anyone elses 6 yr old not reading

[mamamoogs]

my 6 year old doesnt read refuses to try to read , we unschool now at this point, because she refuses to do anything with learning involved... any ideas?
we start ccd classes this week and i am afraid she will be the only not reading for her age....

[StrongBeliever]

My six year old son doesn't read... But it's not a subject he's interested in right now, so I don't sweat it. What are CCD classes? I'm not sure what they are, but maybe is she isn't ready to read, she might not be ready for classes that are hinged on her ability to read.

I think that there is a time zone following the failed introduction of a subject( i.e. trying to teach your daughter to read and her hating it) in which that scudgy feeling about structured learning needs to be allowed to wear off. If she's not the kind of kid for sit down reading lessons, and you are happy with the unschool philosophy then it's a battle you don't need to fight.

[midnightwriter]

My 8 yo DD didn't read until she was close to 7. She is reading well now, in two languages (we speak and read both in our family). She resisted lessons or any instructions even when she wanted to learn, and we never pushed.

DS (5.5) is enjoying being taught. Different personalities.

[mamamoogs]

ccd classes are her religion classes required for her to make her sacraments.

My Dh agrees if she is not interested she will not learn, somedays i have thoughts of putting her in school... she is always bored and believe me we go somewhere everyday... I just cant seem to keep her occupied, i feel like I m failing. My Dh feels she would be even worse off in school and we would definitely be gettting calls from the school. So he feels she is better home to learn with us.. she just isnt interested in anything really, i get a bit worried she isnt learning anything some days... She does get out to play with kids a few times a week for a couple of hours, maybe she needs more kid time, there just isnt many around us, we do belong to a co-op every wed and she does ballet on monday and will be doing her religion classes on sunday, we take her and her sister everywhere we go. we just got back from disney world and then off to visit family, we moved here three years ago and i wonder if she is just so homesick, she does ask to go home a lot but we would have next to nothing to do back home i try to explain this to her but she doesnt seem to understand that... sorry to get off topic i am just burnt and feeling overwhelmed right now, and worried i am doing the wrong thing by homeschooling her.

[unschoolinmom]

I actually put a thread about my dd not reading and got some great ideas.

I also found more books from my dd's hero, Fancy Nancy. Every night now, when dh gets home we pretend to tuck him in and she'll read two or three pages to him. She loves when he pretends to fall asleep.

Even tonight, she read some pages to her little brother as he's sick and felt so proud of herself. I had to find a way for her to love reading first and remembered that she's at the age where she wants to do everything on her own. So I gave her something for her to do on her own with her favorite book character.

[Lillian J]

Are you sure she won't do anything with learning involved, or is her resistance really just to orchestrated learning or teaching of what someone else considers valuable to learn? Lots of times, a child might have lots of childlike interests a parent simply doesn't consider important, and all sorts of things get learned through those, but maybe not things that can be recognized as having school value. Many children aren't reading much at age 6 - mine didn't get introduced to reading till he was almost 7 and about to enter a little school where the 1st graders he'd be joining already learned 3 letter words in their kindergarten year there. There will probably be other children in the classes who are not very advanced in their reading skills, but there will probably be reading material coming home that you can read to her.

Lillian

[elizawill]

i'm not an unschooler at all, but i wanted to pop in and tell you that my little boy is 6 1/2 and is just now learning to read. i'm talking very basic CVC words, sprinkled with some sight words (the cat is fat. dad likes sam). he could never actually be expected to read or write for the purpose of a class at his age, seriously... never. when my daughter was 6, she couldn't read either & now she'll be 9 in 1 week and can read anything. don't worry about it at all. when my little girl was involved in choir at age 6, they handed out sheet music with simple lyrics. she just told them she wasn't able to read yet, and they accomodated her completely. i think it is very normal & totally acceptable for a 6 year old to still be in the very beginning stages of *just* learning to read (and that is in reference to public school children or homeschoolers that follow a specific agenda - not unschoolers). i think children that read very well at age 6 should be considered above average for their age....and although it's great for them...it shouldn't be considered the expectation or the norm by any means. no worries, mama.

[Piglet68]

Originally Posted by Lillian J

Are you sure she won't do anything with learning involved, or is her resistance really just to orchestrated learning or teaching of what someone else considers valuable to learn? Lots of times, a child might have lots of childlike interests a parent simply doesn't consider important, and all sorts of things get learned through those, but maybe not things that can be recognized as having school value. Many children aren't reading much at age 6 - mine didn't get introduced to reading till he was almost 7 and about to enter a little school where the 1st graders he'd be joining already learned 3 letter words in their kindergarten year there. There will probably be other children in the classes who are not very advanced in their reading skills, but there will probably be reading material coming home that you can read to her.

Lillian

ITA with this. I find it hard to believe she is not interested in "anything". The number one job of children this age is to play. And not all children are social; my kids like to have many stay-home days because they just really aren't into playing with other kids all the time.

