[Oz-gifted] Encouraging active participation

[Lisa]

Ellen Hrebeniuk wrote:
> WRT taking readers home:  see whether you think this is a battle 
> worth fighting.  What is the reason for the rule?  Perhaps the school 
> just doesn't have enough books?  Or perhaps there is no reason, and 
> you could say, well, my son is already reading at Year 2 level; can't 
> he be rewarded for his efforts?
>   
We're past the 'taking home readers' stage, though I don't remember it 
fondly.
We've also suffered the 'you can't borrow that book from the library 
because you're not old enough' stage (and I sort-of accepted the 
explanation that they were concerned more about appropriateness of 
content than reading age, and gave the book to DS from my own 
bookshelf/library).

But after the take-home readers (at our school) comes the homework sheet 
with the 'please have your parents sign here that you've done your 15 
minutes reading each day'. This stage is just annoying.

I mean, my kids (and probably all of yours) READ. They read in the car, 
they read during meals, they try to sneak-read after bedtime on school 
nights. We have more trouble *stopping* them from reading to get some 
sleep (or get dressed, or eat, or all those other boring chores).
I don't *time* them for 15 minutes each night, and their reading is not 
associated with homework, so I *never* remember to sign their homework 
books.
And then the snarky note comes home from the teacher- "Please remember 
to do your reading".
So I drag out the homework book, scrawl the title of the current book, 
and write something absurd like "up to page 250, and I wasn't timing".

You'd think they'd learn. But no. A few weeks later, I am again being 
berated by the teacher for not *making* my child complete the obligatory 
15 minutes per night.
Sigh.
Here endeth the rant

Lisa