7 yo not really reading and won't practice of his own accord...

[Fillyjonk]

Ok I admit this is disproportionately driving me up the wall today

He basically says he sees no point in reading and that if it were up to him he'd do all his learning through the tv or computer. This is probably the single comment that puts me closest to sending him to school. 

He thinks reading is too slow and too dull.

He doesn't spend hours in front of a screen. He basically I suppose has free access to both tv and computers with negotiation, if that makes sense. He doesn't get to watch 17 hours straight, nor, if he asks to watch and we have nothing else planned and he hasn't spent hours in front of the screen already, do I say no. He goes days, weeks or months without watching, then he might watch 3 hours straight if he gets into, say, a series on science. So I don't feel its either forbidden fruit or used to excess-he could certainly negotiate for more than he has and I would be comfortable with that. What he really likes doing is playing various small doll games with his sisters, and that would be his preferred way to spend a day. 

The issue, I think, is that he is basically not very good at reading yet. And tbh he has the skills in place, he can sound out words, he knows words, but he won't read of his own accord, and its like pulling teeth to get him to practice with me. He does about 20 minutes a day practice, and that is probably about 16 lines of a Dr Seuss science book (told you it was like pulling teeth). I think he is not becoming fluent because he just will not practice.

I'm trying not to show it, but its utterly infuriating me. I'm NOT saying "for goodness sake, just make an effort". But it does irritate me. He needs to start trying to read or else he's never going to get it, surely. I've been biting my tongue on this for SO LONG thinking, ok, he'll start reading of his own accord, and he just isn't. 

I've done everything I think is obvious. I've bought him really interesting books. I've made reading part of everyday life. He has opportunities to write and email people. We read to him. He spends hours listening to audio books. Dp and I are always reading, there is no chance he's gained from us that reading is not a worthwhile thing to do.

His vocabulary is ridiculously ahead of his reading age, and I don't think he's behind generally-in maths and science I'm pretty sure he's ahead.

Is this a stage? Do they realise the value of reading? it does not help that he has several friends who are younger and fluent readers

[Leersia]

Well, reading when you're not a fluent reader yet IS a lot of hard work and I can see why he would label it slow and dull compared to visual media.  I would just keep trying to help him practice in the most painless way possible (I.e., material of highest interest to him) and I'm betting that he WILL discover books that he wants to read in time. 

My 8.5 y.o. son showed no interest in reading until recently, when it became clear that no one would read Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings to him because they are too scary for his twin brother.  Now his is literally learning to read by sounding out "The Fellowship of the Ring" with help from me or DH. I am still having him practice with some graded readers that we use, which are a breeze in comparison. 

[Smithie]

Does your DS have any reading-based computer games? My personal opinion is that a well-designed reading game builds fluency. They aren't "school," but I don't think they're wasted time either. 

My DS is almost 7 and has recently made a big leap in reading, but prior to that I ditched phonics instruction (boring torture for both of us) and just required the daily Dr. Seuss-level reading aloud and his respectful attention while we read other school books. I read to him a LOT. We don't use screen time for lessons. Screen time is recreation. 

Once the leap happened (and I take no credit, it was some kind of brain-maturity thing) we started leveled readers with chapters, extending his read-aloud projects over multiple lessons, and added the goal of learning something while reading (hard to do with Fox in Socks). This is what we're reading right now: http://www.amazon.com/Who-Was-Charles-Darwin-Was/dp/0448437643/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1296395101&sr=1-1

If this leap hadn't occurred, I'd be reading that Charles Darwin book out loud myself, and DS would probably seek out some related Brainpop and YouTube videos during his hours and hours of free time later in the day. I know that this seems counter-intuitive, but my first thought upon hearing that your DS thinks "reading is pointless" is 1) that he is trying to get your goat  and 2) that the printed word is not not as utterly central is your schooling routine as this particular kid needs it to be. A seven-year-old who is saying "TV" and "school" in the same breath is probably in need of a readjustment - not because there's anything wrong with him or anything wrong with TV, but because we are living in a culture that heavily favors screen-time over page-time, and it's a river that you need to swim upstream against pretty vigorously on occasion. 

[MamaMonica]

I'm closing this since it's a duplicate thread. Please see this thread.