Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Reading Progress

We've hit a slight bump in the road with our young scholar Jake. He sometimes says he doesn't like reading. You can imagine the response that elicits in a home filled with readers: "That's not true!" "Of course, you like reading!" "Want help finding a good book to read?" "Want to come and read next to me?" "What don't you like about reading?!" We are horrified by such a declaration and we are working hard to change his viewpoint.

I think part of the problem is that his older brother and his twin sister intimidate him with their over the top reading habits. If you can't keep up, why even enter the race? (Because it's not a race, Jake!) Also, Jake is always losing track of his book. When he goes to find his book, he gets distracted and then no reading is done. Life has too many distractions for our young Jakie.

Viva reads everything in sight: comic books, chapter books, picture books, nonfiction books, Bentley's books, her books, Jake's books, books on the shelves downstairs. She rereads favorite books; she loves to read! I suspect that she skim reads (bounces over unknown words), but she can tell you the stories she reads in detail, so who am I to criticize her style of reading? She has an awesome vocabulary (for a six year old). Unlike her brothers, she has no interest in keeping a list of all the books she's read. 

Bentley gets up an hour or more before the twins and he often spends that time reading. He keeps a book with him throughout the day and reads when he has free time. Bentley reads without being asked to. He is a fast, focused reader. He will read more than one series at a time--alternating between them. He does not like scary books. He does not like books that are 500 pages long with small print. (Neither do I!)

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