After two years of phonics/reading instruction and her reluctantly (but capably) reading I Can Read books and Easy Readers, she's hooked on The Boxcar Children Books and finally got tired of waiting for me to read another chapter. Tonight I told her she could read in her bed, and since staying up late to read is such a grown-up thing to do (that's what Mommy does, after all), she was thrilled. I was surprised that it didn't really take her too long to read another chapter, and she came out to announce, "You don't have to read The Boxcar Children anymore, Mom. I'll read it every night! And when I'm done with this one, I'll read the first one again, and then you'll have to get more different ones from the library!" Then she told me about the chapter, as I reflected on how easy narration is when she's excited about something. Now I'll just have to figure out how to transfer this enthusiasm to our homeschooling subjects!
I'm still smiling! (And also inwardly rubbing my hands with glee that my subtle plotting and planning payed off. If I can't put down a good mystery, I figured that eventually she wouldn't be able to either. So I planted the seeds with audio books and reading aloud, and then she finally had to find out what happens next and read it herself!)
She's currently reading The Woodshed Mystery (The Boxcar Children Mysteries #7), after we have listened to the audio version or read aloud books 1-6. The Boxcar Children books are not great literature - they're not even great mysteries, though they do promote good values, work ethic, and respect for adults - but if they can make a six year old excited about reading then I'll be glad to stock our shelves with them!
And since this post marks a transition from read-aloud (which obviously won't stop) to read-to-oneself, I'm linking it to Read Aloud Thursday at Hope is the Word.
2 comments:
Oh, happy day!!!!!!! I can't wait 'til my own resident 6-year-old will pick up her own chapter books and read away! I think she CAN, I just don't think she has the stamina for it yet.
Thanks so very much for linking up with your good news!!!
OH THAT'S AWESOME! =D I'm looking forward to that day myself! Well, both kids like to read however we're NOT (emphatically NOT) in favor of chapter books. So...looking forward to that.
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