How to Raise Boys That Read

I’m homeschooling two boys and I’m trying to raise boys that read. Someone posted this on the Well Trained Mind forums: How to raise boys that read This article talks about the gap in reading levels between boys and girls. In order to get boys reading you see an explosion in boy geared series involving gross bodily functions ie. Captain Underpants and the Butt book series. I live in a houseful of boys, I know first hand how much they enjoy pointing out what gross bodily function was emitted from their body and then talking about it anytime anything remotely related to it comes up.

The only thing M1 took away from our muscles unit is the word gluteus maximus which is still repeated around here every so often. I’m sure if I let him he would enjoy these books himself but I’m not really sure what he would gain out of it considering it is something he talks about almost everyday with his brother. Do we really need to read about? I consider all boys an expert in this field from my toddler to my significant other, they really don’t grow out of it, and it’s ingrained in their genetics and passed along to each generation. I read good literature to my boys in hopes that they will pick up new vocabulary and grammar and hopefully put that to use in their own writing. I also have to limit their screen time, if I let him they would sit there in front of the TV all day like zombies or playing video games. Right now they get 30 minutes in the morning, we’re not morning people and need some chilling out time before we start our day. Then another 30 minutes at night which is usually a magic school bus or Bill Nye episode. On the weekends they get a movie. M1 also gets 30 minutes of video games on the weekend each day and 30 minutes of educational games on the weekdays probably 3 times a week. This is what works for us. While we’re at the library M1 still chooses Berenstein bear or Curious George books which I don’t think he would be into if he was in PS. I see other children that are past the cartoon stage at this age and they’re watching Hanna Montana, iCarly, or whatever other shows are out there, but he has not been interested in those yet and I don’t thing he’s missing out on anything. There’s an innocence that I like to preserve in my children and I hope it lasts as long as it can. M1 still believes in Santa so I don’t know how long that will last, my brother almost burst that bubble last year but then said he was just joking. You should have seen M1’s face, it changed in demeanor so quickly like his world was caming to an end. I love the last line of this article “I offer a final piece of evidence that is perhaps unanswerable: There is no literacy gap between home-schooled boys and girls. How many of these families, do you suppose, have thrown grossology parties?” I’m not sure what a grossology party is but I don’t plan on having one considering my day is filled with enough gross boy stuff without having to make an effort to bring it into my day. Did I mention I would enjoy having a daughter so I could have someone to play with a large doll house and have a tea party? I really don’t see that happening so I will forever be into fighting monsters and bad guys with our make shift weapons made out of blocks or pieces of our train tracks. Oh boy!

 Weapons of choice a sword, clubs, and automatic weaponry…oh my!