He has had the first 5 books of the Zac Powers series on the bookshelf since his birthday. I'd been waiitng until he was reading more fluently before pulling them off the shelf. I also have never seen a Zac Powerbook so I had no idea what they were like and what level the reading was at. All I knew for sure was that they certainly weren't going to win any Literature Prizes any day soon. Truth be told that was also one of the reasons why they have sat on the shelf for this long.
There's always been this part of me that has struggled with the kids reading 'twaddle' and how that relates to watching tv, as in kids that watch tv don't read (I know not necessarily true and a very broad generalistion and not something that I have said) and kids that read 'twaddle' 'dumbed down' or plain 'easy' reads won't ever want to pick up good books of any great literary quality. I have read this several times online and have also been told this by well meaning homeschooling parents.
You know what, at nearly 8 1/2 I don't care what he is reading (well within reason) just the fact that he is reading and reading chapter books and carrying them around withhim to read, reading in the car, reading before going to sleep at night, just reading....YIPPEEE...
Over Easter I decided to grab one of the books to read to B, after opening it I quickly realised that he could probably cope with the book. I made that suggestion to him and just left it at that. Later that night he grabbed the next book and began, we went out the next morning and he was reading the book in the car.
So yes I am one very happy, very proud mamma and he is one very happy boy because he now knows he can do it!
6 comments:
Congratulations, Kylie/Mom! Isn't that great?! And now you also know just how much a simple suggestion from Mom to her son means! (I don't know anything about these books, But your placing excellent reading "on the shelf" and making a suggestion here and there, may influence him in the future, too.) Isn't it wonderful to be the one to teach your children to read and introduce them to really great books?! I'm so happy for you both! Reading is one of the truly great achievements, and pleasures, in life, in my opinion.
Blessings,
Wendy
Faith's Firm Foundation
www.wendygunn.net
Kylie,
You have the Sunshine Award waiting for you over at my blog! You have truly been a ray of sunshine, since I met you not that long ago:) I appreciate your smile, which I can feel all the way through the computer!
Blessings,
Wendy
Faith's Firm Foundation
www.wendygunn.net
I'm with you Kylie, when they're just starting out ANY reading is GOOD reading! There will be time for literature and 'hard reads' later on, or we can read them TO the kids and share OUR love of the book with them.
Later, when they've developed skill at the mechanics of reading, they'll hopefully benefit from our exposing them to the finer things... but for now...I'm not complaining if my kiddo wants to read Captain Underpants (ok, seriously, we don't actually OWN those books. But I do wait for the day when he MUST have them from the library LOL)
I agree - its so exciting when they start reading on their own that I really don't care what they read! We do a lot of read-alouds of better quality stuff, and he listens to audio books, so I think that helps whet the appetite for when they can handle the books. That's the theory, anyway!!
I know some people have a problem with the "twaddle." I myself wanted my children reading "decent" books. But I recently read "The Read Aloud Handbook" by Jim Trelease and I have had to rethink some of my beliefs. It's great that he is reading, isn't it. It took forever for my children to develop a love of reading and it took books I wouldn't have really wanted them reading to do it.
I also wanted to mention I am having trouble getting the blog hop link to work, I mean to put the list of blogs in my post. It won't let me copy it by highlighting like it used to. Please help if you can.
Thanks for your thoughts ladies, much appreciated.
kewkew - I don't know LOL sorry hopefully it is just a bug since their updates and will iron itself out for next week.
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