my reading education inadequacies

[Shoeless]

On 8/13/2020 at 12:04 PM, Little Green Leaves said:

I guess it would help to figure out what, exactly, he hates about reading. Is it the book report, or the reading itself? Is the act of reading hard? Does he get bored with the books he's reading? Etc etc.

 

In my school district, a lot of the teachers let kids pick their own books -- but the kids still don't like reading, because they have to write book reports. The teachers seem to have really high and unreasonable expectations for output. I know at least some of the parents are basically just writing the book reports FOR the kids. So the whole thing is a disaster.

 

He's a capable reader for his age.  I think the issue is that he can sniff out the agenda behind the request to read. He doesn't get books because someone thinks he might like the subject.  He gets books because someone else thinks he should spend his time reading certain "worthwhile books", and the only books deemed worthwhile are ones where comprehension is easily evaluated.   I think it's sucked the joy out of it for him. 

Edited August 15, 2020 by MissLemon

[Little Green Leaves]

2 hours ago, MissLemon said:

 

He's a capable reader for his age.  I think the issue is that he can sniff out the agenda behind the request to read. He doesn't get books because someone thinks he might like the subject.  He gets books because someone else thinks he should spend his time reading certain "worthwhile books", and the only books deemed worthwhile are ones where comprehension is easily evaluated.   I think it's sucked the joy out of it for him. 

That makes so much sense. Poor kid. I really sympathize. It sounds like sending him fun books is a great idea. This way, he'll have plenty of positive associations with reading. 

Side question, but I think you said he was 7 or 8? Do you think kids go through a change around that age where they get more rebellious, or at least more aware of adult power? When my son was a little past 7 he suddenly got really resistant to anything he saw as "school," even things he used to love. Now that he's getting closer to 9, he seems to be coming out of it...knock on wood...

[Skippy]

On 8/9/2020 at 1:46 PM, annegables said:

The recent threads on literature have me doing some contemplation about my upbringing. For background, I grew up in the 80s in middle class suburbia in a great school district. I had a stay-at-home mom, and both my parents are educated and value education. I taught myself to read the newspaper at 4yo. I had every reading advantage, with the possible exception that I am a very literal thinker with a strong STEM bend.

However, I read The Baby Sitters Club, Nancy Drew, and Hardy Boys almost exclusively until the 8th grade! After that, I did very little pleasure reading until I graduated college because I had zero free time. My parents never read to us nor did they suggest books that I should read. We went to the library regularly, but I was left entirely to my own devices to choose absolute drivel. It has been only in the past year that I began playing catch-up with my literary inadequacies, in part because I didnt realize I had them!

How, given that home environment, was I not more encouraged to read anything better? No Anne of Green Gables, Little House, Secret Garden, Arabian Nights, Narnia, nothing! I feel like my parents completely trusted the school system to totally provide for my education and that they were off the hook. I understand that there was no internet, but surely there were book lists containing stuff better than the Babysitters' Club??!

One of my main focuses of parenting is to remedy this in my children.

I grew up in the eighties and was educated in public schools, too. I started out on Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary, but in the fourth grade, my mom insisted that I start reading the classics but not the classics that children usually read. So at that point she had me reading things like To Kill a Mockingbird. Undoubtedly, this was good for my education, but I wasn't really ready for some of the topics, like reading The Good Earth in the fourth grade. Here's a quote from Common Sense Media: "Foot-binding, daughters sold into slavery, women as concubines, and female infanticide by strangling are all presented unblinkingly."

[Shoeless]

15 hours ago, Little Green Leaves said:

That makes so much sense. Poor kid. I really sympathize. It sounds like sending him fun books is a great idea. This way, he'll have plenty of positive associations with reading. 

Side question, but I think you said he was 7 or 8? Do you think kids go through a change around that age where they get more rebellious, or at least more aware of adult power? When my son was a little past 7 he suddenly got really resistant to anything he saw as "school," even things he used to love. Now that he's getting closer to 9, he seems to be coming out of it...knock on wood...

 

There are some brain changes that occur around 7-8. There is a lot of growing happening then, and I've heard many mothers comment that things are rough around that age and then eventually the kids snap out of it. 

My son has always been a bit of an "old soul", with some gifted/advanced stuff mixed in, so we are never in sync with what anyone else is up to.  It keeps things interesting, but also makes me really poor at giving advice on typical kid stuff!