Classics for 9 yr old boy.
Hello everyone,
I have a 9 yr old boy who I pulled from pubic school in January. I'm affraid he has "a hate of learning" right now and I am attempting to undo this. He is quite stubborn against anything school really. I'm trying to figure out if it's lazyness or as I mentioned above "a hate of learning".
I am trying to get him to love reading but the only things he "wants" to read are the Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Can anyone suggest some better books for him to start with?
I have gotten him Treasure Island, but the new vocabulary stressed him out.
I also got an Eragon book, but he took one look at the thickness and turned his nose up at it too.
Any suggestions would help.
Thanks
~wendy
9yo boy reading
We have always homeschooled and my son likes to read, but I was really struggling with getting him to read books bigger than Magic Treehouse up until the past few months. I had to let him read whatever until he caught the spark on his own. I also had to give in to what I thought was a good book vs. his idea of a good "classic" book. I'm with you, I do not really care for the Diary of Wimpy Kid books. BUT my husband picked it up and read a few pages and was laughing hysterically. Maybe it's a guy thing, I don't know, but it was one book series my boy did get excited about, so I let him read it.
A few books that have gotten him excited in reading:
Calvin and Hobbes
The Percy Jackson series
Anything by Roald Dahl (start by listening to The Twits on CD! It's hilarious and then John wanted to read everything by Dahl)
Spiderwick Chronicles
A couple of things that worked for getting him reading "bigger books" (or better books, however you look at it) was telling him he can watch the movie after he reads the book (this worked for Spiderwick and the new Narnia movies). Also, he really likes to "race" me with some books. He'll read it in bed and then I'll steal it from him and try to read more than he did. It's kind of fun.
One ah-ha moment I recently had was I was reading 'The Number Devil" and started telling my husband and others about it while John was in the room (if I told John about it, he'd say "Great mom" and be done with it). The next thing I know, now he's reading it faster than me! :-) So, there's a lot to be said about taking the lead, talking about it (without the pressure behind the words) and letting him follow.
Anyway, maybe some of this helps . . .maybe not. Good luck! :-)
Julia
Raold Dahl
We liked _Charlie and The Chocolate Factory_, but had mixed feelings about _Matilda_. My then-8-or-9-yodd loved _Matilda_, but she was also having a hard time relating to me. This book did not help. In _Matilda_ the main character has a miserable family and instead of learning to relate to them and trying to strengthen her family, she goes to live with her teacher. Not my idea of a good solution for the average child and the average family.
A new book that might be good...
Julia and anyone else interested-
I was at BJ's yesterday and while there I always roam the book aisle forever. I found hidden in a pile what I thought would be an AWESOME book for my son, who is almost 11.
It is called 'The Middle Ages', and while this is just the topic of this book, the concept of the book looks very cool. There are books on the Civil War, Boston massacre, Revolution, Egypt, Titanic, Pirates, WWII, etc... and it is by You Choose Books. The premise is this...the story is historically accurate however there are three different endings to the stories and at the bottom of certain pages it gives you recommendations on going to a certain page to continue or continuing on in order of pages. For instance with this Middle Ages book, you are one of three people in the story based on what pages you read; a 12th century Knight, a child of the time, or a citizen in Italy trying to survive the Black Plague. Again, they are all historically accurate versions. There is also a glossary, internet links, and reading lists in the back of the books.
They are by Capstone Press at www.capstonepress.com and I am hoping to find more. At BJ's the book was only $4.99.
I hope things are going well
I hope things are going well - it's been a couple weeks since you started this thread.
Couple things that came to mind as I read your post:
*Spend oodles of time outside
*Take him to the library and let him wander around for awhile. Also, don't be afraid of comics - they do get kids reading. My kids love Calvin & Hobbes, Tin-tin, etc. My son likes to read the children's Star Wars books. When your child has developed a hate of reading, you basically have to go back to letting them read anything (that's appropriate) and not worry so much about it's value as being educational.
*I second the idea of playing games. My son loves to play games together - it's good bonding time as well as learning. Almost any game is educational in some way - even if it's just learning how to be a good sport!
You could take a full year off school and, when you started back up, find that your child catches up quickly (within weeks) to where his peers are. Take that time off to learn yourself and set an example of a love of learner!
Good luck!
hate of learning
Bad news: you cannot force him to change his attitude. He has to want to change it before he'll be excited about anything school-related.
Good news: he's at home with you, where he can see your attitude and can learn from your example.
I doubt it would be laziness. More likely he's been trained that any book he expresses an interest in will be dissected and used for reading comprehension questions. Or he's been trained to feel that if he tries new vocabulary and fails, he'll be made to look like an idiot. Or he's been made to keep up with or slow down with his "class", a group that may or may not have common interests with him, a group that may or may not be near his ability level, but with which he certainly cannot have a totally candid conversation about school subjects. It's not cool to be interested in learning for the sake of learning, and it's not safe to look like a teacher's pet, either.
He may need detox time, that is, time to unlearn (think Yoda: You must Un Learn what you have Learned).
Have you read the _Diary of a Wimpy Kid_? Will he tell you what's in it? Will he tell you why he likes it?
It sounds like you don't need more book suggestions. It sounds like you probably need to limit media exposure (so his time is not absorbed in TV or games), go back to your core classic and learn that with him, work on household and routine (my children need to know how to clean and cook by the time they're 14, because they'll be doing dishes and laundry for the rest of their lives--plus I can't run a home school without their help). Then if he's bored, leave books around, mention cool things you've read, work on your education, and enforce rules of polite behavior. Don't let him boss you around; you're the parent. He won't die of boredom. Eventually he will come up with something acceptable to you that he is excited about. Be patient.
Sounds like very good advice.
Sounds like very good advice. I really liek the part about detoxing a bit first.
I tend to read books WITH the kids and honestly the Wimpy Kid books I find a bit absurd. All kids seem to love them though for some reason. From what I have read, you are following around a pre-pubescent boy and his friends through middle school, dealing with bullying, name calling, getting even, and such... I personally don't care for them.
Anyway, just my two cents.
Best of luck as you travel this journey with your son.
Detoxing from math, too
Mymonkeybug, have you thought about detoxing from math, too? You mentioned reading with your children. Do you do math with your children? Do they see you doing math? Do they see you using logical thinking, estimating, counting, looking at spatial arrangements (like will the furniture fit if we move it around)?
There are math games you can play; Uno, Phase 10, Life, Monopoly, strategy games, dominoes (especially if you add up the dots--there are several games that do this). There are lots of math classics; some that have helped us are _Mathematicians Are People, Too_, the Murderous Maths series (very funny and go from very basic to trigonometry), math books by Mitsumasa Anno. There are more listed at livingmath.net.
HFWM- Never really thought of
HFWM-
Never really thought of detoxing from math. I suppose it does seem logical though. I will certainly look at the site and products you suggested and see what we can work on that may help in this matter.