kbradfie Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 This is my first year homeschooling my 7 year old son, who is in 2nd grade. He is a good reader, but does have some comprehension issues. He loves to read comic books and if it isn't a comic book he loves to read beginning reader books that are about Star Wars. When we go to the library he wants to check out the same books over and over. I am trying to get him to branch out and try new things, but it has been like pulling teeth! I offer him many, many choices, all of which are fun, imaginative stories that seem up his alley, but because it isn't something he is familiar with he turns his nose up. I should probably mention that he has high functioning autism, so this may be part of the reason he is so set on certain things. I still allow him to check out one or two previously read books, so he isn't being completely cut off from them. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get him reading new things? I have another question as well regarding written reading summaries. Once or twice a week I have my son write a short summary about the book from his assigned reading time during homeschool. Is this enough for now, or should I have him write summaries from some of his free reading time books as well? I have been hesitant to do this because we are also using Writing With Ease and Story of the World which give him lots of writing summary opportunities as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
librarymama Posted September 18, 2014 Share Posted September 18, 2014 My son is in second. What I do is have daily assigned reading where he sits and reads from a book I choose for 20-30 minutes. At night or whenever else he desires, he can read the books he chooses. As for summaries, I have him narrate or write a summary or review for most of the books I assign, but never his free choice books. I am probably a bit too relaxed about his writing, though, as it's his least favorite subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAmomof4 Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 My son is in second. What I do is have daily assigned reading where he sits and reads from a book I choose for 20-30 minutes. At night or whenever else he desires, he can read the books he chooses. As for summaries, I have him narrate [stopping quote here!] I do this too. Used to assign the book, but on advice of the Hive, I just have a small shelf of pre-selected options, and DD can pick. Then she is required to narrate three facts about her reading in her reading spiral. DD is a strong reader too, but prefers her twaddle. Rereads the Judy Moody books approx. 200 times each. I don't get it. Just make it clear that his focused reading time is part of his "school" time, and the rest of the time he can do what he wants (as long as it's something you're ok with). FWIW, SWB recommends allowing kids to read beneath their comp. level to boost their speed and interest in reading. Don't know how many other kids you're handling at the same time, or how much time you've got, but http://www.litwitsworkshops.com is a neat site to get kids interested in some classic works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellen Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 I guess I'm the easy one. My second grader is stubborn and hates being told what to do. I surround her with interesting hooks but don't require a set amount of time each day. She reads books without being told. I sometimes casually ask her about the book but no narrations are required. I'm scared to kill her love of reading. She's working slowly through WWE 1. I don't recall having a set reading time for my previous second grader. He was a voracious reader and still is. I may have given him books to read at that age. I didn't require narrations. His reading comprehension is good. His narrations need work. He has trouble extracting the main idea even after working through the narrations in WWE 2. I don't know if more narrations at that age would have been helpful. WWE = Writing With Ease Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incognito Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 There are a lot of Star Wars books out there at various reading levels. You can just go with the obsession but still have different books and stretch his reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 I have been known to pick a book I have already read just because I am overwhelmed by the number of books. I like the idea of a small shelf or basket with a small selection (maybe choose some each). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbaeimers Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 What I have done with my girls when I want them to read a book that they are not getting into, is to start reading the book out loud to them. Then, just as the book is getting interesting I stop reading and give it to them. If they want to find out what happened, they have to finish reading the book themselves. I do not really have that problem any more, but that is what I did in the past when we got into slumps like that. Another idea is the pizza hut book it programs or other motivational reading programs. If you read x amount of books, you get some sort of prize. You could limit it to no repeats. Depending on what your child's individual currency was, you could offer one piece of candy or one sticker per new book read, or even have a treasure box with cheap toys and offer a choice out of the treasure box each time a new book is completed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaConquest Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 This is my first year homeschooling my 7 year old son, who is in 2nd grade. He is a good reader, but does have some comprehension issues. He loves to read comic books and if it isn't a comic book he loves to read beginning reader books that are about Star Wars. When we go to the library he wants to check out the same books over and over. I am trying to get him to branch out and try new things, but it has been like pulling teeth! I offer him many, many choices, all of which are fun, imaginative stories that seem up his alley, but because it isn't something he is familiar with he turns his nose up. I should probably mention that he has high functioning autism, so this may be part of the reason he is so set on certain things. I still allow him to check out one or two previously read books, so he isn't being completely cut off from them. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get him reading new things? I have another question as well regarding written reading summaries. Once or twice a week I have my son write a short summary about the book from his assigned reading time during homeschool. Is this enough for now, or should I have him write summaries from some of his free reading time books as well? I have been hesitant to do this because we are also using Writing With Ease and Story of the World which give him lots of writing summary opportunities as well. I think that his reluctance to read may be tied to the fact that you are making him write these summaries. I would personally just drop those (and certainly not add more of them!) and stick with whatever output you are doing in WWE and SOTW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 I think that his reluctance to read may be tied to the fact that you are making him write these summaries. I would personally just drop those (and certainly not add more of them!) and stick with whatever output you are doing in WWE and SOTW. I agree, summaries suck all the fun out of reading! However, I would check his ability to read nonsense words and his reading grade level, if he was taught with sight words in school, this may be hindering his reading, here is an article "Why Johnny Doesn't Like to Read" explaining that, and then a link to my testing page with some free reading grade level tests and diagnostic reading tests: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/aliterate.html http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/readinggradeleve.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 If I had to write summaries I wouldn't read. In fact even writing the name of the book and the author at one point caused great resentment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue daisy Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 Does he enjoy other types of books if you read them aloud to him? For now, I'd let him keep reading what he wants, and just read aloud often, with a variety of books. Maybe eventually require a short amount of time that he reads from books of your choice. (Set out a few books, he picks, start with a short time). My 9 year old has high functioning autism, and while he read early, and he has always read well, he's never been one to just pick up a book and start reading. I have to push him a little. He has always preferred nonfiction to fiction also. But I keep encouraging him, and he's finally starting to branch out a little this year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phathui5 Posted September 20, 2014 Share Posted September 20, 2014 My seven year old liked the Magic Tree House books. Has he read those? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbradfie Posted September 21, 2014 Author Share Posted September 21, 2014 Thank you to everyone who has responded to this post. It has given me a lot of ideas on how to move forward. I think I am going to stop worrying so much about his reading repetition and give him more freedom to pick what he wants for free reading. He really loves reading on his own and I definitely don't want to squash that interest. I will still have some say in what he reads for assigned school reading. Right now we are reading The Lion, The Which and the Wardrobe. My seven year old liked the Magic Tree House books. Has he read those? He used to have an interest in these, but the last few months he refuses to read anymore. I know he had to read one or two of the books from this series with his reading group at school last year and I am wondering if that has something to do with his lack of interest now. It's a shame because they seem like such fun books! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue daisy Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Sounds like you have a good plan. I think at this point it's better to encourage him to read what he enjoys than force him to branch out and have him start viewing reading as a chore. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan in TX Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 If you want him to read other things, I would try suggesting other books that aren't Star Wars but that are related in some way. Maybe other science fiction stories or non-fiction books about space travel. If he likes comics about Super Heroes then look for other books about Super Heroes. Or try to find other books that are written in comic book style but aren't comic books. Susan in TX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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