Just wondering if I have free reading time, should I pick the books or let it really be "free". My child would choose box car children or encyclopedia brown - something like that. He would not choose harder literature if he had a choice. Do I let it be "free - pick from this pile" or "free-pick whatever you like"? What do you all think?

Thanks, Deb

It depends on your goals. If your goal is for the child to enjoy reading and to develop additional fluency, then I'd make it truly free reading (within the family standards, of course) - Encyclopedia Brown and Boxcar Children are great. But if it's to expose your child to literature, you give him a pile to select from.

In my case, I'd likely prefer to let free reading be free, because at the stage I gather your child is at, developing fluency is of tremendous importance, and that's more easily done if he's highly motivated to read. Harder literature will probably come along later, when he's ready for it academically and emotionally.

The good thing is that this is not a once-and-for-all decision. You can try it one way for a while, then the other way for a while, and get some benefit from each approach.

Beth