It is possible that there will be other non-readers in the CCD class. Not all kids learn to read in first grade, and of course those that don't start getting the message loud and clear that something is wrong with them, when it isn't. If I were you (and I'm not, so take my advice for what it's worth) I would speak to the CCD instructors and just tell them she isn't reading yet and ask how they will handle this. Hopefully they'll be cool about it, otherwise it's time to advocate.

And by the way, just a gentle piece of advice: the more your daughter becomes aware that you and her dad consider this an issue, the harder it will be for her to come to reading on her own. By pushing it or creating anxiety around it you risk making it an issue for her.

[Pookietooth]

I was wondering about writing == which is harder I think.

[Pookietooth]

Originally Posted by mamamoogs

my 6 year old doesnt read refuses to try to read , we unschool now at this point, because she refuses to do anything with learning involved...

I think you probably mean she doesn't want to sit down and do schoolwork the way it is traditionally taught. Have you tried Bob books? Explode the Code? Just reading to her so she can see what you are reading? If she has any particular interests, have you gotten beginner books about those subjects? If she watches TV, have you gotten any books based on her favorite TV shows? Graphic novels can be good because the words are right next to the pics...

[somanythings]

I have a 6.5 not yet reading...he is in the "close but no cigar" class. Hooked on Phonics made him Irrationally Angry .

[bobandjess99]

My 6 yo is not reading, at least not much, she knows a few words. I think the issue (that i struggling with also right now) is that yes, kids in public school kinder and 1st grade are pushed, pushed PUSHED towards that Holy Grail of READING! So a 6 yo who isn't reading probably will be something of an oddity. I think the hard thing will be moreso for YOU, to stand firm and not be swayed by pressure to "hurry her up" just because of the CCD classes. Remember..not pushing reading is a valid choice.

[4evermom]

I didn't learn to read until I was 6 1/2 (and that was with being in school). I can't imagine that your dd will be the only child in her CCD class who isn't reading. My ds was older when he started reading, closer to 8.

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by somanythings

I have a 6.5 not yet reading...he is in the "close but no cigar" class. Hooked on Phonics made him Irrationally Angry .

Are you sure it wasn't rationally angry? Phonics doesn't make as much sense as people think.

And what is with a lower case L looking the same as an upper case I??? Why do we even bother with upper and lower case?

My ds would like to overhaul the english language and make it more sensible...

[StrongBeliever]

Originally Posted by 4evermom

Are you sure it wasn't rationally angry? Phonics doesn't make as much sense as people think.

And what is with a lower case L looking the same as an upper case I??? Why do we even bother with upper and lower case?

My ds would like to overhaul the english language and make it more sensible...

Good point!

[kathymuggle]

My 7.5 year old is starting to read independantly. She read a book on her own the other day - first book ever!

I do not think it is unusual to for a 6 yr old not to read.

Things that helped:

In our case I tailor made a reading programs that seemed to work with her strengths. Lots of writing, drawing, games and some phonics. I keep this short (under 15 minutes) so she does not become frustrated, turned off, etc. I know this is not US - but whatever. I felt it is important she knows how to read so I took steps in that area. I know myself - if she could not read at 8 or 9 I would feel some anxiety/ a power struggle could develop so I pre-empted it

I upped the amount I read to her. This certainly accounted for much of the jump is skills she has displayed recently. I do ask her to read some of the page - then I continue to read until we both grow bored of the activity. Find very cool books so you will want to read as much as she will.

[Lisa1970]

Mine is not. But he was in public school last year and they said his testing showed him above grade level at the end of the year. So I guess this is normal. I am not worried. None of my older children were reading at 6 yrs old but were in the gifted programs by 3rd and 4th grades. They are both way ahead now and are 14 and 15.

[Lillian J]

Originally Posted by 4evermom

Are you sure it wasn't rationally angry?

Whew - that was close - had fortunately just swallowed the sip of coffee when I got to that. Lillian

[mommabear]

Ds (now 9) wasn't reading at age 6 either, and I was also freaked about what that was going to mean for classes he was interested in. I did some research and realized he was more inclined to sight words (he could identify huge dinosaur words, but words like 'the' and 'was' had absolutely no meaning attached to them, therefore they just didn't register). He is a visual-spatial learner ('right-brained'), and once I realized that, I also started to understand all that he was really capable of, reading-wise. So no, he didn't sit down and 'read', but if he needed to know something, or was looking at a book, he could pick out big words that were meaningful to him. So fast-forward to 9, and he is an unstoppable reader. We never forced the issue, we just kept answering his questions ("What does this say?" etc.) and filled in phonetic gaps when needed. So now he actually does pick up books and sit down and read. He is still more inclined to graphic novels, and other books that have visual clues. Lately he is into the "Warriors" series by Erin Hunter: Dh reads him the novels at night, and ds has some of the mangas and reference books that he reads himself during the day. It is soooooo exciting to see how the process has unfolded.

So I second what a lot of others have said. Make certain it doesn't become a battle, look into her learning style, and just keep reading to her! It will happen!

[bass chick]

Originally Posted by 4evermom

My ds would like to overhaul the english language and make it more sensible...

Me too!!