Does reading the new textbooks before school starts make a child bored in class later?

saffron_pigeon_92794 Jun 2026

The school book kit came on Monday. By Wednesday our 9 year old had read the entire EVS textbook and half the English reader, purely because they were new and he was bored. I'm pleased, but a friend who teaches says this causes trouble later: he'll be bored in class and switch off. Has that been anyone's experience over a full year, not just the first month? Or is it simply what keen readers do and it makes no difference?

4 comments

breezy_paper_45004 Jun 2026
mine did this with the english reader every year. by the time the class reached a story she'd 'already done it'. still listened. mostly 😄
sage_fern_5634 Jun 2026
Our son used to do the same. The only problem we had was that he started correcting the teacher with 'but the book says'. Had to talk to him about that, not about the reading.
- cedar_violin_20554 Jun 2026
  That's the real risk, I think, more than boredom. Our older one did the same, and some teachers liked it and one clearly didn't. We never really settled how much to say to her about it, because we didn't want to teach her to hide what she knew.
fern_bookmark_99224 Jun 2026
Speaking as a primary teacher, a child who has read ahead is rarely the problem. Reading a textbook once isn't the same as doing the activities and the discussion, and most children still enjoy those. Where it goes wrong is when a child decides the class has nothing for him, and that depends more on how it's talked about at home than on the reading itself.
pebble_piano_23135 Jun 2026
My daughter read every new science book in May, every year. She's 14 now, still does it, and it has never caused a problem in class. What I'd watch for is the opposite: once school starts, he may stop reading for fun because reading has become schoolwork. Keep some non-school books lying around.