trying to interest my son in reading

I'm trying to get my 8 yr old son to be a better reader and to read more. I asked him if he wanted to write down the books he reads and hang it on his wall. I was thinking about having the papers in either leaf shapes to make a tree, stars, or like a worm to see how big it becomes. I'd like some other ideas not just to get him into reading but for the designs. We live in a trailer so space is limited and I also have a 3 yr old boy so it'd have to be up high out of his reach so that he doesn't tear it down.

You could have boxcars on a train, cars on a road, houses in a village, or segments on a snake. You can make die-cuts at your local scrapbook store for not much $$$.

Your worm idea is great. I think you're going to have to find a series he really, really likes. My 8yo son wasn't crazy about reading until he discovered Horrible Harry and then zowie! Go to the library yourself and test out books from a lot of different series and see if you can find something well written that might appeal to him. Good luck!

For the motivational stuff, you could add something to it, like when he gets 20 segments he gets a treat of some sort.

One thing I found worked well with my son was to read chapter books with him at night; we couldn't get through the whole thing in one night so he started reading them himself to find out what happened....

But mostly I agree with the poster above -- the best thing for the boys is just to find a series they love and then watch them go at it.

My 7.5 yr old likes a few fiction series, but generally prefers non-fiction and semi-comic style books. For example the You wouldn't want to be series. So my advice would also be to try lots of different types of books.

I. Was thinking maybe start out with a paper chain and remove a link whenever he reads either a book or chapter -whatever you decide. Then maybe let him choose something special to do-a trip to the library maybe- when all the links are gone?

Just have to agree with #3, having brought up a non-reading son myself. Good for you to go to the trouble of wall charts etc but no amount of these will compensate for your son having to read books thast don't interest him. Many boys seem to prefer non-fiction so it might be worth hunting down books that talk to him about other hobbies or interests or, better still, books that show him how to do something he's always wanted to do. Good luck!

I agree with everyone else. You just have to try to find the books that really interest him. It took me forever to make my son a reader but we finally found a series that he liked and then two and then three. He's 14 now and an avid reader

I wonder if he might like the Origami Yoda books or the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, which are all the rage.

Try good audiobooks for him to read along to. The Andy Griffiths audiobooks have wonderful sound effects to add to the listening experience.
I agree about finding a series book that he likes - there are so many out there.

I hope these tips are not irrelevant, For a starter,you can read this article in the internet,it is very informative and useful to young parents to motivate a child to enjoy reading.

http://childhood101.com/2010/11/10-ways-to-motivate-your-child-to-love-reading/

http://www.meddybemps.com/7.24.html

(depending on the child's age )

Motivations: Types of reward to give your child as he progressing his reading skills and the number of books he had read are subjected to your preferences of reward - monetary.outings,gifts

If a child goes to a regular day school, he will have better exposure to a school library and socially with his peers. Home education requires more stringent discipline and the viable environment and atmosphere(setting) to read.

I will motivate and keep monitoring of a child's reading progress by having a small bookcase/or box
for his books to keep after reading
.
To start, I will bring the child to a nearby bookstore or public library, let him pick the type of books/book titles, he like to read with my supervision and guidance.

Old greeting cards can also be used to decorate liked a tree with written notes on the blank space - these cards you intend to dispose.

Space restricted:

I will have a scrap book or a notebook/diary for a child to write/draw his notes about every book he had read.

Let him write by himself and dated his notes.I will review his scrap book together with him
and at the same time encourage and motivate with sincere compliments.He will learn to be self reliance and independent.

Note: Disregard these tips if they are not useful.

You could get him on Biblionasium.com (the kid's equivalent of this site) ...

Not sure if you're still hunting for ideas, but I thought I'd mention a couple that I used with my nephew.

We joined the local library. In the summer break, they run a challenge for kids to read six books while they're off school - it doesn't matter what type of book - fiction, non-fiction, comic style, chapter, even the very simple early readers for those just starting. Each time they return the book, they tell the librarian something about it and get a sticker to put on a wall chart - if they get through six, they're awarded a medal. It would be worth asking if your local library does something similar (for us joining the library and joining in with the challenge costs nothing).

Our local library also invites in children's authors, story tellers and illustrators. This summer we went to see Shoo Rayner, who is both an author and an illustrator. He told the children a bit about coming up with ideas (finding gone off pizza in the back of a fridge if I remember rightly) and then told them one of his latest stories which was about a 'pizza monster', he then led all the children in drawing their own pizza monsters. My nephew loved it and was brimming with excitement to tell his parents and grandparents about it when he got home and show them his own 'illustration' - he'd never read any books by Mr Rayner at that point. There is a bit of a 'buy a book' at things like that, but it's not obligatory and the actual session was free.

Also by using the local library, each time my nephew chose a book for himself, he would choose one that he was going to read to his younger sister (she's only 2 but likes it when he sits to read a book to her with bright pictures and it does wonders for his confidence because he's 'good' enough to read to her without stumbling over the words as he might do in a book that he picked for himself). This summer for himself he got into The Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne - these are early chapter books where the characters time travel to a different period of history in each book. He loved the Horrid Henry books by Francesca Simon and has started on Andy Stanton's Mr Gum series for him to read a chapter or two with his mom at bedtime. Roald Dahl is another favorite.

You may want to try The Ricky Ricotta series. It also may be fun to build a tower of legos, one block per book he reads or placing marbles in a jar for each book he reads. Check out http://www.arbookfind.com for more books ideas. Search by reading level, interest level, subject for a list he can browse and choose from.

honeydew69862004 Just in case you're still checking in here - how are things going? it's been over a year now since your original post and I'd love to hear if any of the suggestions have been of any help.