r/homeschool • u/checkinreviews • 15h ago
Help! Reading help š
My oldest is 7 and in 2nd grade. Before Abeka (unaccredited) he did learn to read in 100 lessons, which was great and he was reading during the lessons! He knows his sounds, can blend beautifully.. But he refuses to read in real life. Itās like he believes he canāt do it? I genuinely donāt understand it.. i feel defeated bc I donāt know how to help him. I encourage him to read and sound out. Weāve given him motivation, if he reads he can play Minecraft. Lol and heās excited about that possibility but he wonāt make progress by reading outside of his lesson in that specific book. ššš
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u/mis_1022 14h ago
Personally I would have him tested for dyslexia and any other reading issue. Maybe the reading is that much more difficult for him and would want him to have every opportunity to do his best.
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u/checkinreviews 14h ago
Even tho he reads while doing the lessons in 100 easy lessons? These are whole paragraphs he can read.
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u/L_Avion_Rose Teacher / Educator š§āš« 13h ago
Dyslexia doesnt always present itself in the same way. Some kids are able to mask their difficulties until texts become too complicated/they need a higher level of comprehension. Some are able to make it all the way to high school without a diagnosis. If your son doesn't progress beyond high-interest books like Dogman, I'd definitely pursue an evaluation.
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u/IndigoTrailsToo 14h ago
Take him to the local library and see if they have any reading programs.
He is not interested in reading because nothing interests him.
Some children never grow a love of reading.
I know that the library has apps to check out and read books on a smart device but I am a staunch believer that going in person is much better, getting a physical book is better, and it gets them off the screen.
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u/checkinreviews 14h ago
We do go to the library. He usually checks out earth science or zoology books. I know he loathes reading. But itās mandatory for life lol not reading books, but just reading in general.
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u/Comfortable_Day2971 12h ago
Does your library or another local one do a Read to The Dog program? That could get him out of a slump maybe.
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u/Puzzled_Internet_717 14h ago
What does he like that's totally separate from school? Get some age and reading-level appropriate books from the library onnthose topics and dive in!
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u/Naive_Development189 Homeschool Parent šŖ 12h ago
I came here to suggest this too! My son will happily sit down with a minecraft-related book for an hour, but a decodable reader or chapter book that he is definitely capable of reading - absolutely not š
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u/Midsummer858 8h ago
Yes, this. If he's into dinosaurs or Minecraft or whatever, library books on that topic will get him further than any lesson book will.
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u/Individual_Duck_9985 14h ago
Second for Dog man for this exact problem. I was hesitant to get him the books because I think theyāre not GREAT literature but theyāve been so great for reading confidence!!!!
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u/twelve-feet 14h ago
Get a set of decodable readers: Scholastic Acorns, BOB books, Now I Can Read (ebook series on Amazon). Your librarian probably has some, or can recommend easy read funny books like Hop on Pop.
What sort of things are you asking him to read? How does it sound when he reads out loud?
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u/checkinreviews 14h ago
Like I said in my post, he can sound out words and he blends them beautifully. He can read entire paragraphs if theyāre in that lesson book. I want him reading in the real world though. Signs, food cartons, random billboards, other books besides the stories in 100 easy lessons. He refuses to try.
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u/Arttiesy 13h ago
This might be a job for video games.Ā "Later Alligator" is a great reading heavy game you could play together- it is not an educational game so he won't feel like it's a lesson.
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u/Nice-Caterpillar-340 13h ago
Just another vote for dogman, cat kid, investigators, cat ninja. They all built up my daughter's confidence and now she's reading chapter books (in addition to graphic novels lol) but I do believe she is dyslexic or at least some level of learning disabilities going on and it was a big struggle even to get her to blend in the beginning. She is just starting 2nd grade now and also 7.
Find books that are fun for him and maybe lower the pressure. That's a big thing for my daughter too, any perceived pressure shuts her right down, any subject lol.
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u/whizki_learning 11h ago
Because he can read whole paragraphs in the lesson book, Iād make the next step recognition without the pressure to perform aloud. Write two familiar package words, such as rice and oats, on separate cards. Set out the matching packages and ask him to place each card beside the same word. Once that feels easy, cover the cards and ask him to find just one of those words while you cook.
Keep it to two matches and stop there. The goal is showing him that a word stays the same across different fonts and places, before asking him to read signs or recipes on demand.
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u/Booknerdy247 11h ago
tv with the subtitles on and muted. Let him read the subtitles and use the context cooks
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u/checkinreviews 10h ago
Weāve always been a subtitle/quiet tv family. Iāve heard itās supposed to help.. lol but this is just how I watch tv bc I canāt hear anything over the ruckus in my house.
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u/Ashtown2016 11h ago
Try short books about things he already loves, like Minecraft, and keep it low-pressure.
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u/Useful-Worry1304 10h ago
I was against comic books as reading but with my 2nd (a boy), they were KEY to him wanting to read and really taking off. He tore through the Bad Guys books but after number 10, they got weird so read reviews on Amazon first. šĀ
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u/Old_Connection8747 14h ago
Use readingeggs.com it's got its own set of books in there too and it's fun interactive
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u/philosophyofblonde 14h ago
He doesnāt want to do it for the same reason adults skip to the tl;dr at the bottom of a reddit post, especially when itās a poorly formatted wall of text with no paragraph breaks. To a kid, every test is a wall of text.
Graphic novels donāt fix that impulse.
You can do popcorn reading together, get a reading ruler, or try to ramp it up slowly with leveled readers that reduce font size and increase words per page incrementally.
