ElizabethN - Lol. I'm really "lucky" in that of the 42 neuropsychs, half of them are in our province, so chances of getting to see one (for us) are better than average. haha. But - if I hadn't had you all point me in that direction I wouldn't have ended up getting that million to one chance, you know?
bluemagic - his best friend is reading all the HPs, and loves to play at "dueling", so he keeps starting and trying to read it, but then I think his eyes just get tired - his first comment when he opened book 1 was that the text was way too small. (I saw recently that they've brought out an illustrated version of book 1, and this is on my Christmas list for him).
Reading the larger books is not something I've pushed (except where it's for the reading bingo for school, but for those we generally take him to the library or a book shop and let him pick a book that he wants to read that meets the criteria - it was just this time he wasn't with me, but he loved the movies so I thought he'd enjoy it, and he seemed to, but did the weird skipping thing) - he's gone through a number of Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, but I also think he's been skipping pages there, I don't think he's read the whole book.
It also now makes me wonder about the Roald Dahl's he's read, though I have to say that with those his comprehension seemed somehow better? Maybe the grade level/text size was just the right combination at the time?
He begged for a science textbook at a homeschooling expo we went for, which we got for him as it was layed out really nicely, almost like Ripley's / Guinness book of records with small chunks of info that he's enjoyed reading because he can read 2 paragraphs and get something from it and not feel he has to finish the chapter.
But I'll definitely use your tip in terms of building comprehension, thanks so much!
Oh - yes! I read with the kids every night as part of the bedtime routine, have done since DS was tiny. I will confess this has generally fallen away at the moment for DS as we've gone through a patch of longer homework/busier days/later bedtimes etc, so probably for the last month he's been reading on his own while I get the girls settled into bed, then we've just been doing prayers and a song... I'll revive this.
For homeschooling next year I very much want to let him go with his interests at whichever level he wants - as long as he's reading and enjoying it (which, for the most part, he seems to be), I'm not really phased about reading level - not in terms of my child HAS to be reading at X level by Y time type thing. More just a "why is my child reading at this level but struggled with comprehension and paragraph writing at this level?"
Thanks so much for all the input and advice... I'm trying to track down a neuropsych not too far from us, but will also ask for recommendations with the Mensa-associated psych who did DS's IQ assessment.
