He'll read about sharks for an hour but won't open the class reader

pebble_quilt_93372 Oct 2026

My son is 8. Give him anything on sharks, volcanoes or space and he disappears into it, I have to call him three times for dinner. The book from school for the weekly reading log? Untouched since Monday. It's a perfectly nice story, he just isn't interested. The log needs a few lines about the book every Friday and that's turned it into homework in his head. I don't want to make reading feel like a test when he enjoys it otherwise. Enthu cheyyum? Do I push the class book or let him read what he likes and fill the log with that?

3 comments

pebble_moon_68152 Oct 2026
My son is six, so the logs have only just started for us and I can't speak from long experience. One thing I would do before deciding is ask the teacher whether the log has to be about the class reader specifically. Ours said any book was acceptable; it simply wasn't mentioned anywhere until someone asked. Is it written on the log itself?
willow_notebook_12512 Oct 2026
the log is what kills it. my daughter liked the same series until she had to write three lines about it every friday. we asked if she could tell the teacher about the book out loud instead. got a yes for one term, after that the lines were back
willow_window_95756 Oct 2026
Grandson also 8. What I do: read the first chapter of school book aloud with him, slowly, with voices. If the story catches, he continues alone. Sometimes it doesn't catch and that's fine, we go back to his insects book.