Kid Scoop Reluctant Reader

     What do you do with a child who teaches herself to read fluently before she's five years old...

...but at age 9 still prefers to read "picture books" that are quick and easy reads?

     What if this child has a wide vocabulary and can spell well?

     What would cause a child to prefer very short books over chapter books?  Even those chapter books with a high interest level?

     That was my younger daughter, Brittany.  She loved reading, as long as the book was short and sweet.  Even though she had the reading ability to easily read quite lengthy chapter books, she usually became tired of what she was reading, so during our trips to the library to check out books, she would want to browse only the picture books section, or finally, the Easy Readers. 

     Sigh.

     I tried a lot of different things to help her get over this little hang-up.  We listened to lengthier stories on audio CDs to help her attention stay with a story a little bit longer.

     I would check out books that I thought had a higher interest level for her, and I would read the first chapter or two, just enough to get her "hooked" on the story enough to want to stick with the book to the last page.

     Finally, after five years of her being able to read well but not liking to read chapter books, I chose that summer to enforce "required reading" times.  I picked out a couple of books from the library, and I required her to choose a comfy spot to sit and read one chapter of one of the books.  After a couple of weeks of reading one chapter per day, Brittany had finished her first CHAPTER BOOK!  Hooray!  I was so excited, and she received lots of hugs and accolades that day to encourage her finishing her first "big" book!  She was even pleased with her accomplishment!

     I continued to check out books that were along her line of interest, or favorite authors she was enjoying, and by requiring her to read a chapter a day (or most days) during that summer, she finally began to fall in love with reading lengthier books.

     When school began that fall, we began having the girls go to bed earlier than normal, by just a bit, so they could read in bed on their own for 10-30 minutes after we tucked them in.  She began to look forward to this reading time, and she even became upset on the nights when they got to bed too late to stay up and read.

     I think if I'd had something like this Reluctant Reader Solution, we might have been able to work through this transition time a bit quicker. 

      Five years is a bit long to transition from being able to read fluently out of my Bible to a chapter book! 

     As a member of the TOS Crew, I recently received a free subscription of the Reluctant Reader Solution to use in our home with the girls. 

     The Reluctant Reader Solution is a two-part product.  It contains a 12-month subscription to an online, full-color, high-interest magazine for kids, and it also includes an eBook of PDF files containing 365 little unit studies for children to either do together or on their own.  If you have ever seen the "Newspapers In Education" columns in your local newspaper, then you will be familiar with some of the material that can be found in the Reluctant Reader Solution. 

     The online monthly magazine is definitely written at a "high interest" level.  Topics are chosen carefully to help children look forward to reading each month's issues.

     The 365 unit studies (about 5-6 pages in length in PDF files) are in a black-and-white format for easier printing.  They contain reading sections on a high interest topic, games and puzzles, math, science, and other activities that revolve around that particular theme. 

     My girls would agree with me that at their ages of 11 and 13, they are a bit too old to fully appreciate this product.  However, a few years ago, they would have been much more delighted with the kinds of activities and reading that are found in these little unit studies. 

     Reluctant Reader Solution has lots of color and bold graphics in its online newspaper format, so for children who struggle with the distraction of color and bold graphics, you may want to consider this and keep it in mind.  We liked it, but we also don't have some of the distractible challenges that some students have.  In some of the black-and-white PDF unit studies, I did find a few typos including misspellings and grammar/punctuation, but they were few in number, and most books and curricula these days contains errors like this.  It wasn't something that was distracting to me, because it was infrequent enough, but I thought I should mention this anyway.

    Reluctant Reader Solution offers a 365-day unconditional "money-back guarantee" to all those who purchase this program (cost is $97).  Here is their guarantee: 


     "Try out the Reluctant Reader Solution in your home or classroom. Put it to use with the reluctant reader in your life. If you don't get measurable results — meaning if your child doesn't start enjoying reading more, and actually start reading on his own — I'll refund every cent of your investment with no questions whatsoever. I'm only happy if you get outstanding results, so I'd gladly offer you a refund if that doesn't happen."


      That means that there is no risk involved in purchasing the Reluctant Reader Solution. You get 365 days of exciting activity sheets plus 12 months of Kid Scoop online, all for the risk-free investment of only $97.

     Kid Scoop also has a free sign-up on their website for you to receive 30 fun activities over a 30-day time period via email.  You may sign up for this at Kid Scoop. 

     You may also sign up for their free e-Scoop, a free weekly kids' newsletter HERE.

     If you have a child who is a reluctant reader, you may want to consider using Kid Scoop's products, including their Reluctant Reader Solution.  It could be just the kind of thing that your child needs to get over the hill and begin to want to read on his own.  And if you find that it doesn't work, you can use their money-back guarantee.  It's a win-win situation!

Disclosure:  I received a free subscription to Reluctant Reader Solution from Kid Scoop for the purpose of using it with my children and then providing you with my opinion about this product.  No other compensation was provided.

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