Dd's reading habits....

[daughterofsarah77]

So, I love love love that my dd (age 8) loves to read. It's a dream come true!

But...she will be reading up to 9 books (all fiction) at a time (this is recreational - outside of the 2 we usually have going with our SL curriculum.) Her "routine" is to read a chapter of one book, a chapter of the next one...then start all over with the next chapter of each book.

 

I think this is too much...she rarely finishes a book. Not to mention many of these are library books that will need to be returned before she finished looping through them.

 

I was a crazy reader as a kid, but I would sit down with a book and finish it in a day, and move on to the next one the next day : )

 

I should mention...based on what we do in our curriculum, comprehension-wise, she doesn't retain much.

 

What kind of limits would you set in this area? Any?

[twoxcell]

Well maybe I'm mean but I have my ds pick out 1 Fiction and 1 Nonfiction book at a time and he is to read them all the way through before getting more. He does also pick up random things to read like joke books etc. and he reads his Bible. We really don't go to the library so I just keep a basket of books stocked for him to choose from.

Edited May 6, 2012 by twoxcell

[Dinsfamily]

I just started limiting my ds8 to 2 fiction books per library visit plus a limited number of non-fiction books (determined by me). He does finish books but I'm tired of the library fines and returning books he didn't have time to read before they were due. I'd rather him focus on fewer books at a time and increase our library trips. Now, our neighborhood is across the street from the library so he can have unlimited trips. I told him that when he is finished with one book, we'll immediately order the next one on his list.

 

This is a big departure from our old "check out 50 books at a time" lifestyle but that was when the library was far away and we'd get there once a month. With the new library, that isn't the case and we need to make some adjustments.

[ALB]

Do you have required reading for her to complete? If you do, and she is already doing that, I personally wouldn't force her to finish other books. My dd is only 6.5, but she often does the same thing, re-reading chapters over and over, skipping between books, etc. As long as she is doing the reading I assign for school and our read alouds, then I don't control her outside reading except to make sure that it is all done from quality books.

[Wee Pip]

I've noticed my one dd (a random personality to begin with) will do this when she has books that are a bit above her reading level. I think it challenges her and tires her, but she still wants to read it. She'll read a bit of one book, start another, start another, return to the first book, etc. and then never finish any of them:) Or, she does this out of boredom. I tend to think it is a combo of boredom and having books at a challenging reading level. If she has an easier book that interests her, she tends to read it straight through. Also seems like she does this when she is at an inbetween place in reading ability, or about to make a big jump in her reading ability (it's like she's in an inbetween place, ready for a growth spurt).

[LMD]

ahem... I still do this :blush: Don't ask me how many books I currently have on the go! DD is a bit the same thus far.

 

I agree with ALB, I'll also sometimes require DD to read a little more of x-book before scattering around to whatever else she wants. And I printed off a reading chart - nothing like the promise of a stamp to encourage finishing a book ;)

[boscopup]

It may be a phase, but I agree with the PP that said if she's reading her assigned school reading normally, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

My oldest used to read a random chapter in a book, then skip to another random chapter, repeat, repeat, repeat. He didn't read a book straight through! It was driving me nuts! :lol: He mostly did this with SOTW, which is fine to do that with, but he'd sometimes do it with your basic fiction chapter books. I finally just explained to him how to read a book - start at chapter 1, then read chapter 2, and keep going until you reach the end. In the meantime, he was also getting practice with his assigned reading anyway, as I'd have him read a specific chapter or chapters, which of course was in order. ;) He now, finally, reads books in order. Yay!

 

Now he does still have multiple books going at a time, but it's usually more like 3 or 4, not 9. :) He's able to finish them before library day pretty easily.

 

(and come to think of it... the random chapter thing happened last summer when we were doing a summer book reading thing, where we had to track pages read... tracking those SOTW chapters was ridiculous... Guess what started yesterday? The summer reading program again! :lol:)

[ssavings]

I still read numerous books at once... I won't even admit how many I'm partway done right now!