Encouraging her to read books on her own

[Flowergirl159]

I have a question regarding my eldest child, 8yrs, actually she will be 9 in less than a month! She loves read aloud time, always has :) I am trying to get her to read some books on her own, which she can quite well. But she often says that she prefers it if I read them to her. If I begin to read a book to her, or have read one to her in previous years, she does not like to read it again or continue with it, because "its better when mummy reads it" or "I've already heard the story so why read it again". I love to read to my girls, and I love to enjoy a good book alongside my girls, but how do I set aside books just for her to enjoy herself? I also am not sure that I want to miss out on some good literature myself, because she is reading them on her own, if you know what I mean.

 

Not sure if this makes sense. I love reading aloud to her and all that does for our relationship. I love enjoying the great literature too. I also want her to develop her reading skills and love for good books. And I realise that I will not be able to expose her to all the fantastic literature available if it is just me reading aloud, so I feel she does need to cover some herself.

 

I'd love to hear your ideas :)

 

Thanks so much

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

Get two copies and tag team reading aloud, and get "Great Books for Girls" for some great titles that might start her off.

[Tanikit]

I am giving my DD a chance to read in bed at night - she must go to bed and her only choices are sleep or read - she can just look at pictures if she wants to but no tablet, computer, TV etc and also no playing with toys. I usually put out a few books for her to choose from of differing levels but if she wants to she can pick anything in her bookcase. There are books I limit - ones I specifically want to read to her so we can discuss them and also ones that I feel need to be for reading practice to help her read better - these books are kept in a separate place.

[tinkbaby]

My daughter is the same age, and also hated to read on her own last year. It got to the point where we (the adults) created a "house rule" that you have to read on your own everyday before she could watch t.v., play video games, or go online. We started out small - Aesop's fables. She had to read one out-loud, then one silently. Eventually it worked up to chapter books (one per day, with her having to read the first page out-loud to us). A year on, she now reads 2-3 chapters a day, after doing her school work, even on the weekends. We still sit down before bed and I read to her, but she is much more likely to pick up a book that's just laying around and read it (either to herself or out-loud to us while we are making dinner, etc).

 

I'm not suggesting you create a similar rule, but perhaps you could start out by having her read aloud to you? Maybe switch off pages (you read one, she reads one)? I'm not sure what helped more, the daily reading, or the daily reading out loud, but we're pretty happy about the changes over the last year.

[kristi26]

We have a similar rule at our house to tinkbaby.  When school work is finished, our kids are required to read a chapter of a book if they're younger, 30 minutes minimum if they're older. They can choose this book (of course we approve it), but it must be done every day in order to play video games or have tablet time.  When we first started it with DD, she would read books with me (switching off reading aloud) or she would read a book that was at her level aloud to me. After awhile, she enjoyed reading to herself.  Now I've read most of the books she chooses OR they are fairly predictable, so I have her tell me what the chapter was about or tell me something funny, her favorite part, whatever.  That way, I know she's really reading it and not fake-reading. Lol.  And yes, that DOES happen.  I have two older boys in my house who've both tried the fake-reading approach.  They even took it so far as to sit and STARE at the page without actually reading.  :confused1:  But that's a story for another day I suppose.

[athomeontheprairie]

we have down time every afternoon ( more for my sanity than anything else! but it's certainly created a reader out of my oldest, and my youngest isn't reading fluency enough yet...)

they have to lie quietly in bed for 30 minutes. they have a choice of taking a nap or reading a book. we stock the bookshelves with lots and lots of library books, they are all age appropriate and she can choose whatever she wants. this keeps the real alouds and books I want to work through with her separate.

[Walking-Iris]

My oldest had a hard time becoming an independent reader around that age. He could read fluently, loved listening to read alouds, but just wasn't picking up books on his own to read. 

 

What finally helped was to narrow his choices. I realized that he was having a hard time choosing, so was making no choice. Together we went through our bookshelves and chose 5-6 books to isolate from the other books. An easier chapter book, a nonfiction, a harder book, his choice, my choice. And then we had (still have) the rule that there is reading time every day. I realized that the choices were overwhelming him. Narrowing down those choices really helped him pick up a book and read it. I still read aloud to him. I've never had the problem of him refusing to read something he's heard read before, it actually seems to cause him to want to read a book if he's already familiar with it. 

