He doesn't particularly enjoy being read to. He likes a bedtime story, but could do without reading throughout the day. It's hard to find a book that captures his attention, and I haven't really found a particular theme that will consistently work. He does tend to be more interested in science books, so I do tend to choose those. We are very lucky in that our library has subject packets for homeschoolers that include 3-7 books on the same topic, sometimes with other tools for learning. But it's hit or miss. I got a packet on music that he's not that keen on. But he does show interest in the Titanic one.
He really likes to do science experiments, especially ones that are explosive (baking soda and vinegar). Those can occupy his attention for long periods of time, but some experiments are pretty much 5 minutes of preparation, then 30 seconds and it's over.
With regard to reading, I've been looking into it and have heard from parents that it is kind of a developmental milestone that all kids reach at different ages. But once it clicks, it clicks. That made me relax a bit. He's actually really good with individual-letter phonics, but can't blend them together to recognize a word. For example, he can say cuh-aaa-tuh, but not recognize it as "cat". Some of the visual-spatial resources have said that VSLs do better with learning sight words first, so we've created a "word box" with words that have meaning to him (booger and Gangnam Style, for instance).
I struggled with him not reading and not having an interest in books for awhile because I was a gifted child who taught myself to read at 3 or 4 and was reading extensively by first grade. I love reading and always imagined myself reading a lot with my kids. But that doesn't happen with my son. Since hearing from other parents that the children tend to just get it when they're ready, I've eased up.
It just seems that the homeschooling would go so much more smoothly if he was able to read independently. We have a 14 month old as well, so it's hard to give DS such undivided attention all the time.
