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My first experience with a reluctant reader was with my second child, our only son. First it was his refusal to learn to read and then after that skill was acquired it was his refusal to read with any amount of willingness. It was a serious problem, both for him and for us.

Thank goodness we have gotten beyond that point. I can remember his tears and anger...as well as my own after he went to bed for the evening. There were days when nothing worked. Both of us, as well as our relationship, began to be strained by the frustration of the whole process and daily battles. We had him tested for learning challenges, with none being found at all. I even considered putting him in public school after wondering if the fault was mine....which only brought me more tears since we had been so successful with our first child.

Then later came the days that vindicated my persistence and my adamant refusal to allow him to "get by." He now reads several grade levels ahead of his peers and does so out of pure pleasure. You rarely find him without a book close at hand. It was all the time and trials in between though that brought us to this point.

I have heard similar stories over and over and felt the need to share some of the strategies that I used with my reluctant reader.

1. A good place to start, and one of the most simple, is to determine what your reluctant reader's special interests are in. At the time, my son was going through a dinosaur craze. I used this as a "hook" to get him to read. Our local university has a science museum that at the time had a dinosaur exhibit. I took him and he had to read the captions, as best he could, under each display. I had him take "notes" by drawing pictures. The next day in school, he made a picture book with short sentences describing our visit to the museum....he thought it was an art project....I thought of it as a breakthrough.

2. My son also enjoyed our family vacations that were primarily taken at National and State Parks. At many of these parks are children's programs. The ones at the National Parks are called "Junior Ranger Programs." Upon completion of activities they earn a badge or patch from that park. Many of these activities require reading of some kind either by completing fill-in-the-blanks, multiple choice, short description, etc. They are often asked to go through the exhibits and be able to answer short questions. My son really loved earning the rewards for this. And, it made it more enjoyable for Mom and Dad as well.

3. History is a good subject to use for reading incentive. Some examples are:

a) Read with your child a biography of a person from a time period they find interesting. Take turns reading paragraphs or chapters. They now have a short biography series that describes the childhood of famous people. My son enjoyed it immensely.

b) After your child reads a book about their chosen time period, allow them to create a diorama of what they have read.

c) Read the directions for a recipe to make a food from the time era that they find interesting. Yes, it's cooking, but it's also reading.

d) An older child might find reading the directions for and then creating fashions from their chosen time period of interest (home ec and reading). This can be either clothes for themselves or for a doll (i.e., Barbie, American Girl, etc.).

e) If you have more than one child, or a play group/co-op, why not put on a play or skit... maybe even one that they wrote themselves...from an historical time period. Create simple costumes and the kids really get a bang out of it.

There are many ways to work on history projects and incorporate a little reading. The point is to make it interesting so that they are inclined, rather than forced, to read.

4. My kids really enjoy science experiments. The catch here is that they have to read and follow the directions precisely to create the desired effect. One of the books that I use most often for this is called "Super Science Concoctions" and is a Kids Can! book by Jill Frankel Hauser. It has 50 fun activities that have easy directions in a fun format. Older kids would probably enjoy "200 Gooey, Slippery, Slimy, Weird, & Fun Experiments" by Janice VanCleave as well as the other books in her science experiments series.

5. A nature journal is another good hook for reading. Give them 10 - 30 minutes per day to draw something they see in their environment and write a short description of it. Or, have them research a broad topic....such as plants, animals, birds, fish....and create a journal page for different species or varieties of what they are studying. Maybe even narrow it down to species or varieties that would be found in your own area (which would require more research and reading).

6. Another science hook would be to study a particular scientist and then try and recreate some of their basic experiments. There are several good biographies and simple science experiment books on such scientist/inventors as Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Alexander Bell, Thomas Edison, and even Einstein.

You can also incorporate all the above activities into a unit study approach. Pick a topic that you and your child will find mutually interesting (if possible ^_^ ). There are several websites out there with unit study ideas and even suggestions on how to create your own study. Basically you bring in all the basic subjects (reading, math, science, spelling, etc.) under one interest.

Let's use "birds" as an example. A) create a nature journal as in suggestion #5 above. B) Do some arts and crafts projects using bird feathers. C) Research flying and build a model airplane (there are some good books on paper airplanes out). D) Do some actual bird-watching activities using an bird identification manual. E) Watch videos on birds. F) Find out about extinct bird species and why they went extinct. G) Take a trip to a local zoo or bird sanctuary and then put it in the nature journal or write a report on the visit. H) Find out how long various migration routes are. I) If the child was a bird, what kind of bird would he be and why? J) Visit the Audubon Society's website. etc. etc. etc. All of these activities require reading...just in differing formats and amounts.

The bottom line is to be creative. Grab their attention through one of their personal interests. But, start small and work up. You didn't give your baby solid food first. Nor did they exit the womb saying Momma and Daddy. It will take time to banish the reluctance of a reluctant reader.

Other "hooks" you can use are joke books, fictional series that use the same characters through several books, cook books along with grocery planning and budgeting issues for older children, car repair manuals for sons into the cars and as daily life skills for girls, books on gardening, boy and girl scout handbooks, and books pertaining to a child's specific interests or hobbies.

You may never be able to get your child to "love" reading; but hopefully you can defuse the "battle mentality" they get at the very mention of it.

Copyright 2001 Kathryn Martinez. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

About Kathryn Martinez: I'm a SAHM, home schooling mother of 4 children, 1 husband, and a neurotic cat. This is our sixth year of home schooling. I worked for over 10 years at USF in an education and training department. I hope that by sharing my experience with other home schoolers, both the new and the not-so-new and those just considering home schooling, I will pass along all the help that was given to me when I first started out.

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