Historical_Spring800

Historical_Spring800 t1_jdy8j3n wrote

That’s great OP. We do a lot of the same things and our raising three avid readers. (The oldest, a teenager, his reading dropped off sharply when he got his first cell phone at age 12 so we won’t be making that mistake again.) Another simple thing people often overlook is to keep televisions and video games out of bedrooms. Our kids are allowed to stay up a half an hour after getting into bed, longer on weekends, and the only thing go do in their rooms is read!

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Historical_Spring800 t1_jdmkbta wrote

I have come across this with school librarians for years at my kids’ elementary school. We took our kids reading into our own hands. I read a ton as a kid so was able to direct them toward my old favorites depending on the kid and their interests and they now find their own books. Everyone gets new books at birthdays and Christmas such as a fancy illustrated Harry Potter for the youngest or a Steven King series for the oldest. My second grader reads at a 6th grade level and tests in the 99th percentile consistently on standardized tests. His teacher still put him in a mediocre reading group because she wasn’t satisfied with his “decoding” skills. My older kids were also forbidden to read beyond a certain level during elementary school but still tested into the gifted classes and thrived in them. I think elementary teachers can only do so much when they have more kids reading below grade level so it is our responsibility as parents to do what we can at home.

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