I shared previously that my younger son now gets carsick when reading in the car to himself.
I shared that he says he can't remember what he reads when he reads silently to himself.
I do not always have access to audiobooks. Since these hard books are being assigned by a 200 student homeschool co-op the library copies are hard or impossible to obtain.
Last week we had a trip to Austin for a regatta planned so I knew we would have at least six hours of car driving. I arranged the homeschool lessons so that I could do read alouds in the car. I started reading the book at chapter one. My husband was glad he could listen from the start. I loved the book and really enjoyed reading Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter. We were stuck in horrible traffic so the 2.5 hour trip took almost 5 hours.
At the end of chapter four I discovered that my son had zoned out and the last thing he could remember was what happened on page two. I had read for hours and hours. I was so angry I could spit. My husband was nearly having a heart attack since he now clearly could see the angst and resistance I have been up against with both of our sons this fall.
I decided he has to read the books to himself at least for now.
A friend told me I should stop every page or so and discuss what happened to make sure he is paying attention. I hate interrupting the story like that and I resent that my son is not complying with the simple request to listen during a read aloud. I am annoyed that he begged me to help him by reading aloud to him, since he claims to not remember when he reads it to himself and since he gets carsick, then he did not listen.
This has been a rotten fall, the worst ever time our family has had with homeschooling. Just when I think things are bad, it gets even worse. I am so close to giving up on the whole thing.