading.

SOTW on audio.

Nat. Geogr. Visual History of the World--so as the history is gained orally, much of the pictures of places and artifacts can be looked at on paper, rather than read about.

Films about history, science, nature etc. when I can find them.

Filmed Shakespeare and other such classics.

hands on activities

Etc.

not all of this is officially "school" --it depends on how academic something seems to be and other factors--but certainly aids learning

 

 

Maybe this same approach could help you go back to hs with child who dislikes reading.