At age 8, my son was not interested in reading independently. He could read a few easy reader books with help, if I suggested it, but he really wasn’t interested, and much preferred that I read aloud to him instead. He wasn’t ready to read on his own until age 10. Several years later now, he reads a lot – as much as and as well as his friends who were reading much earlier. It just took time for him.
A few books and resources that were helpful to me along the way:
Learning at Home: A Mother’s Guide to Homeschooling by Marty Layne – Layne writes about her children’s different processes of learning to read, with a focus on one of her sons who learned to read at age 12.
Growing Without Schooling: A Record of a Grassroots Movement by John Holt – In this book, Holt describes several ideas for helping children read, as well as how one principal supported the emergent reading skills of his students.
Guerrilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School by Grace Llewellyn and Amy Silver – This book offers encouragement to help us relax about the natural process of learning.
Learning to Read Naturally Accounts of unschoolers and how their reading developed, collected by Sandra Dodd
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