Thursday, October 2, 2008

Homeschool Tales

My sons have never been very good readers, there I said it, out there for the whole world to see. At least thats what I thought until recently. My oldest has struggled for years with tracking issues and with a general fear of reading. That stint in the special reading class at school did not help him at all! He had a teacher who called him bad names and told him he was just stupid. But I digress.

I myself, love to read. Anything, Everything, Everywhere. So it has been with some surprise that my, not to interested in reading, sons have miraculously started reading. Not just because as part of their homeschooling, I demand that they read, but because they actually seem to be enjoying their books! Who woulda thunk it??

Tyler is currently reading "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch", and Mason is heavily involved in the lastest Hardy Boys adventure. And I am one very happy momma. This summer I purchased several paperbacks through Amazon to have in case someone caught the reading bug, and it looks like it took. The library is nice, but I wanted the kids to read for the enjoyment of reading without deadlines or the worry of overdue fees. So this has been working pretty well. I must go now. Where did I put my book???

8 comments:

Sabriena said...

I love your last two sentences. "I must go now. Where did I put my book?" Hehe! Glad that your boys are more interested in reading now. One thing about reading is that it will help you throughout your life (different reasons every time).

Mom of 3, Aunt of 16 said...

I'm glad to hear that. We've thought about having our oldest daughter put into a special class. Fortunately it looks like she's doing better this year.

Statistics to Share said...

I was so happy to read your first couple sentences. I read constantly to my daughter - and myself and her older sister are avid readers. (Our family is split with readers - it's either a love or hate thing.) She loves loves loves books and stories and is always making up stories but has this fear of reading - or failing at reading (which I blame on two of her teenage brothers and sisters for teasing her for not being able to read). She's very reluctant to read and way below grade level. And ironically, her comprehension level is very high. Anyhow, I'm rambling. This does not sound right at all - but I was glad to hear your son had difficulty reading I just bought the same book (Mr. Bodwith or whatever it's called) because we were concentrating on "water" studies and Nancy Drew has been a favorite of hers for a while. Hoping that someday she'll feel motivated to try some harder words. She gets so frustrated with books at her level because they're not interesting. Of course, everyone blames her reading on my homeschooling. (If she was in school, would they blame the teachers?) I know I'm doing the right thing and have no doubts whatsoever - but it's a very frustrating issue with me. Love to hear more on how it goes in the future!

JoAnn said...

Stat--don't get too frusterated with your daughter. Keep reading to her and she will read in time. My oldest is 14 now. This is the first year he has really taken to reading.

Trina said...

Ohhhh reading! Yes, we have had our children who took to it late as well, but then loved to read certain types of book and became hooked.

Den is a big time reader, and I like to read, but its not my love. It has to be something Im really interested in. Now I love to spell, hahaha Im sure that is for a therapist to figure out since its a bit of an oxymoron. Den loves to read and is horrible at spelling. I love to spell and am so-so about reading. Anyway, because of my low zeal for reading as a past time I have always been pretty laid back about the whole thing. I figure it comes once they find something to read that they love.

There is nothing like seeing your child excel at something, and reading is a great thing to excel in. Congrats Homeschool Mama!!!

meNmykids said...

Good job! They're smart guys, they'll continue to do great.

Amber Lois said...

That is really cool

Tish said...

I'm glad that your boys have finally gotten interested in reading. I too, love to read. Sometimes it gets me into trouble! I have a hard time putting a book down when I'm really interested in it; so other things get neglected. Christian is just starting to read (he's in first grade) I think he's doing pretty good. From volunteering in his classroom I know that he's doing better than a lot of his classmates. A few of them don't even know how to recite the alphabet! It's hard to tell if he's real interested in reading yet. We'll see.