 

I guess in that situation I would decide what I was going to read aloud, and then have plenty of books available for reading that wouldn't be read alouds. Usually I choose to read aloud books I want my ds to be familiar with, but I doubt he'll pick up on his own...like Little House on the Prairie---no way would he choose to read that willingly. But he'll listen to most anything I read. 

 

I would just continue to read aloud, and have the drop everything and read time...but i wouldn't be too fussed over what they choose to read, and i would allow them to read the same thing over and over. I know from experience. Just when you think they'll never stop reading the same ratty Calvin and Hobbes book, they suddenly have read the LOTR trilogy. :) But then go right back to Captain Underpants after they finish that. I look at it as ebb and flow.

 

Even adults are somewhat like this. Reading something challenging one minute and then reading some brainless novel the next. I think as long as we don't  push or try to force kids to read what we think they ought to be reading and continue to give them a literary environment, it will all work out. 

[Jess4879]

I am giving my DD a chance to read in bed at night - she must go to bed and her only choices are sleep or read - she can just look at pictures if she wants to but no tablet, computer, TV etc and also no playing with toys. I usually put out a few books for her to choose from of differing levels but if she wants to she can pick anything in her bookcase. There are books I limit - ones I specifically want to read to her so we can discuss them and also ones that I feel need to be for reading practice to help her read better - these books are kept in a separate place.

 

This is what we do too.   My kids cover a LOT of reading ground in 30 minutes when the house is quiet and they are focused solely on their books.  I love that they are reading solo and they think it's a huge reward to get to "stay up late." 

[Flowergirl159]

Thanks for your replies. Most days this year we do 30mins of quiet reading, its not something she loves but something she endures. Just thinking through if I should persist or find better literature choices perhaps?! She is an auditory learner, so absolutely loves read alouds :)

[Walking-Iris]

Thanks for your replies. Most days this year we do 30mins of quiet reading, its not something she loves but something she endures. Just thinking through if I should persist or find better literature choices perhaps?! She is an auditory learner, so absolutely loves read alouds :)

 

She's 9? What sort of books has she read on her own and enjoyed and what sort of books do you read aloud? It's great that you read aloud....don't stop!. Maybe if you tell us what books she enjoys, others can give suggestions of books she may like to read. 

 

Series are a good way to get them reading. I read aloud the first Harry Potter book, but made it clear I wouldn't read aloud the others. That was enough to get my ds wanting to read the rest. 

 

The first series he picked up on his own and read was the Magic Tree House books. I was reading them aloud to my then 4 year old, and my oldest got interested. He didn't want to wait for me to read them, so he started reading ahead. He was able to finish one a  day. That feeling of success helped get over the fear of a book. They can seem intimidating. He used to pick up the HP book and skim through it, but never tried to read it. He wanted to but I think the size and amount of words were intimidating. The easier, shorter MTH gave him a feeling of success.

 

That and narrowing his choices helped him feel better about deciding what to read. That was important to me. I don't really relish the idea of telling my kids what to read. I'd rather they have the ability to choose their reading. I keep quality literature for children available and I'm selective about my read alouds to hopefully give them a taste for good books.

[jenbrdsly]

You could create an "I Read/You Read" box.

[MerryAtHope]

We do both. I read aloud daily to my kids (still--they are 11th and 9th grades). I think it's one of the best gifts we can give to our kids--great for academics, character, relationships, building the mind, family unity...I treasure this time.

 

I also require 30 minutes independent reading per day. We use Sonlight, and it was easy, because they identify both readers and read-alouds--although occasionally I'd make a reader into a read-aloud. I have one who loves to read, and reads a lot outside of "school," while the other only reads occasionally. I'm ok with that, it's not everyone's favorite activity. But I know I gave them lots of quality lit. to read for school, and that I've read a lot to them as well. (Currently reading My Antonia--not sure if I've updated my signature lately!)

 

Merry :-)

[MerryAtHope]

Nope, haven't! Huck Finn was 2 books ago, oops!