Man tonight was a reminder of the struggles we had with Milo in school. He is so smart but he really struggles at reading! He is so different from Marlee. She took to reading right away and still really enjoys it. Not Milo. Not. At. All.
He just finished up first grade and he finished on a high note. He isn’t behind in his class but he has a long way to improve. He struggles with his confidence a lot and that affects his reading. Each time we set him down to read with him, it is a constant battle. Even after scouring book stores and the library to find something, ANYTHING, that would interest him!
Tonight was no different. I am not going to lie, we have struggled this past month to keep up with our goal of keeping the kids ‘in the school mind’. Of course we want them to have fun and make memories. But we want them to keep reading so they are ready for school in the fall. We are through baseball now so we have no more excuses!
I sat Milo down after dinner this evening and had him read to me. Lord, this is a true test to my patience! I understand his struggles but there are times that he tries to read ahead and just makes up words. Or there will be a name that will be hard to pronounce and after the 2nd or 3rd time of him sounding it out and me explaining it to him…he should be able to recognize it in the story. He will do great for a page or two, then revert back to struggling.
The worst is watching him get frustrated. I think this is in part because he isn’t very good at it but also in part that he has zero interest. He wants to be outside. So most of the time, halfway through, he gets mad, tears up, covers his face and we have to walk away for a few minutes.
One thing we do, that we find that really helps, is consistently reading with him. Every night, before bed, he reads to at least Erik or I. A lot of these nights he won’t even argue with us when it is time to read. That must be a step in the right direction, right?! I mean, look at this face!
But in our slacking off, he is slipping back to dreading it. We must persist!! I think if we could find some stories he would be more excited to read! Do you anyone have any tips on how to get him interested?