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u/checkinreviews 14h ago
It isnāt just chapter books, itās random signs, recipes, searching for a show on YouTube.. his confidence is so low he refuses to even try doing it outside of his lesson book. Even though he has proven he can read with every lesson he has done in that book.
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u/tempestelunaire 14h ago
Did you get his eyes checked? I wonder if he literally has a hard time reading.
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u/philosophyofblonde 13h ago
I mean thatās really more of a parenting situation. Either you push him on trying things outside the lesson book or you let it be for now. Itās likely that he is in fact reading signs and things like that to himself, whether he does it on demand for you or not.
But for the sake of cultivating independent reading, Iād at least do popcorn reading from your read-aloud for at least 10 minutes a day. If you must, offer a sticker for completion. Food bribery also works well in that context. You can time it with designated snack time.
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u/RedCharity3 14h ago
Have you tried something like Bob Books? They are great for building confidence.
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u/checkinreviews 14h ago
We did when he was in kindergarten. I switched to 100 lessons in 1st grade, which he was great at!
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u/RedCharity3 13h ago
I would go back to the Bob Books, or something similar. That will build confidence in that feeling of, "I can read the whole book!" even though the book is small.
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u/Latter-Lavishness-65 12h ago
Is it possible that he isn't reading at all but has memorized the workbook exercises?
Personally at a public school with extreme verbal skills problems with up to 9 hours a week every week of one on one speech therapy pull outs. I memorized tons of things so I didn't look stupid. With real talent in math, I was passed forwards but entered sixth grade unreliable reading CVC words.
I had everyone in the house reading a bit of homework to help me and the school told them they thought I was behind in English but it seemed OK with the pullouts and without speech very hard to test.
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u/checkinreviews 12h ago
No, I donāt think itās memorized bc the lessons do a great job of progressing. Iām sure some words are memorized but there are several he still has to sound out and the stories are different. But I will keep that in mind.
Public school is so bad about pushing kids forward even when theyāre not ready. I passed all of my math classes even though I was very behind in math. Never failed a grade, but definitely should have been held back in math! lol
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u/Latter-Lavishness-65 11h ago
Ok, only wanted to check, as one that did every trick in the book, I would hate for that to be done.
Public school are not all bad but they can't focus on each child the way homeschooling does.
I was in public schools when less that half took algebra one in eight grade. So taking it in 6th grade as independent study in math time by studying the examples in the book was a problem with the reading being so low.
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u/-msbatsy- 14h ago
Dogman and First Cat In Space Ate Pizza was my youngestās gateway to enjoying reading. For my oldest it was playing Animal Crossing and Splitoon. They were motivated by being able to keep up in the game without help.
It may be counterintuitive but maybe a reading heavy video game?
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u/checkinreviews 14h ago
We donāt have any gaming devices besides a pc. I love animal crossing and that sounds like a great idea, but cost a lot of money š„²
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u/SamOhhhh 14h ago
That book does use different font than you see out in the real world. I might type up a passage from the book he likes, or have him copy it in his own handwriting and then read it. Heās already read it so he knows he can.
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u/checkinreviews 14h ago
Iāve had that thought. Like maybe he struggles bc the books font helps?
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u/BotherBoring 7h ago
Does your library have Libby? You can play with font type and size in the app.
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u/Lazy-Ad-7236 14h ago
I have another question, what about with board games? There is a lot of reading in a lot of games. Just for more confidence with reading. Its one reason I was happy my kids got into the PokƩmon card game. LOTS of reading and math. Son's going to regionals this month!!!!
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u/checkinreviews 14h ago
What board games do you recommend? We play snakes and ladders, card games, sorry, trouble.. but none of these you really have to read.
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u/vintagegirlgame 10h ago
Same! With my 6 yo stepson we got 2/3 of the way thru Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and stopped bc he was really starting to hate reading. He did so well in the beginning and asked to do double lessons, but thatās when I was teaching. Then he went for a month to his momās and I think he fought her on lessons so then we lost all momentum. He was fighting the warm ups so hard, but then when it got to the stories he could actually read them well. But anytime we pull out a book he refuses to read, only wants to be read to.
Looking for some games to help make reading fun again. I saw a suggestion here for making post it notes on objects around the house which we had fun making a reading game out of. His birthday is soon so I ordered him Squishyland board game and Blah Blah Blah card game (which is like Uno for phonics, he loves Uno). He has a tablet at his momās so looking into Reading Eggs.
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u/Soilburrow 7h ago
Have family members send him text messages throughout the days! Reading them and texting back was a huge motivator for my kid. Saying āauntie sent you a textā got so much excitement.
ETA- on your phone of course.
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u/BotherBoring 7h ago
Mine felt that way for a long time. They could read, they just weren't enthusiastic about it at all. They got a little older, discovered manga, and now they read recreationally all the time.
If you're not noticing anything wrong with the ability and they're not showing massive signs of dyslexia, I'd leave it alone for a bit. Not everyone reads recreationally and kids need to find their thing. We had to take the pressure off completely.
Notice that that DOESN'T mean we didn't read with our kid, expose them to a variety of literature, or assign them reading to do. But it did mean that we approached it in a way that was more about supporting life goals than the expectation that they would read for fun.
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u/HopefulMeaning777 3h ago
We started with reading early reader books out loud. I think reading beginner books has helped to build confidence. There are Minecraft early reader books that he might enjoy.
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u/AI_spell 1h ago
If he blends in 100 Easy Lessons, the skill is there. The block is performing in real life. Drop the lesson book for a week and do 5 minutes of something he already likes, even a printed Minecraft wiki page. Reward after a page of easy text, not after "reading time." Keep it short so he can win.
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u/Lazy-Ad-7236 14h ago
Graphic novel like dog man got my kids reading when younger.